Tony Curtis saying kissing Marilyn was like 'kissing Hitler?'
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rrb — 15 years ago(October 02, 2010 08:28 AM)
Not her fault? At what point does her behavior become her responsibility? If she found her work so distressful that she disrupted filming on a routine basis, she could have found another way to pay the bills.
That said, I don't deny her talent. For example, in The Prince & the Showgirl, she plainly outshines the legendary Olivier. He comes across as a ham, while Marilyn is a gemnatural, endearing, a brilliant comedienne, and on top of it all, absolutely ravishing.
Like Wilder, Olivier found the agony of working with her justified by the results. When co-star Sybil Thorndike complained about her, he said, "Just watch the rushes, darling." Thorndike had to admit that Marilyn was brilliant on screen, and if anything, Dame Sybil herself was an "old fogey." -
ilzamaria — 15 years ago(September 30, 2010 11:17 AM)
"After the scene some of the crew and I stood around to watch the rushes,
and they wanted to know what it was like to kiss her.
I figured a question that stupid deserved a stupid answer,
so I flippantly replied:
'Kissing Marilyn is like kissing Hitler.'
I was right it was a stupid answer.
What I should have said was: 'What do you think kissing her is like, birdbrain?'"
I'm in love with her now. I've loved her all these years." -
cluvonj — 15 years ago(October 04, 2010 01:31 PM)
I know that I have heard Tony in interviews say that he felt it was obvious that kissing her would be wonderful so he was being sarcastic when he said that quote. He also said you have to be careful what you say for the press will run with it and twist.
To me it would also be obvious that it was sarcastic and even if Jack Lemmon said he sounded serious still could mean he said it seriously yet still be sarcastic. I dont see a reason why he would even if she had been problematic on the set for him to have made that statement literally. He has been nothing but complimentary toward her in interviews in the 90s up to the present. -
scorseseholic — 15 years ago(December 17, 2010 12:03 PM)
Yes, he was being sarcastic. In an interview I saw with him on TCM or maybe even on the extra footage on the DVD, I can't remember, but it was pretty obvious that he thoroughly enjoyed kissing Marilyn. He called her "naughty" because she would kiss him passionately until he got aroused and would then abrubtly walk away.
"Dolores, I have five days to complete this picture. Don't get goofy on me." -
denis-38 — 13 years ago(May 20, 2012 07:29 AM)
Tony Curtis said a lot of things, most of which can be taken with a grain of salt. He did indeed say it, and had many unkind to say about MM for years after her death, until he decided he'd get more publicity by denying the remark and claiming her "loved" her, was her lover during the filming and to top it off, the baby she was so obviously pregnant with, was his!!
Monroe had known Tony since the early 1950's, and apparently liked him. Everybody looks comfortable and relaxed on all the location shots, on the beach, on the pier, in front of the hotel. She was shocked and hurt by the "Hitler" remark and even brought it up in her very last interview, referring to Tony as "some actor." She said, further: "If I have to do intimate love scenes with a person who really has these kind of negative feelings about me, then my fantasy can come into play. Out with him, in with my fantasy!"
By the way, Billy Wilder later said it was "quite obvious" that Tony was enjoying the scene. His tight white pants could not conceal that. -
denis-38 — 13 years ago(November 11, 2012 06:48 AM)
If he was "joking" why did he never say that during Monroe's lifetime, or for many years after? Why, indeed did he not assure MM that he was joking? She went to her grave with that remark hanging over her.
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bzydad-42-124629 — 13 years ago(August 05, 2012 02:59 PM)
I had read that she used steroid infused face cream that grew peach fuzz on her face,she was told to shave it but she refused because she said it made her face glow.Maybe that's why he made the comment,to much fuzz on the upper lip.
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bzydad-42-124629 — 13 years ago(August 05, 2012 04:12 PM)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9141077/Marilyn-Monroe-The-sta r-with-marbles-in-her-bra.html
About a 1/4 of the way into the article,it was hormone cream not steroid cream that I stated before. -
denis-38 — 13 years ago(August 12, 2012 12:08 PM)
No. Marilyn always had that baby fine blonde peach fuzz on her face. You can see it it some of her earliest modeling shots. (on her cheeks, not her upper lip.) Nobody told her to shave it off. It could be covered by makeup. (Ginger Rogers also had it. As did Elizabeth Taylor, but Taylor's was black, soshe kinda did have to shave.) Eve Arnold, the photographer, suggested the fuzz captured the light in some unusual, flattering way. But MM was never on record talking about the hair on her face!
Curtis was reacting to the stress of working with MM, tho they'd all gotten along well during the location scenes. He meant it in a mean way, and never apologized to Marilyn. She even brought it up in her last interview with Life magazine in 1962. She had clearly been hurt by the remark. But did not refer to Curtis by name. She just said, "some actor" -
denis-38 — 13 years ago(December 14, 2012 04:19 AM)
Dear Bzy
Marilyn ALWAYS had that peach fuzz on her face, even as a young modelnot her upper lip, however. Nobody told her to shave, It could be covered by makeup onscreen. Gingers Rogers had a similar issue, as did Elizabeth Taylor. (Tho Taylor's fuzz was black, so it was removed periodically. Taylor's "mustache" is obvious in some of her later films.)