Posts Tagged with The Prince And The Showgirl

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURENCE OLIVIER

Remembering the late, great Lord Laurence Olivier, born on this day in 1907. Olivier (22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles.  Some of his biggest pictures include: “Rebecca,” “Hamlet,” “Spartacus” and “Richard III.”  He was highly acclaimed in his field and was nominated for a staggering 13 Academy Awards (winning 3) 6 Golden Globes (winning 3 ) 9 Primetime Emmey Awards (winning 5) and 11 BAFTA’s (winning 3) among many others.

Marilyn fans will best remember him for his starring role opposite Monroe in “The Prince And The Showgirl” which he also directed.

Although tensions were high between Monroe and Olivier on set and the production has now gone down in history as one of the most fractured.  Olivier did manage to compliment Marilyn quite beautifully in this quote:
”She is a brilliant comedienne, and therefore an extremely good actress. She has the cunning gift of being able to suggest one minute that she is the naughtiest little thing, and the next minute that she is beautifully dumb and innocent.”

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PROJECTIONS: MARILYN MONROE’S ON SCREEN PERSONA


16 April 2018 – 30 April 2018
Mondays 7-9pm

Freud Museum, London. United Kingdom, 20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead, London NW3 5SX

PROJECTIONS: Marilyn Monroe’s onscreen persona

Three Week Evening Course

Norma Jeane Baker transformed into Marilyn Monroe inside Hollywood’s ravenous glare. She began her entertainment career as a pinup model and soon secured her place as a bona fide international movie star. The ever-luminous Marilyn stole every scene she appeared in; many cinema scholars equate Monroe with the essence of the art form itself, due to the magic she invariably conjured up on the silver screen. She possessed an instinctive and sophisticated understanding of how to construct memorable images, and was not afraid of being vulnerable in her artistic process.

But beauty, talent and success did not diminish the pain of emotional difficulties Marilyn lived through. Abandoned in childhood by her parents, she experienced the vagaries of fame in her professional life, was bullied by powerful studio bosses, had three unsuccessful marriages and endured fertility problems, turning to alcohol and pills to cope with debilitating neuroses. Beneath the social mask of cheerful joie de vivre, Marilyn suffered enormously – and had the wherewithal to channel sorrow into her craft, evident in her interest in psychoanalysis and reliance on Method Acting to deliver authentic performances. Her untimely death at the age of 36 did not stop the ascension of her star in popular culture; quite the opposite, film experts and amateurs alike see her as a modern-day Aphrodite.

In this new PROJECTIONS series, we will examine the creation of Marilyn Monroe’s onscreen persona, and the psychological underpinnings that shaped not only how she projected herself, but also the ways in which film audiences continue to respond to her. We will consider the symbolism contained in Marilyn’s most famous film characters within three categories: the origins of her celebrity, the establishment of her icon, and a burning desire to disrupt widespread perceptions of who she was.

Advance viewing is optional, select scenes and montages will be shown during weekly sessions (see filmography below).

Week 1 – A STAR IS BORN

Ladies of the Chorus (1948), All About Eve (1950), Monkey Business (1952), Niagara (1953)

Week 2 – ICONIC PERFORMANCES

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), The Seven-Year Itch (1955), Some Like It Hot (1959)

Week 3 – ROCKING THE BOAT

Bus Stop (1956), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), Let’s Make Love (1960), The Misfits (1961)

https://www.freud.org.uk/events/77120/projections-marilyn-monroes-onscreen-persona/