‘Marilyn’s Method’ and the Evolution of an Actress

In an excellent essay for Criterion’s online journal, Current, the critic and screenwriter Kim Morgan – who has championed Marilyn for many years – takes a closer look at three of her greatest performances, in Niagara, Bus Stop, and The Misfits.

“Considering Chérie among Rose and Roslyn, you can see that all of these characters are fighting, in various ways, to just be themselves. Roslyn, Rose, Chérie—they all were, at one time or another, put on a pedestal and then knocked off, and they probably didn’t want to be put on that pedestal in the first place. They all have a rage inside too … Marilyn showed different dimensions as part of who these women were, not just what men want to see, not just the goddess, provoking various feelings and actions—from curiosity to love to murder. What these women are thinking and doing is of keen interest to viewers … Her talent was developed by everything she learned, felt, and created. And there was a natural inner luminosity there too—a magic that the camera loves. She was a true artist. She made herself, and in doing so, she minted a method of her own.”