Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress, Revised and Updated (Hollywood Legends Series) - Softcover

Rollyson, Carl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1617039780 ISBN 13: 9781617039782

Publisher: University Press of Mississippi, 2014

Synopsis

In American popular culture, Marilyn Monroe(1926-1962) has evolved in stature from movie superstar to American icon. Monroe's own understanding of her place in the American imagination and her effort to perfect her talent as an actress are explored with great sensitivity in Carl Rollyson's engaging narrative. He shows how movies became crucial events in the shaping of Monroe's identity. He regards her enduring gifts as a creative artist, discussing how her smaller roles in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve established the context for her career, while in-depth chapters on her more important roles in Bus Stop, Some Like It Hot, and The Misfits provide the centerpiece of his examination of her life and career.

Through extensive interviews with many of Monroe's colleagues, close friends, and other biographers, and a careful rethinking of the literature written about her, Rollyson is able to describe her use of Method acting and her studies with Michael Chekhov and Lee Strasberg, head of the Actors' Studio in New York. The author also analyzes several of Monroe's own drawings, diary notes, and letters that have recently become available. With over thirty black and white photographs (some published for the first time), a new foreword, and a new afterword, this volume brings Rollyson's 1986 book up to date.

From this comprehensive, yet critically measured wealth of material, Rollyson offers a distinctive and insightful portrait of Marilyn Monroe, highlighted by new perspectives that depict the central importance of acting to the authentic aspects of her being.

About this title

Book Description

The first biography to focus on the American icon's acting craft

About the Author

Carl Rollyson is the advisory editor of the Hollywood Legends Series, University Press of Mississippi, and the author of several biographies, including Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews (published by University Press of Mississippi); American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath; and Amy Lowell Anew: A Biography. He is a professor of journalism at Baruch College, the City University of New York.

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1617039780
• ISBN 13: 9781617039782
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 275