Marilyn Monroe once dismissed Hollywood as where “they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and 50 cents for your soul” — with the screen legend speaking from experience! The former Norma Jean Baker started to become a major star in 1950 with turns in “The Asphalt Jungle” and “All About Eve.” Before that, though, she’d struggled to make it in Hollywood. And in the scandalous early days of showbiz, long before the #MeToo movement could expose Hollywood’s worst sexual predators, Marilyn found herself expected to sleep her way onto the silver screen. Tragically, today it’s commonly accepted that fellow stars like Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Jane Russell and Bette Davis all had to compromise their virtue to get their start in showbiz. But while Marilyn would ultimately have her heart broken by the film industry, she spent years trying to dismiss being victimized by studio predators. The doomed star even insisted to writer Jaik Rosenstein: “It wasn’t any big dramatic tragedy!”
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"When I started modeling," Marilyn continued, "it was like part of the job. All the girls did. They weren't shooting all those sexy pictures just to sell peanut butter in an ad, to get a layout in some picture magazine.
They wanted to sample the merchandise. And if you didn't go along, there were 25 girls who would."
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Marilyn also wasn't shy about how meeting men
helped her move from modeling to acting. "We had our choice," Marilyn told close confidante Lena Pipitone. "We could be picked up by some handsome young actor and have a little fun, or we could go off with some old bigwig and make a few dollars. Or, if we were really lucky, we could get him to help us find a part."
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That's how she met Joe Schenck of 20th Century Fox, who'd introduce her to Harry Cohn. As the co-founder and president of Columbia Pictures, Cohn was notorious for treating actresses as studio property. "Mr. Cohn wasn't even the kind who said hello first," Marilyn told Lena. "He just told you to get in bed."
In return for sex sessions, Marilyn starred in 1948's "Ladies of the Chorus," but was dumped by Columbia after the film's release.
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Marilyn even reportedly once told
Rock Hudson that he'd need to follow the same path to fame! Film historian Darwin Porter wrote that Rock was advised by young Marilyn: “Both of us will have to lie on a few casting couches!” Porter added that
the "Pillow Talk" star took the advice seriously and “seduced everyone” as he became Hollywood’s hottest leading man of the ’50s and ’60s.
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Photo credit: Mega
Many insiders still blamed Marilyn's years on the casting couch for her future troubles. She'd
take on a series of lesbian lovers while ruining her reputation on movie sets. She became notorious for arriving late on shoots after nights of boozing, and
was relying on powerful pills to get to sleep and to stay awake.
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Photo credit: Mega
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Photo credit: Mega
"When I started modeling," Marilyn continued, "it was like part of the job. All the girls did. They weren't shooting all those sexy pictures just to sell peanut butter in an ad, to get a layout in some picture magazine.
They wanted to sample the merchandise. And if you didn't go along, there were 25 girls who would."
Marilyn also wasn't shy about how meeting men
helped her move from modeling to acting. "We had our choice," Marilyn told close confidante Lena Pipitone. "We could be picked up by some handsome young actor and have a little fun, or we could go off with some old bigwig and make a few dollars. Or, if we were really lucky, we could get him to help us find a part."
That's how she met Joe Schenck of 20th Century Fox, who'd introduce her to Harry Cohn. As the co-founder and president of Columbia Pictures, Cohn was notorious for treating actresses as studio property. "Mr. Cohn wasn't even the kind who said hello first," Marilyn told Lena. "He just told you to get in bed."
In return for sex sessions, Marilyn starred in 1948's "Ladies of the Chorus," but was dumped by Columbia after the film's release.
Marilyn even reportedly once told
Rock Hudson that he'd need to follow the same path to fame! Film historian Darwin Porter wrote that Rock was advised by young Marilyn: “Both of us will have to lie on a few casting couches!” Porter added that
the "Pillow Talk" star took the advice seriously and “seduced everyone” as he became Hollywood’s hottest leading man of the ’50s and ’60s.
Many insiders still blamed Marilyn's years on the casting couch for her future troubles. She'd
take on a series of lesbian lovers while ruining her reputation on movie sets. She became notorious for arriving late on shoots after nights of boozing, and
was relying on powerful pills to get to sleep and to stay awake.
