Most stage shows or films about Marilyn have scripts with words writers “think” Marilyn would say.  The MARILYN: FOREVER BLONDE script is made up entirely of Marilyn Monroe’s own words and all 17 songs are songs she performed in her films.  I think this gives the play a strong sense of authenticity that I believe is important when you’re dealing with such an iconic figure.

When I first read the script I immediately said, “It’s great but not for me!  No woman should have to be compared to Marilyn Monroe!”  Then after my husband, Greg Thompson, who incidentally wrote the script, finally “nagged me” into doing the play I began to do some research.  It didn’t take long before I was enchanted and captivated by Marilyn’s story.  I then found myself becoming very protective of her, possibly because I started to have some understanding of the pain and frustration Marilyn experienced in her short meteoric rise to fame!  For me the script was more a woman’s struggle for love and recognition in a man’s world than a look at a Hollywood movie star’s career.

Jimmy James is truly amazing.  I love him to death and cannot thank him enough for his contribution to the look of this play.  The first make-up session was for a photo shoot.  We had a photographer ready to go and Jimmy was creating.  It took 8 hours to do my make-up the first time but it was worth it!  The photos turned out beautiful, if I do say so myself, thanks to Jimmy and the photographer, Howard Petrella.  Now it takes me 2 ½ hours to do my make-up for the stage.  Incidentally, Jimmy also coached me on Marilyn’s mannerisms, her speech patterns, and her walk.  I flunked walking initially but I think I have it down now.

I don’t dream about Marilyn but I do think about her often.  Knowing so much, I feel I almost know her.  When her very good friend, fashion critic, Mr. Blackwell came backstage in Hollywood and said, with tears in his eyes, “I never thought I’d see you again” I got goose bumps and chills!  I often think about the problems and demons Marilyn faced everyday and I’m thankful I have a husband and a family that loves me for who I am instead of the person I play on stage!

My costumes in the play are wonderful but because I do all my costume changes on stage, in front of the audience, they are pretty easy to slip on and off.  I don’t think I could be “sewn into a dress” every performance!  I did however get to wear one of Marilyn’s actual dresses.  Greg Schreiner, President of the Marilyn Remembered Fan Club in Hollywood invited me to his home to see his collection, which is absolutely amazing.  Greg has many of Marilyn’s dresses and he let me pick one out to try on.  It was the silver lame number she wore to the Golden Globe Awards.  Greg had only seen her dresses on mannequins, which don’t have many curves, so when I filled out the dress (fit perfectly I’m proud to say) he was so excited.  It was an amazing thrill.  Marilyn and I are exactly the same height and I put on 10 pounds to get a few more curves.  Jimmy James said I was too “hard-bodied” to play Marilyn.  So we went out for ice cream and then he taught me to walk like MM...a woman who knew what to do with those curves.

I don’t own anything of Marilyn’s but at one show a Korean veteran told me he saw Marilyn on her USO tour of Korea in 1952.  His platoon had a pin, only members of the unit were allowed to wear and he said they loved Marilyn so much that they voted the night after her performance to send her a pin and make her their only honorary member.  The next day his platoon went on a mission into enemy territory, they were ambushed and many of his men were killed.  He was one of the few survivors.  He said he had Marilyn’s pin at home and he wanted to send it to me.  When I received it I cried.  It was very special.

If I could own something of Marilyn’s... it would be her house or her apartment.  Someplace she felt safe and comfortable. 

I love her sense of humor!!!  She was very funny, clever and witty.  I especially enjoy the talent she had for turning a phrase. The play is full of Marilyn’s humor even in the saddest of times she finds something humorous about the situation.  I admire her for that!

Wow!  Tough question!  Things were so much different for women back in the 40’s and 50’s.  It was a man’s world and a woman had to do, what she had to do to get ahead, if she wanted to compete.  I guess I could say I don’t like the fact she and Joe didn’t get back together because I think he really loved her and had learned his lesson.  I think she might have had a chance for happiness the second time around with Joe.

Truthfully I didn’t know much about Marilyn Monroe when I started this project.  I knew she was a beautiful movie star who died too young and there was tragedy in her personal life.  She surprised me in so many ways.  How smart she was.  She was a career woman of the 50’s who created her own image then did what she had to do to develop and sell it. That surprised me!  I admire her marketing genius and how deeply she cared about everything she took on in her life...modelling. Acting, husbands, step children, pets, poetry etc. I am often asked why I think the world has such a fascination with Marilyn.   I think it’s the sense of caring we see in her eyes in photographs... a promise that she would care about you and accept you as you are...she would be your friend.    I never tire of looking at photographs of Marilyn, which surprises me.  I love nothing more than to discover a new photograph of her.  What I find shocking is how she loved to shock people, just to make sure they were paying attention.  She could be a bit of a brat at times...that makes me giggle and love her all the more.

Actually, there are five.  The Maurice Zolotow biography “Marilyn”.   Because he knew her and it was written when she was alive.  She was said to have read it and although she wasn’t thrilled, she didn’t disapprove.

“Will Acting Ruin Marilyn’s Success” by Peter Martin. Again, written during her lifetime, offers a clear perspective of what stereotypes Marilyn faced being a woman of the 1950’s in a man’s world.  It was also interesting to realize the magnitude of her fame in her day.

Lena Pepitone’s book  “Marilyn Monroe Confidential”.  Not for facts, but for the glimpse it provides into Marilyn’s daily life in her apartment in New York. 

Bert Stern’s “The Last Sitting” and Douglas Kirkland’s “An Intimate Evening With Marilyn”.  These books are based on photo sessions that inspired the set of our play and it is here that Marilyn tells her story in Marilyn Forever Blonde.

Conversely, were there any particular books you really disliked?

Lots of them!  The ones with the made up stories, filled with speculation and untruths.  I used to get mad about it but now I just put them on the shelf with the rest of my Marilyn library.

Like I said, it takes 2 1/2 hours in makeup and I spend the entire time listening to Frank Sinatra music from the 50’s and 60’s.  I have a custom made wig made every six months in Hollywood.  The microphone and battery pack fit in my wig, which works well as there is no place to hide the battery pack during costume changes on stage. I open the play on a bed draped in a sheet...so wardrobe doesn’t require anytime at all. 

I am on Face book, which has been a wonderful way to network with many, many Marilyn fans and fan clubs.   I feel a certain kinship to people who are fellow fans.  When at all possible I make every effort the meet the fans after the play.   Although it takes about 30 minutes for me to regroup...so there is a bit of a wait, but if they wait I’m thrilled to meet them.

We were in Calgary with the play this past year and we were invited to The Banff Springs Hotel to see where Marilyn stayed and where they shot “The River of No Return”. 

I’ve seen most of the sites in Hollywood as we opened the play there at The Stella Adler Theatre in February 2007.  Her star directly across the street on Hollywood Blvd.  I saw her crypt, the roof of her Brentwood home, by standing on the roof of my assistants’ car (the house is enclosed by a very tall fence) and every house I could find in my Marilyn address book.  Playing Hollywood was an incredible experience because I got to meet so many people who knew and worked with Marilyn when they came to our play.  Mr. Blackwell of Hollywood’s Worst and Best Dressed List, Marian Collier and several girls in the band from “Some Like It Hot”, Stanley Rueben, Marilyn’s producer on the film “The River of No Return” and many more.  They sat in my dressing room and told me story after story of their experiences with Marilyn.  Stanley Rubin and I went to lunch at his regular corner booth at Musso & Franks on Hollywood Blvd. Meeting Greg Schriener, the President of Marilyn Remembered was a real treat.  After he saw the play opening night he invited his fan club to attend the play and many of them saw it multiple times. It was fantastic to see Greg’s Marilyn Collection; I’m quite envious of his collection of MM books.

I’m never on time! It drives my husband crazy.  I love Marilyn’s line... “People always tell me, you’ve got to get there!  Well, what’s there when you get there!”  My husband is often asked, “What’s it like to sleep with Marilyn Monroe?” and he tells them I don’t wear the wig or the make-up home to bed so he really couldn’t say but he says he knows what it’s like to live with Marilyn Monroe.  She’s always late!