Jack Lemmon was born 100 years ago, on February 8, 1925. His centenary will be celebrated this month at the historic Montrose Playhouse in Angus, Scotland with a selection of his most popular comedies. Some Like It Hot is showing this Sunday, March 9 at 11:40 am; and again next Thursday, March 13, at 11:50 am.
Jack built a warm rapport with Marilyn despite tensions on the set, as this Daily Express report shows.
“Lemmon appears to have picked up on Monroe retreating into herself while filming Some Like It Hot in 1958 … In an interview with talk show host Charlie Rose in 1993, he was asked what the ‘tragedy’ of Monroe’s life was and whether she was scared of the camera.
The Mister Roberts star answered: ‘To an extent yes [she was scared of the camera]. What happened was – I’m going to be an armchair analyst as if I really knew – because we liked each other and we respected each other and we got along great.’
He continued: “Yes, she was afraid because she would be fully dressed and made up and everything and still sit for an hour or more in the little portable dressing room on the set and not come out until she had psyched herself up and could face the cameras.
‘I think she had been building to such an incredible figure of stardom and everything. Although she wanted it, as a young girl and struggling, an actress who wanted to be a star and all of that, it was of such enormous magnitude…’
Lemmon compared Monroe to The Godfather actor Marlon Brando, who he said became a ‘recluse’ because he could not handle the extraordinary heights of his fame.
He continued: ‘But she obviously was unhappy you could get so close to her as a friend, and then you could just feel the curtain drop because she didn’t want you to get closer because I don’t think she wanted to get hurt again.'”
And finally, here’s some of Lemmon’s many great roles from UK distributor Park Circus…
Thanks to Fraser
The Marilyn Report 