On occasion, Monroe’s stuttering prevented her from delivering a line. The most famous example occurred in 1959 during the filming of Some Like It Hot, in which her most famous line was “It’s me, Sugar”. She had so much difficulty with the word “Sugar” that it required 47 takes until she got it right.
Ironically, Marilyn Monroe had connections to two other famous people who stutter to be covered in the Stuttering Foundation’s “Celebrity Corner”. In our profile on Jack Paar “I Kid You Not! Jack Paar Is an Inspiration to Others!”, it is mentioned that Paar co-starred with Monroe in the 1951 movie Love Nest. Also, the Celebrity Corner article on Dominick Dunne cited that Dunne and Monroe were friendly when both worked for Twentieth Century Fox, and the two discussed their past stuttering and the fear that it would return.
In the days leading up to her death on August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was under incredible stress due to both circumstances in her personal life and the fact that she was fired from her last movie, Something’s Got to Give, due to poor performance on the set. While people close to her say that her stuttering was more noticeable in her final days as her life and career were unraveling, her speech was not a factor in being fired from Something’s Got to Give.
The assistant director said to her. “You don’t stutter”, to which she responded, “That’s what you think.”
With the controversy of both her death and personal life, there have been many biographies which delve into many aspects of her life, but few have mentioned her lifelong issues with stuttering. To say that Marilyn Monroe is a famous person who stuttered is an understatement, while most of the public is largely unaware of her speech difficulties. She spoke openly about her stuttering at a time when no other public figure did so. In her short and troubled life, she made heartfelt attempts to put a human face on stuttering.
Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot", 1959 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
