Question for the Ladies here: I'm watcing the Misfits with Marilyn

[FloridaPat]

Monroe. It's her last film along with several other actors. Do any of you think she's a good actress? I have never understood how she got to the top except with her body. Am I missing something?

[yardwork]

1. She has enormous charm

I think she was very talented. Her personal problems interfered with her ability to work, but at her best, she is full of charm and intriguing mix of innocense and worldliness. She lights up the screen. She seems like someone who would make me laugh.

[imenja]

2. it's her sex appeal and star quality

She was a decent actress, but not great. It's not just her body. There are always lots of women with beautiful figures. She had a kind of star quality and allure that few have. When she is on screen you can't help but look at her. I have always liked her, especially in comparison to the media images of anorexic women.

[artemisia1]

3. Talented!

She was very talented, worked very hard, and improved over the years. The truth was, she was given limited roles that the 1950's culture could live with. Read Donald Spoto's Marilyn for an intriguing, non sensationalist, bio on her. She was seriously underrated.

[medeak]

4. vulnerability

let you see into her soul.

[Skittles]

6. I never could get past her phony, squeaky voice

to "see into her soul".

[mordarlar]

5. She was a very funny woman. She found the humor in the characterization...

and played it to a tee.

[Judi Lynn]

8. She did a sly, very funny rendition of "That Old Black Magic"

in "Bus Stop." It was wonderful. Very unusual for that time, I'm sure!

[girl gone mad]

7. She lit up the screen..

I think she was best in the "ditsy" comedic roles, as in Some Like It Hot, but also very good playing a mentally unstable girl in Don't Bother to Knock (also worth a rental to see a sexy young Ann Bancroft).

She had vulnerability, but also a kind of wisdom that shined through that dumb blond exterior. She wasn't afraid to use her sexuality, but with class. Watch All About Eve and tell me you can take your eyes off of her for the few seconds she's on screen. She just had a quality - she was a natural in front of the camera.

[kk897]

13. Don't Bother to Knock made me sob wildly, due to her perf.

There was something so "true" about it. I've suffered from deep depression and some of her performance really reached that core. <shiver> I'm glad I no longer feel that way, but maybe people who have never been clinically depressed can get a sense of what it's like from watching her performance.

BTW, I don't know if her *character* suffered from depression or some vague 1950's style mania...but that's how MM played it.

[Bridget Burke]

9. I liked her best in her comic roles.

The dumb blonde who wasn't really all that dumb.

[RebelOne]

12. Yes, she was a wonderful comedy actress.n/t

[AnnInLa]

10. Katherine Hepburn said

about herself....I don't know what defines "IT," but whatever IT is, I've got it. That also pertains to MM, she had IT. In whichever movie you watch her, you cannot take your eyes from her...that must be IT. Like a poster above, I think her performance in Bus Stop was just brilliant.

[leesa]

11. She IS a good actress. I have always been surprised when I come to that

conclusion though. There is a movie (sorry, can't think of the name) where she plays a psychotic who babysits for a couple in a hotel while they attend a party. She is quite good.

[Plaid Adder]

14. I think she is good in *The Misfits.*

And she's hilarious in *Gentlemen Prefer Blondes* and *Some Like It Hot.*

She has also been in a lot of really bad movies. If you want to appreciate her acting in "The Misfits," rent "Bus Stop" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

I don't think she would have gotten anywhere WITHOUT her body. But I do think she was good at what she did.

Also hot!

The Plaid Adder