Page 56 of The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe

Although Marilyn keeps her guests waiting for an hour and a half, Olivier is instantly smitten with his future leading lady.

One thing was clear to me: I was going to fall most shatteringly in love with Marilyn. She was adorable, so witty, and more physically attractive than anyone I could imagine.

He sends her a floral arrangement and a note:

“Marilyn, It has been so lovely meeting you, knowing you and now knowing that such exciting things and such fun are ahead. Love and Thank You, Larry.”

The co-stars make their first public appearance together on February 9, posing cheek-to-cheek in the neo-Renaissance Terrace Room at the Plaza Hotel, with its arched openings,floral motifs, and crystal chandeliers that replicate those in the Palace at Versailles.

Much fanfare greets the announcement of their new project. The film will also be Olivier’s non-Shakespearean directorial debut.

“What do you think of Marilyn as an actress?” reporters ask him.

“She is a brilliant comedienne, and therefore an extremely good actress,” Sir Laurence says. “She has the cunning gift of being able to suggest one minute that she is the naughtiest little thing, and the next minute that she is beautifully dumb and innocent.”

As if on cue, the strap of Marilyn’s black slip dress suddenly snaps. It’s not unusual for her seams to pop, since she insists on tailoring all her clothing skin tight. Amid an explosion of blinding flashbulbs, she deftly prevents her bosom from spilling out.

“Sir Laurence has always been my idol,” Marilyn says.

When he returns to London, he sends her a note. “I am terribly excited at our prospects. You were so angelic in New York. Thank you for all your sweetness. I think with great joy of our future meeting. Ever, Larry.”

CHAPTER 41

MARILYN’S PLANE LANDS at Los Angeles International. She’s dressed in a smart black suit for the airport press conference.

“How do you feel about coming back to Hollywood?” a reporter asks. “Is it a happy time?”

“Yes, it’s a very happy time,” she says. “I’m happy to be back. It is my hometown.”

Others have questions about what Marilyn’s accomplished in New York.

“You said you wanted to grow. Do you feel you’ve grown?”

“Well, I hardly know how to answer that, since they misinterpret that, meaning, in inches or something.”

At that, Marilyn laughs along with the press corps.

It takes two hours to make her way through the throng of photographers, fans, and autograph hunters and on to 595 North Beverly Glen Boulevard. For $950 a month, Milton and Amy Greene have rented the nine-room house near the Fox lot, where the outdoor scenes ofBus Stopwill be filmed.

Marilyn’s longtime acting coach Natasha Lytess telephones right away. She’s been dismissed by the studio. Surely that’s an error. Isn’t she needed to work on the new picture with Marilyn?

What Lytess doesn’t know is that she’s been replaced. Paula Strasberg is Marilyn’s new coach, and already has the final screenplay forBus Stopbound in a blue cover and dated February 27, 1956. She’s circled every mention of Marilyn’s character, Cherie, in red ink and marked up the dialogue with her notes.

Marilyn Monroe Productions lawyer Irving Stein informs Lytess that her contract with Marilyn, and therefore Fox, is terminated. “All legal means necessary” will be taken to prevent her from contacting Marilyn in any way.

Stein is a tough lawyer, but his client is the one requesting this treatment. The exact reasoning behind Marilyn’s decision to abruptly end the association with her former mentor is opaque, but rumors about Lytess cooperating with an exposé of their professional and personal relationship surely don’t help.

“My only protection in the world is Marilyn Monroe,” a dismayed Lytess tells friends. “I created this girl—I fought for her—I was always the heavy on set … I am her private property, she knows that. Her faith and security are mine.”

The drama coach can’t accept that this is Marilyn’s doing. Ignoring Stein’s stern warnings, Lytess shows up at the Greenes’ house on North Beverly Glen Boulevard, only to have the door slammed in her face and to be threatened with a restraining order. As she staggers back onto the street, in tears, she sees a movement inside the house. She is shocked tosee Marilyn between the curtains in an upstairs window, her face impassive as she draws the curtains closed.

Though Natasha Lytess continues to reach out, especially “when she’s broke,” Marilyn never replies.

In March, filming begins onBus Stop.Now it’s Paula Strasberg to whom Marilyn defers on every take. Consistent with the philosophy of the Actors Studio, her technique is pure Method. If a scene calls for Marilyn to cry, Strasberg instructs her to reflect on a moment in her own life that brought her to tears.

There are plenty. Marilyn also draws from a deep well of fear. Fox’s biggest box-office draw is still terrified of making mistakes. She’s haunted by the feeling she described in a recent interview:Hollywood will never forgive me—not for leaving, not for fighting the system—but for winning.

Bus Stopis Broadway veteran Don Murray’s first film.

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