This extraordinarily thoughtful book by Barbara Leaming, a literary star among movie-star biographers, offers the last thing you'd expect in a book on Marilyn Monroe: new information from verifiable sources. Sure, lots of the tragedy is familiar: an abused, confused girl from an orphanage with a mother in a madhouse rises from sexual party favor for homely showbiz men to the movie superstar who pushes them around, until she crashes, a victim of self-loathing and drug addiction.

The thing about a tragedy is that its heroine isn't a victim--she's responsible for her fate. Leaming does scholarly spadework, digging up hard facts from sources like UCLA's 20th Century Fox collection and the diary-like first drafts of Arthur Miller's semiautobiographical work, and she makes sense of Monroe's motives. She even apparently solves Monroe's suicide with clues from the star's psychiatrist's letters in the Anna Freud collection. Her last overdose may have happened just because her shrink went to dinner with his wife and she felt abandoned.

But until pills killed her, Monroe wasn't a candle in the wind. She burned with ambition and knew how to craft a persona and play power games--with moguls and with the commie-busters hounding her husband Miller. Leaming plausibly analyzes the Miller-Monroe-Elia Kazan love/hate triangle, sizes up the Kennedy connection, busts her acting coach Lee Strasberg as "chillingly mercenary," and deftly shows just how her life entangled her art, film by film.

This book has a woman's touch: it's a work of sharp intellect and emotional insight unclouded by lust or star worship. --Tim Appelo


From Publishers Weekly
Thirty-six years after Marilyn Monroe's death (at the age of 36), Leaming, prolific celebrity biographer, picks through the bones and neuroses of the ultimate Hollywood icon. More than 200 books have been written on the subject; only a few biographies (namely, Donald Spoto's revisionist Marilyn Monroe: The Biography) have managed to humanize the fragile actress, who has long since been subsumed by her own mystique. Leaming's relentlessly morose and stand-offish portrait, by contrast, places Monroe on a downward spiral from birth. Beginning in 1951, the book backtracks briefly, skimming over her childhood, early marriage, status on the party-girl circuit and early screen debut. Relying on letters, memos, other biographies and a paper trail from Twentieth Century-Fox, Leaming relays the precise dates when Monroe signed contracts, called in sick, filmed for half a day, etc. It's an approach that does little to explain Monroe's dynamc screen presence, her warmth and charm. The absence of new interviews here is most noticeable in passages detailing Monroe's marriages to Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller. Both husbands remain enigmas on the page. However, secondary characters (such as Lee and Paula Strasberg and longtime agent Charles Feldman) are often vividly etched. If Monroe enjoyed any good friendships or happy experiences making films, they're not presented here. Leaming's real contribution is the coverage of the HUAC blacklisting trials and its effects on the men in Monroe's life. As interesting as these details may be, however, they overwhelm the book and, even worse, shove Marilyn from the spotlight. 32 pages of photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The author of a number of big biographies of big stars, e.g., Katharine Hepburn (LJ 4/1/95), Leaming digs into the scandals surrounding Monroe's life and death.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Molly Haskell
[Leaming] has a sure dramatic instinct for illuminating overlooked material and re-examining the most interesting episodes.


From Booklist
Is there anything left to be said about the sex icon of the 1950s? Leaming, author of the much-read Katharine Hepburn (1995), has lots to say, and she's worth listening to. This is no sleaze job by any means; hers is a respectable, respectful look at the much-misunderstood Marilyn Monroe. MM emerges as a smart perfectionist riddled with self-doubt and self-destructive tendencies; she became the most famous movie star of her day because that was what she wanted for herself, and her drive made it happen. "Marilyn wanted to be a movie star so very badly because it was the only way she knew to escape a chaotic, nightmarish existence that constantly threatened to draw her back in." The story of Monroe's life reads tragically from day one--from page one here. It was a life that despite the bright light of fame shining on it for many years could only be described as one long downward spiral. Monroe had barely gathered herself into a functioning entity before she began falling apart. We come away from Leaming's detailed, explicit, sympathetic picture with more understanding of Monroe's demons and more comprehension of her talents. And the book ends on a positive note. "On her own," Leaming concludes, "against almost impossible personal and professional odds, she had created something brilliant and magical--`Marilyn Monroe.'" Place this in the hands of not only those readers who are nuts over Hollywood but also those who simply enjoy well-done biographies. Brad Hooper


From Kirkus Reviews
A dramatic, psychologically astute biography of the troubled sex symbol and star of such classics as Some Like It Hot, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and The Seven Year Itch. Leamings (Katharine Hepburn, 1995, etc.) research is extensive and innovatively interpreted in this unusual biography, but she is bent on telling Marilyns story in a set, idiosyncratic way. This is both the great strength and weakness of her book. As a single, authoritative account, it cannot stand: Leaming omits too many telling details. Marilyns childhood, for example, is hurried through in a handful of pages. But as a portrait of the stars conflicted, complicated nature and of those around her, this account is first-rate. Marilyn first landed in Hollywood as a ``party girl,'' a wanna-be starlet, who traded sex for possible career advancement. She had some small successes, until she cleverly promoted herself into a breakthrough role. Fame then came almost instantaneously. But Marilyn was increasingly unable to handle its demands. Making movies came to terrify her, and drugs, alcohol, and on-set acting coaches could do little to assuage her fears. The caddish, self-serving behavior of many of those around her did little to help. And her suicide at 36 is all too understandable here. Beyond her acute insights into Marilyns psyche, Leaming offers extensive acid-tipped portraits of those around her. Drama coach Lee Strasberg uses Marilyn to build up his prestige, regardless of the effects on her career or well-being. And second husband playwright Arthur Miller is a weak, self-justifying, egocentric who badly fails Marilyn. Its indicative of the eccentricity and ingenuity of this account that Millers friendship/rivalry with the director Elia Kazan (another lover of Marilyn) occupies a central narrative position. Odd, but with a touch of genius. (32 paghes b&w photos, not seen) (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"Engrossing. . . . Restores Marilyn's humanity. . . . A gripping and corrective book."
--Molly Haskell, New York Times


Review
"Engrossing. . . . Restores Marilyn's humanity. . . . A gripping and corrective book."
--Molly Haskell, New York Times

FROM OUR EDITORS

Our fascination with Marilyn Monroe does not fade. Dozens, if not hundreds, of books have been written about the iconic, enigmatic beauty, and yet few of those volumes could be aptly described as serious biographies. Bestselling biographer Barbara Leaming (Katharine Hepburn) relies on new interviews and thousands of documents -- including letters by Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, John Huston, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Anna Freud, and many others -- to weave the various threads of Monroe's troubled life into a portrait of clarity and insight. It's the perfect gift for any Monroe fan or anyone interested in this period of American popular culture.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Discover the private Marilyn Monroe, revealed through dozens of untapped sources -- including diaries, letters, exclusive interviews with the men in her life, and even the intimate revelations of her psychiatrist. Barbara Leaming, bestselling author of Katherine Hepburn, paints a complex, sympathetic portrait that will change everthing you've ever thought about our most enduring icon of American sexuality.

FROM THE CRITICS

BookList

Is there anything left to be said about the sex icon of the 1950s? Leaming, author of the much-read Katharine Hepburn, has lots to say, and she's worth listeining to. This is no sleaze job by any means; hers is a respectable, respectful look at the much-misunderstood Marilyn Monroe. MM emerges as a smart perfectionist riddled with self-doubt and self-destructive tendencies; she became the most famous movie star of her day because that was what she wanted for herself, and her drive made it happen. "Marilyn wanted to be a movie star so very badly because it was the only way she knew to escape a chaotic, nightmarish existence that constantly threatened to draw her back in." The story of Monroe's life reads tragically from day one-from page one here. It was a life that despite the bright light of fame shining on it for many years could only be described as one long downward spiral. Monroe had barely gathered herself into a functioning entity before she began falling apart. We come away from Leaming's detailed explicit, sympathetic picture with more understanding of Monroe's demons and more comprehension of her talents. And the book ends on a positive note. "On her own," Leaming concluded, "against almost impossible personal and professional odds, she had created something brilliant and magical."

Place this in the hands of not only those readers who are nuts over Hollywood but also those who simply enjoy well-done biographies.

Jeff Brown - People Magazine

[A] sympathetic, gracefully written study of an American legend. . .

Molly Haskell - The New York Times Book Review

The chief virtue of this retelling . . .is that the author restores Marilyn's humanity, gives flesh and blood, intelligence and iniative, to the archetypal dumb blonde. . . .a gripping and corrective book.

Michiko Kakutani - New York Times

...[U]neven....[it has] a novelistic narrative, animated by dramatic set pieces and vivid cameo portraits....highly readable... [but] it frequently sidesteps the standards of serious biographical research.....

Publishers Weekly