Barry Cryer was one of Britain’s most beloved humourists, writing for a host of entertainers at home and abroad, as well as performing his own material on TV, radio and on the stage in a career that spanned seven decades. Following his death in January 2022, Barry’s son Bob Cryer has published a memoir, Same Time Tomorrow? Among the many anecdotes is a little-known story of his 1960 encounter with Marilyn, as The Mirror reports.
“English singer and actor Frankie Vaughan was a mentor of the comedy great’s, and went on to star with Marilyn in Let’s Make Love. One day, Barry enjoyed a conversation with the Hollywood icon in an agent’s office. At the time of Let’s Make Love, Dad was in Paul Cave’s office one day answering his mail when the phone rang and as there was no-one around to answer, Dad picked up. A voice said: ‘It’s Miss Monroe for you.’ Marilyn then came on and said: ‘Hello, who are you?’
Now, at this point, the young Barry Cryer must have had a thousand different answers scrolling through his head. From ‘Frankie speaking’ to ‘Never mind that, who are you?’ However, this was 1960 and a 24-year-old Dad instead chose the following, devastating response: ‘Hello, I’m Barry Cryer.’
He expected to be hurried off the call, but she continued: ‘What do you do, Barry?’ ‘I’m an out-of-work comic,’ he parried. He told me that they then talked for a further three minutes. I asked him what they talked about and all he could say was that although he couldn’t remember, it was wonderful.”
The Marilyn Report 
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