{"id":1133,"date":"2026-06-01T17:05:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133"},"modified":"2026-06-01T17:05:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:05:46","slug":"marilyn-monroes-5-greatest-roles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133","title":{"rendered":"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tHere\u2019s a Marilyn gallery we hope is of value to everyone \u2014\u00a0to those young enough not to have seen these films before (in which case we envy you!), or to those who\u2019ve seen every one of them, since they\u2019re all movies you can watch again and again. A crucial question: Are Marilyn\u2019s five greatest roles also her five greatest movies? Mostly, but not always. \u201cClash by Night\u201d is actually a better film than \u201cDon\u2019t Bother to Knock,\u201d which came out the same year (1952) \u2014\u00a0but Monroe\u2019s tough small turn in \u201cClash\u201d can\u2019t match her eerily accomplished performance as a babysitter with serious mental issues. And \u201cAll About Eve\u201d (1950), which features a very young Marilyn for one blissful scene, might be the greatest film she was ever in \u2014 but it\u2019s not a major performance. Those qualifications aside, yes, these are Marilyn\u2019s greatest roles <em>and<\/em> her greatest movies. Taken together, they\u2019re a showcase of her incandescence, her bedazzling beauty, her sly comic talent, and (when you watch \u201cThe Misfits\u201d) the future she might have had as a dramatic actress. More than ever, she looks like a movie star out of a dream. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1131\">\u2018Superman\u2019 Sequel \u2018Man of Tomorrow\u2019 Reveals Lex Luthor\u2019s Warsuit<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<article>\n<h2>Don\u2019t Bother to Knock (1952)<\/h2>\n<p><!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tIt\u2019s a paradox, and a bit of a shock, when you first encounter early Marilyn. We think of her as an ingenue who gained in stature and confidence. But in 1952, when she was 25, Monroe made two movies and displayed a wily adventurous actor\u2019s confidence in both of them. In the stormy \u201cClash by Night,\u201d she plays a cannery worker who isn\u2019t about to let any man tell her what to do, and in \u201cDon\u2019t Bother to Knock,\u201d she gives an accomplished high-wire performance as a babysitter who\u2019s gradually revealed to be a distraught head case. The entire film takes place in a hotel, where Richard Widmark, as a jilted lothario (it\u2019s Anne Bancroft who\u2019s doing the jilting!), tries to get a private party going with Nell (Monroe), who\u2019s minding the child of two of the guests. Monroe didn\u2019t start to study Method acting under Lee Strasberg until 1955, but her performance here feels like a minor Method wonder: She\u2019s yearning and fierce and sensual and discombobulated, all at the same time. She\u2019s better than the movie (which is all about Widmark\u2019s loutish character learning empathy), but this is an eye-opening encapsulation of what a deadly serious actress Marilyn always was.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<article>\n<h2>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)<\/h2>\n<p><!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tTo this day, Lorelei Lee, the showgirl Monroe plays in Howard Hawks\u2019 sublime musical romantic buddy comedy, is often described as a \u201cdumb blonde\u201d \u2014 because she\u2019s obsessed with diamonds, and with landing the kind of rich man who can provide them. But if you look at what\u2019s onscreen, there\u2019s nothing dumb about Lorelei; she\u2019s a whip-smart conniver. She just has her values in the wrong place. The tension \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes\u201d spins around is this: How much <em>should<\/em> a girl be caring about diamonds when she\u2019s living in a material world run by men? Monroe, delivering witticisms that can cut glass (old tycoon: \u201cHave you got the nerve to tell me you don\u2019t want to marry my son for his money?\u201d Lorelei: \u201cI want to marry him for <em>your<\/em> money\u201d), gives a performance of lyrical sparkle, as she and Jane Russell \u2014 as the moody amorous Dorothy \u2014 go on a cruise to France, flirting and scheming all the way. It\u2019s Monroe\u2019s eroticized dreaminess in the \u201cDiamonds Are a Girl\u2019s Best Friend\u201d number that elevates it into one of the most enthralling musical sequences on film.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<article>\n<h2>The Seven Year Itch (1955)<\/h2>\n<p><!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tNo Marilyn moment \u2014 no movie moment \u2014 is more iconic than the one in which she stands over a subway grate, in her pleated white halterneck dress, and lets the updraft blow the skirt up, producing a look on her face that\u2019s essentially a symbolic orgasm. Monroe plays an aspiring New York actress, known only as The Girl, who works as a TV toothpaste spokesmodel, and Tom Ewell is the geek downstairs whose wife and son are away for the summer. Will she scratch his seven-year itch? Monroe\u2019s performance encapsulates one image of her: the doe-eyed, cooing, outrageously sexy and accommodating love bunny who is utterly oblivious to her effect on men. She was never more gorgeous than she is as this cuddly platinum goddess, yet she was also never more of a stylized comic presence. The joke of \u201cThe Seven Year Itch\u201d is that Marilyn is playing a pure fantasy the movie knows all too well is a fantasy.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1129\">Marilyn Monroe at 100: Reckoning With Her Legend and Legacy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<article>\n<h2>The Misfits (1961)<\/h2>\n<p><!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tIt was Monroe\u2019s final performance, and a movie that became as legendary for what was happening offscreen as on (her marriage to Arthur Miller, who wrote the screenplay for her, was falling apart, and Monroe\u2019s chronic on-set lateness tipped over from habit into full-blown dysfunction). Yet part of the skewed power of John Huston\u2019s aridly fascinating modern-day Western is that it seems to be channeling all that downbeat, cracking-up, end-of-the-world energy. In the most impressive serious performance she ever gave, one that points to the career she might have had if tragedy hadn\u2019t intervened, Monroe plays a divorc\u00e9e at loose ends, fragile yet with a luminous air of freedom, who hooks up with an aging cowboy (Clark Gable, quite marvelous) and his buddies (Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach), then tries to stop them from wrangling and killing a pack of wild mustangs. What she\u2019s really fighting for is a world where men don\u2019t squeeze the life out of women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<article>\n<h2>Some Like It Hot (1959)<\/h2>\n<p><!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tThe first and still greatest of Hollywood\u2019s cross-dressing comedies \u2014\u00a0a movie in which the gender-bending undercover farce and the cross-wired romantic hijinks attain a spirit of such giddy complication that it begins to play like some wacked contempo version of Shakespeare (\u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream of Chiffon\u201d). But in the middle of the antic identity charades is a luscious oasis: Monroe\u2019s performance as Sugar Kane, the ukelele player in an all-girl band, who leaves her whiskey-tippling melancholy behind when she\u2019s pursued by Tony Curtis\u2019s fake millionaire \u2014 who, like Cary Grant (who he\u2019s doing an impersonation of), has the wiles to hoodwink Sugar into pursuing <em>him<\/em>. In her last quintessential Marilyn performance, Monroe acts in a luminous yet knowing daze, aglow with a cockeyed innocence that feels like the very spirit of love.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1127\">How \u2018Backrooms\u2019 Producers Helped 20-Year-Old YouTuber Kane Parsons Create the Summer\u2019s Most Surprising Box Office Smash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The five roles that defined Marilyn Monroe: as an icon, and as an incandescent actress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1120,1119],"class_list":["post-1133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-marilyn-monroe-100","tag-marilyn-monroe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles - Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The five roles that defined Marilyn Monroe: as an icon, and as an incandescent actress.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-01T17:05:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"headline\":\"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T17:05:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133\"},\"wordCount\":1133,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/21e3e964a01ca44de5adf1f846d83c2d.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Marilyn Monroe 100\",\"Marilyn Monroe,\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Film\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133\",\"name\":\"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles - Relocation Observer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/21e3e964a01ca44de5adf1f846d83c2d.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T17:05:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/21e3e964a01ca44de5adf1f846d83c2d.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/21e3e964a01ca44de5adf1f846d83c2d.webp\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":563},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=1133#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Relocation Observer\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles - Relocation Observer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles - Relocation Observer","og_description":"The five roles that defined Marilyn Monroe: as an icon, and as an incandescent actress.","og_url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133","og_site_name":"Relocation Observer","article_published_time":"2026-06-01T17:05:46+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e"},"headline":"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles","datePublished":"2026-06-01T17:05:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133"},"wordCount":1133,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/21e3e964a01ca44de5adf1f846d83c2d.webp","keywords":["Marilyn Monroe 100","Marilyn Monroe,"],"articleSection":["Film"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133","name":"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles - Relocation Observer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/21e3e964a01ca44de5adf1f846d83c2d.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-01T17:05:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/21e3e964a01ca44de5adf1f846d83c2d.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/21e3e964a01ca44de5adf1f846d83c2d.webp","width":1000,"height":563},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1133#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Marilyn Monroe\u2019s 5 Greatest Roles"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/","name":"Relocation Observer","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/relocationobserver.com"],"url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}