Marilyn Monroe's Films

It is difficult to find any images for the first two movies in which Marilyn had bit parts, Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948) and Dangerous Years (1948). We start a couple of pictures from Ladies of the Chorus filmed at Columbia in October 1948. Click on the images to zoom in. In this film, Marilyn sings "Every Baby Needs a Da Da Daddy" and "Anyone Can Tell I Love You."

Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948)
Lon McCallister plays a man who arranges to buy a pair of mules from his employer. No one is able to handle the mules and he must train them. He also pursues the daughter of his boss, however she enjoys making him wonder about her true feelings. Marilyn can be glimpsed in one scene in a canoe, making one of her first film appearances.

Dangerous Years (1948)
A man tries to put an end to the town's delinquency problem by creating a boys' club. Meanwhile, a young hoodlum shows up and influences the local teenage boys. They spend their time hanging out in a juke joint where Evie (portrayed by Marilyn) works. This part would mark Marilyn's first speaking role in a film.

Ladies of the Chorus, Columbia, October 1948, with Adele Jergens, Rand Brooks, Nana Bryant ..Former burlesque star May and her daughter Peggy dance in the chorus. When May has a fight with featured dancer Bubbles, Bubbles leaves the show and Peggy takes her place. When Peggy falls in love with wealthy Randy, May fears class differences may lead to misery. Marilyn sings "Every Baby Needs a Da Da Daddy" and "Anyone Can Tell I Love You."

Ladies of the Chorus

Ladies of the Chorus

In April 1950, United Artists produced Love Happy starring Marx brothers, Ilona Massey, Eric Blore, Vera-Ellen, Raymond Burr and Marilyn.

Love Happy

Love Happy

A Ticket to Tomahawk, Fox, May 1950, with Dan Dailey, Anne Baxter, Rory Calhoun, Walter Brennan, Marion Marshall. Jolly comedy Western along Paleface lines. Dan Dailey's the greenhorn travelling salesman on an eventful train journey across the wilderness to the Colorado Rockies. The rival stagecoach company is determined to stop the train arriving on time and places all sorts of obstacles in its path. Dailey encounters trigger-happy gunslingers and a doe-eyed chorus girl (Marilyn Monroe).

A Ticket to Tomahawk

The Asphalt Jungle, MGM, May 1950, with Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, James Whitmore. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) is a naturalistic film noir crime film classic (resembling numerous B-films) of the early 1950s from A-list director John Huston. The realistic, documentary-like, urban crime film - advertised as "A John Huston Production" - was one of the first films that completely and specifically detailed how to pull off an authentic-looking heist - something usually considered morally improper under the Production Code.

The Asphalt Jungle, MGM, May 1950

The Asphalt Jungle, MGM, May 1950

All About Eve, Fox, October 1950, with Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merill, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter, Gregory Ratoff. All About Eve (1950), is a realistic, dramatic depiction of show business and backstage life of Broadway and the New York theater. The devastating debunking of stage and theatrical characters was based on the short story and radio play The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr. A cinematic masterpiece and one of the all-time classic films, this award winner has flawless acting, directing, an intelligent script and believable characters.

The Fireball, Fox, November 1950 - Mickey Rooney is the Fireball in this independently produced sports film. The sport is roller-skating, which was enjoying a resurgence of popularity in 1950 thanks to the various "Roller Derby" telecasts. Rooney plays Johnny Cesar, an orphan kid who rises to fame and fortune on the basis of his skill on skates. Marilyn Monroe has a showy supporting role as one of Johnny's casual dates.

Right Cross, MGM, November 1950, with Dick Powell, June Allyson, Ricardo Montalban, Lionel Barrymore. A great example of movies made in an era where innocence was valued and innuendo was cleverly used to convey steamier topics which couldn't be given a thorough treatment outright.Marilyn's Character: Dusky Ledoux (uncredited). Marilyn had only one small role in this film which did not have much success: that of a young woman taking part in one evening downtown, and her name is not even quoted on the film.  Using boxing as a vehicle, the movie deals with fidelity, racism, and the struggle in post WWII USA between those achieving the American Dream and those blocked out by class and ethnicity.

Home Town Story, MGM, May 1951, with Donald Crisp, Jeffrey Lynn, Marjorie Reynolds, Alan Hale, Jr.  A tale of what used to be referred to euphemistically as a shicksack and his comeuppance in modern society, with a charming secondary theme about life in the bureaucratic world. Home Town Story opens with a noble strain touched by elegance, for piano and orchestra (presumably by Louis Forbes).

As Young As You Feel, Fox, August 1951, with Monty Woolley, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Constance Bennett, Albert Dekker. As Young as You Feel is best known as one of Marilyn Monroe's most impressive early performances, but it is a great, entertaining, richly humorous, and thought-provoking movie in its own right. When a printer is forcibly retired at age 65, he doesn't know what else to do, so he decides to impersonate the President of his parent company to come down and impose some minor changes, which result in greater complications than he could have imagined.

Love Nest, Fox, October 1951, with June Haver, William Lundigan, Leatrice Joy, Jack Parr, Frank Fay. A cheerful comedy, Love Nest, based on the novel by Joseph M. Newman, introduces an army returnee that finds out his wife has purchased a broken-down brownstone apartment, whose tenants become part of their lives. The movie features an appearance by Marilyn Monroe as Roberta Stevens, a former WAC officer who causes problems for the couple's marriage.

Let's Make It Legal, Fox, November 1951, with Claudette Colbert, Macdonald Carey, Robert Wagner, Zachary Scott, Barbara Bates. What a delightful movie set in the time when couples still slept in separate single beds. The idea seems ritzy for that time period and so common place now. The cast is excellent. Marilyn Monroe has a very small part. You notice Marilyn and keep thinking about her even after the film is over. I have so enjoyed this movie and I hope you will too, but only if you like the older movies.

Clash by Night, RKO, June 1952, with Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas, Keith Andes.  Mae Doyle comes back to her hometown a cynical woman. Her brother Joe fears that his love, fish cannery worker Peggy, may wind up like Mae. Mae marries Jerry and has a baby; she is happy but restless, drawn to Jerry's friend Earl.

We're Not Married, Fox, July 1952, with Ginger Rogers, Fred Allen, Louis Calhern, Zsa Zsa Gabor. Anyone who thinks everyone in the 1950s held marriage sacred hasn't seen We're Not Married, one of the more gleefully cynical snipes ever aimed at that fundamental institution. Five couples discover that their marriages aren't legal--Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen as a bickering pair of beloved radio personalities; Marilyn Monroe as a beauty contestant with her oppressed house-husband, David Wayne; Eve Arden and Paul Douglas as a chatty pair who've run out of conversation; Louis Calhern as a kindly tycoon married to gold-digging Zsa Zsa Gabor; and Eddie Bracken as a soldier who's just learned his not-quite-wife Mitzi Gaynor is pregnant.

Don't Bother to Knock, Fox, July 1952, with Richard Widmark, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran, Jim Backus, Lurene Tuttle. Marilyn Monroe's first bona fide starring role came in the taut, stripped-down film noir Don't Bother to Knock. She plays a recently institutionalized, none-too-stable babysitter, awkwardly tending a little girl in a Manhattan hotel. Richard Widmark, jilted by the songbird (Anne Bancroft) in the hotel lounge ("The female race is always cheesing up my life," he pouts), puts the make on the lonely blonde in room 809, to his regret. The picture benefits by not being a "Marilyn" movie, but just a good little thriller with, as it happens, a terrific performance by the future superstar. Monroe's childlike distraction eerily suits her rattled character, a misfit who can't distinguish her tragic past from the confusing present.

Monkey Business, Fox, September 1952, with Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn, Hugh Marlowe. This comedy features a chemist who is working on a youth formula for a company by testing it on chimps. When one of the chimps mixes her own formula and it gets in the water cooler, everyone is affected including the chemist (played by Cary Grant), his wife (Ginger Rogers), his boss (Charles Coburn), and his secretary Lois Laurel, played by Marilyn.

O. Henry's Full House, Fox, October 1952, with Charles Laughton, David Wayne. Narrated by John Steinbeck and directected by Howard Hawkes, O. Henry's Full house features five varying stories by O. Henry, including "The Cop and the Anthem" with Marilyn Monroe. In that story, a homeless man named Soapy plans on getting arrested so that he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell, only to find out that might not be an easy task. In an attempt to get arrested, he tries to accost Marilyn's character, but that plan fails when it is discovered that she is a streetwalker. This movie also stars Charles Laughton, Richard Widmark, Anne Baxter and Jean Peters.

Niagara, Fox, January 1953, with Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, Casey Adams, Richard Allan, Denis O'Dea, Don Wilson, Lurene Tuttle. Niagara (1953) In this suspenseful thriller, Marilyn's character, Rose Loomis, and her mentally-unbalanced husband (played by Joseph Cotten) are honeymooning at Niagara Falls when the new bride and her secret lover hatch a plan to kill Rose's husband. The husband, however, has unpleasant plans of his own. This film also stars Jean Peters.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Fox, July 1953, Jane Russell, Tommy Noonan, Charles Coburn, Elliot Reid, George Winslow, Norma Varden. Based on the work by Anita Loos, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Mariyn Monroe and Jane Russell, GENTLEMAN PREFER BLONDES was just what the doctor ordered. With great musical numbers, hooty costumes-- particularly those of Ms. Russell-- and a plot as silly and inane as is humanly possible-- can anyone be so dumb as to think that a diamond tiara goes around her neck-- the film will convince you, if only temporarily, that the world is not going to hell tomorrow in a wheelbarrow. It's interesting to see how much movies got away with in the oppressive 50's as evidenced in the quite sexy number with Ms. Russell and the scantily clad males from the U. S. Olympic Team, her fellow travelers on the boat trip to Paris.

How To Marry a Millionaire, Fox, November 1953, with Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall, William Powell, David Wayne, Rory Calhoun, Alex D'Arcy, Cameron Mitchell, Fred Clark

River of No Return, Fox, April 1954, with Robert Mitchum, Tommy Rettig, Rory Calhoun

There's No Business Like Show Business, Fox, December 1954, with Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, Johnny Ray

The Seven Year Itch, Fox, June 1955, with Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes, Victor Moore, Robert Strauss

Bus Stop, Fox, August 1956, with Don Murray, Arthur O'Connell, Eileen Heckart, Betty Field, Hope Lange

The Prince and the Showgirl, Warner Bros., June 1957, with Laurence Olivier, Sybil Thorndike, Jeremy Spenser, Richard Wattis, Esmond Knight, Maxine Audley

Some Like It Hot, United Artist, March 1959, with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee

Let's Make Love, Fox, September 1960, with Yves Montand, Wilfrid Hyde White, Tony Randell, Frankie Vaughan, Madge Kennedy

The Misfits, United Artists/Seven Arts, Febuary 1961, with Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, Thelma Ritter, Kevin McCarthy, Estelle Winwood, Ralph Roberts

Something's Got to Give (Incompleted), with Dean Martin, Cyd Charisse, Phil Silver, Wally Cox. Production was shut down on June 12, 1962. Marilyn Monroe died on August 4, 1962. The film was rewritten and recasted with Doris Day and James Garner as "Move Over Darling"