Why Marilyn Monroe is an Underrated Actress

Scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

*NOTE: Originally published at Readwave

She was the smartest dumb blonde in cinema history.

Marilyn Monroe is one of the best comedy actresses of the 1950's.

No, I'm not being facetious. While her sex appeal has overshadowed her film career and her personality has become synonymous with the "dumb blonde" archetype, she actually deserves a second chance. Yes, she is the one who once sang "Diamonds are a girl's best friend." She has been known to taunt men with her flimsy language. While this is her public persona, it is also one that is not understood entirely. 

Where actresses like Katharine Hepburn would do comedy and drama, Monroe embodied a certain archetype for the 50's. She was this beautiful woman who played with hearts at a moment's notice. She may have never become a great dramatic actress, but she quickly mastered her shtick. It is likely that she received rapid success largely because she played the fantasy of a 50's housewife at every turn. However, there was more at play.

If one needs to understand why Monroe is great, simply watch Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. In a film predicated on deceiving men, she is forced to play multiple roles within a conversation. She was a con artist capable of playing dumb. However, underneath the dumb joke was a shift in confidence to allow her actions to seem more innocent. She is, in every respect, a very subversive actress whose performance winks at the camera because while she may be the "dumb blonde," she is actually the smartest, most responsible person in the room. She uses her brains and looks to progress her state in life. Most of all, she got the moniker because of how good she was at it. In a way, she was conning the public into thinking that she, someone with a high I.Q., was actually dumb. Now that's subversive.

Much like how you'd expect Harpo Marx to pull a blowtorch out of his jacket, Monroe could pull a hypnotist routine with her laugh. However, it wasn't the extent of her charm. In the same film, she tries to escape out of a window only to get stuck. As a person passes by, she finds a way to make her dangling body, with the help of a child, look very natural. She knows how to sell an awkward moment and convince you that she can get out of anything. 

It is a routine that we'll see time and again in Some Like It Hot, How to Marry a Millionaire, and Bus Stop to name a few. While there are elements of now dated romantic comedy spread throughout, she plays the survivor who can deceive her suitors of choice. Despite a contradicting ending, Bus Stop is especially progressive and pits her as the victim of a bad relationship who manages to escape with her own strength. It may be a flawed story, but she manages to carry herself against one of the dumbest protagonists in 50's romantic comedy history. It is a madcap example of how her dumb comments hides her own sarcasm towards other people's faults. While flawed, How to Marry a Millionaire also sees her turn cliches into endearing character moments.

It may be easy to overlook this because the films that Monroe is best known for (Some Like It Hot, All About Eve) have her as a second fiddle player. While her other work may be more hit and miss, one simply needs to watch them to understand why Monroe is great. If she was just a "dumb blonde," they would be intolerable cliches akin to the 2000's Kate Hudson films. What is necessary to make it work is a certain realization and con job present that make the dumbness a little smart. She may not be the most revered actress of the 50's, but where Hepburn always played the confident woman, she was able to be confident without showing it. Her face communicated subtext to the audience that added depth. It just happened that she was also an attractive blonde in a sea of brunettes.

There is a good chance that many will go their whole lives without seeing a Monroe movie yet own a poster or knows that famous The Seven Year Itch scene by iconography. However, the one thing that should be righted is the perception of her as a "dumb blonde." While her public persona fits the mold, there's a certain comedy that is lost. In many ways, she shares more with Sacha Baron Cohen's guerrilla characters than her peers. She was in on the joke and just had too much fun playing that character.