Marilyn Monroe

Hollywood Legends

by Carl Rollyson

This product is not a traditionally bound book. Many ProQuest UMI products are black-and-white reproductions of original publications produced through the Books On Demand program. Alternately, this product may be a photocopy of a dissertation or it may be a collection reproduced on microfiche or microfilm if it is intended for library purchase.

Genres: Nonfiction

255 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Carl Rollyson, Professor of Journalism at Baruch College, The City University of New York, has published more than forty books ranging in subject matter from biographies of Marilyn Monroe, Lillian Hellman, Martha Gellhorn, Norman Mailer, Rebecca West, Susan Sontag, and Jill Craigie to studies of American culture, genealogy, children’s biography, film, and literary criticism. He has authored more than 500 articles on American and European literature and history. His work has been reviewed in newspapers such as The New York Times and the London Sunday Telegraph and in journals such as American Literature and the Dictionary of Literary Biography. For four years (2003-2007) he wrote a weekly column, "On Biography," for The New York Sun and was President of the Rebecca West Society (2003-2007). His play, THAT WOMAN: REBECCA WEST REMEMBERS, has been produced at Theatresource in New York City. Rollyson is currently researching a biography of Amy Lowell (awarded a "We the People" NEH grant). "Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews, a biography of Dana Andrews is forthcoming in September from University Press of Mississippi. His biography, "American Isis: The Life and Death of Sylvia Plath" will be published in February 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of her death. His reviews of biography appear regularly in The Wall Street Journal, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Raleigh News & Observer, The Kansas City Star, and The New Criterion. He is currently advisory editor for the Hollywood Legends series published by the University Press of Mississippi. He welcomes queries from those interested in contributing to the series. Read his column, "Biographology," that appears every two weeks at bibliobuffet.com

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

it never fails to break my heart that someone considered a titan of hollywood, an icon, the most beautiful woman in the world could still have such deep-rooted insecurities. marilyn truly deserved so much better than she got. in terms of the book itself, i didn’t love how it was written. while i don’t mind that it focused more on marilyn’s acting prowess, the book tended to basically summarize the plots her films. overall, i’m glad i read it, but i wanted more from the book.

[Eyehavenofilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is something different, it doesn't cover the sensational Marilyn, it delves into Monroe the actress, and her craft. From her studies with the greats she had the unique ability to look helpless and sexy at the same time. Her acting ability has been vastly underestimated, and discussed in detail here in this book. Many colleagues, and friends with firsthand knowledge of how this artist really worked with her talent it is a refreshing look at a talent lost too soon

[Madisyn]

I am a HUGE fan of Marilyn.