- Marilyn Monroe‘s thoughts on various topics – husbands, movies, literary works, etc. – will be published under the title Fragments in fall 2010. Besides, Monroe is the topic of two film projects and the star of a resurfaced video from the late 1950s that supposedly shows her smoking pot.
Upcoming book Fragments to include Marilyn Monroe’s musings on her husbands, movies, and other topics
Next October, Farrar, Straus & Giroux will publish Marilyn Monroe’s thoughts on her life, career, relationships, and other topics in a compilation tome titled Fragments.
In addition to poems, photographs, and a letter Monroe wrote to Actors Studio head Lee Strasberg, Fragments will include the Some Like It Hot actress’ views on the following: Her movie roles and the art of acting; the works of Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, and other authors; husbands James Dougherty and Arthur Miller. (It’s unclear whether Fragments will have anything on Monroe husband no. 2 Joe DiMaggio.)
As per an Associated Press report, the writings found in Fragments begin in 1943, when Monroe was 16–17 years old, and go all the way to near the end of her life in 1962.
The book was commissioned by Lee Strasberg’s widow Anna Strasberg, the manager of Monroe’s estate.
Marilyn Monroe movie projects to star Michelle Williams, Naomi Watts
In other Marilyn Monroe news, there are reportedly two Monroe-centered movies in the works for the price of, well, two – which, for moviegoers, probably means $50 per ticket by the time they come out.
My Week with Marilyn is to be directed by feature film newcomer Simon Curtis (TV’s David Copperfield, Cranford) and to star Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, 2005) as Monroe during the London shoot of the period romantic comedy The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), directed by and costarring Laurence Olivier, at the time married to Vivien Leigh.
An adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ fictionalized Marilyn Monroe “memoirs,” Blonde is to be directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and to star another Oscar nominee, Naomi Watts (21 Grams, 2003). (Back in 2001, Poppy Montgomery played Monroe in a two-part TV movie based on Oates’ book.)
Previous competing projects about tragic blonde actresses of the past
These two competing Marilyn Monroe movie projects are hardly something unheard of. In fact, here are a couple of other times when titles about tragic blonde Hollywood actresses of decades past were released within a year of each other:
- In 1965, two movies were released about Jean Harlow; as if that wasn’t confusing enough, both were called Harlow. One starred Carroll Baker; the other, a little-seen low-budget production, starred Carol Lynley.
- In the early 1980s, Frances Farmer was the central character in two titles: For the big screen, Frances (1982), starring eventual Best Actress Oscar nominee Jessica Lange; for the small screen, Will There Really Be a Morning? (1983), based on Farmer’s autobiography and starring Susan Blakely.
Late 1950s home movie is supposed to show Marilyn Monroe smoking pot
Lastly, a while back there were reports of a home movie showing Marilyn Monroe supposedly smoking pot at a friend’s house in New Jersey some time in the late 1950s.
In the movie, Monroe takes several puffs from a cigarette, inhales a little, giggles a lot, and seems to blow a couple of kisses at the camera. All in glorious Homemoviecolor.
The soundless 8mm film was shot and provided by an anonymous individual and was on its way to being auctioned off online.
(Allegedly) marijuana-smoking superstar
Marilyn Monroe’s sole star vehicle released in the late 1950s was Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959), costarring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The classic comedy featuring gangsters, musicians, and cross-dressers, turned out to be one of her biggest hits.
She would complete only two more movies: George Cukor’s romantic musical comedy Let’s Make Love (1960), opposite Yves Montand and Tony Randall, and John Huston’s troubled psychological drama The Misfits (1961), opposite Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift.
In June 1962, Monroe was fired from Cukor’s romantic comedy Something’s Got to Give. A new contract was later negotiated, but she died from a barbiturates overdose – ruled a probable suicide – on Aug. 4, 1962, before production could resume.
“Marilyn Monroe Fragments” notes
“Marilyn Monroe Fragments + 2 Movies in the Works” last modified in May 2025.