{"id":3837,"date":"2005-11-05T15:42:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-05T20:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=3837"},"modified":"2022-10-09T20:38:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T00:38:21","slug":"marilyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=3837","title":{"rendered":"Billy Wilder on Marilyn Monroe: “She had a kind of elegant vulgarity.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Wilder had a notoriously difficult time directing Marilyn Monroe, and yet he knew that if he wanted movie magic, he had to put up with her neuroses. <\/p>\n

Here are his words, from Cameron Crowe’s Conversations with Wilder<\/a>\"\"<\/i>:<\/p>\n

“Whatever she threw away, we printed it, and it was very good. It was very, very good. She had a kind of elegant vulgarity about her. That, I think, was very important. And she automatically knew where the joke was. She did not discuss it. She came for the first rehearsal, and she was absolutely perfect. She had a feeling for and a fear of the camera. Fright. She also loved the camera. Whatever she did, wherever she stood, there was always that thing<\/u> that comes through. She was not even aware of it.”<\/p>\n

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Below is a photo of Monroe. Out of the thousands of them in existence … this one is my favorite.<\/p>\n

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