Marilyn Monroe - Ruth Leon

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Résumé :
'Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.' Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Baker in Los Angeles in 1926, the daughter of a salesman and a troubled mother. By the time she died at thirty-six from a drug overdose, she had become one of the most recognisable figures in film history. After a fragmented childhood spent in foster homes, she began working as a model and soon caught the attention of Twentieth Century Fox. In the 1950s she lit up the screen in comedies such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot, combining innocence and allure in a way no actress had before. Off screen, however, Monroe's search for love and stability proved elusive. Her brief marriage to Joe DiMaggio ended in disappointment, and her later relationship with Arthur Miller, who wrote The Misfits for her, was overshadowed by her growing emotional turmoil. In this perceptive study, Sheridan Morley examines the complexities behind the legend, revealing the intelligence, fragility and determination of the woman who became an icon of her age....

Biographie:
Sheridan Morley(1941-2007) was the third generation of a celebrated theatrical family. His father was Robert Morley, the character actor, and his grandmother was Gladys Cooper, in her youth one of the great beauties of her day and a much sought-after actor in Britain and Hollywood. Sheridan was also a cousin of the actress and presenter Joanna Lumley and brother-in-law of the actor Robert Hardy.Morley joined The Times as deputy features editor in 1973, and then Punch in 1975 as drama critic and arts editor, remaining with the magazine until 1989. In the late 1980s, he became a regular arts diarist for The Times and was its TV critic from 1989 to 1990. He worked as drama critic for the Spectator from 1990 to 2001, and after a short period at the New Statesman, he joined the Daily Express in 2004.He married his first wife, Margaret Gudejko, in 1965, and they had three children together. He married his second wife, Ruth Leon, in 1995.He authored a number of books including A Talent to Amuse: A Life of Noel Coward (1969)...

Sommaire:
'Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.' Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Baker in Los Angeles in 1926, the daughter of a salesman and a troubled mother. By the time she died at thirty-six from a drug overdose, she had become one of the most recognisable figures in film history. After a fragmented childhood spent in foster homes, she began working as a model and soon caught the attention of Twentieth Century Fox. In the 1950s she lit up the screen in comedies such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot, combining innocence and allure in a way no actress had before. Off screen, however, Monroe's search for love and stability proved elusive. Her brief marriage to Joe DiMaggio ended in disappointment, and her later relationship with Arthur Miller, who wrote The Misfits for her, was overshadowed by her growing emotional turmoil. In this perceptive study, Sheridan Morley examines the complexities behind the legend, revealing the intelligence, fragility and determination of the woman who became an icon of her age....