Marilyn Monroe once named her favourite actors of all time
Even though modern movie stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie have loyal legions of fans, nothing can quite compare to the majesty of such Hollywood icons as James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. Transcending the cinematic form, Monroe became a cultural figurehead, growing to stand as one of the most important icons of 20th-century America.
Idolised for her beauty, Monroe quickly climbed the ranks of Hollywood following her debut in 1947, making her first considerable mark in the 1950 John Huston movie The Asphalt Jungle opposite the likes of Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern and Jean Hagen. Attracting the adoring eyes of Hollywood, Monroe later went on to start the 1950s in style, taking a supporting role in the six-time Oscar-winning drama All About Eve.
Indeed, the ‘50s would be a seminal decade for the actor and icon, taking roles in the beloved Hollywood comedy classics Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like It Hot. By this time in the halfway point of the decade, Monroe had become a cultural symbol of American vivaciousness, with her name and image being recognisable far beyond the remit of Los Angeles.
Unsurprisingly, suddenly, everyone wanted to work with Monroe, with such stars as Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Montgomery Clift, Clark Gable and Dean Martin collaborating with the icon at the tail-end of her career.
Yet, only one of these actors makes it onto her exclusive list of her favourite actors of all time, with that lucky individual being the Gone With the Wind star Clark Gable. The recipient of an Academy Award in 1935 for the film It Happened One Night, Gable later became known for such classic movies as Mutiny on the Bounty and The Misfits, where he would star alongside Monroe.
Elsewhere, Monroe names two Hollywood icons as her favourite despite never having worked with either star. Marlon Brando is the first of the pair, an iconic method actor who earned eight Oscar nominations across the course of his career, winning on two occasions, for 1955’s On the Waterfront and the great American classic The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in 1973.
The other cinematic icon was none other than Charlie Chaplin, a star of silent cinema who gifted the industry with such historical greats as Modern Times, City Lights and The Great Dictator. A comedic genius, Chaplin was a filmmaking and acting maestro who would go on to inspire such cinematic innovators as Gene Wilder, Johnny Depp and even Jim Carrey, who each borrowed elements from his physical performance style.
Take a look at the full list of Marilyn Monroe’s favourite actors of all time below.
Marilyn Monroe’s favourite actors:
- Marlon Brando
- Charlie Chaplin
- Clark Gable
