Little Book of Marilyn Monroe in the Movies

by Timothy Knight

With the arguable exception of Elvis Presley, no other star exerts a more enduring grip on the public's imagination than Marilyn Monroe. Like some luminescent butterfly she flitted across the screen, dazzling filmgoers worldwide, before dying young at age 36 -- her image forever imprinted into our collective memory. Why does this heartbreakingly beautiful and emotionally fragile star continue to haunt our dreams, nearly 50 years after her apparent suicide? It's a question that preoccupies academics, critics, film historians and legions of Monroe fans, who seemingly never tire of analyzing and documenting her life and career in exacting detail. Love goddess, dumb blonde, cultural icon, Dream Factory casualty -- every year more labels get affixed to Monroe by writers alternately burnishing and deconstructing her legend as the greatest and most tragic of Hollywood sex symbols.

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