The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe: The Shocking True Story by Keith Badman Page A

against profits instead of the large salary she could have easily commanded for her movies, the actress was gambling as heavily on her career as any of the motion picture studios. As the Mirisch Company spokesman also explained: ‘With The Misfits , the company [Seven Arts Productions] called for her to split 15 per cent of the gross with co-star, Clark Gable. He was due to receive $1 million for his role; Monroe just $500,000. But by late 1962, the picture had yet to see a profit.’ So concerned did she become about her finances, she resolutely never carried more than $20 with her when she left her home. All of her large purchases were made by cheque.
    In the middle of December, Fox executives contacted Marilyn again. They forcibly informed her that her argument (i.e. her claim that Cukor’s failure to commit to the movie invalidated her own contract) was not a legitimate one, and persuasively reminded her that, all things considered, she had a legal obligation to the studio. Fearing that the legal ramifications of the actress’s decision might result in even further delays, the studio once again, albeit reluctantly, cast their gaze towards Jayne Mansfield to star in the movie. However, Cukor was having none of it. ‘I admire Jayne,’ he told American show business columnist Mike Connolly, ‘not as an actress but as a girl.’ Further heated discussions between Fox and Marilyn’s attorney soon took place; in the third week of December, shortly after her return from New York, the actress finally relented and agreed in lukewarm fashion to shoot Something’s Got To Give .
    Monroe spent Christmas in her decoratively unfinished Doheny Drive apartment, mulling over yet another mournfully inadequate film script while relaxing in the company of her former husband, Joe DiMaggio. During the day, they were seen out shopping, purchasing Christmas tree ornaments from a Mexican shop in downtown Los Angeles. Marilyn also went out alone, on a buying spree to Beverly Hills. Each of her expeditionswas spent in disguise, a thick black wig, although it was now common knowledge in the media that she always travelled this way. On Friday 6 October 1961, the Times Recorder newspaper had written, ‘Marilyn Monroe is not easy to spot on the street. [She] wears horn-rimmed glasses, peasant skirt and blouse, also chooz gum.’ On Christmas Day, they paid a visit to the Santa Monica home of her doctor, Ralph Greenson. She spent New Year’s Eve in her apartment with DiMaggio roasting chestnuts in front of her log fire. He broke from his teetotal lifestyle to usher in 1962 with a single glass of Dom Perignon champagne.
    December’s amicable socialising, optimism and progressive planning quickly diminished as the New Year dawned. On the first day, Marilyn was saddened by the death of her famed defence lawyer, Jerry Giesler, who had suffered a heart attack, aged 75, in his sleep at his Hollywood home. A close confidant of Monroe, he had handled her divorce from DiMaggio in 1954. Further emotional stresses were heaped upon Marilyn when she learnt through the grapevine that Arthur Miller was preparing to remarry. His next wife was to be the photographer Ingeberg Morath, whom Miller had ironically met on the set of The Misfits . The actress was also shocked to discover that Morath was pregnant with Miller’s child. Overcome with jealousy, knowing she was unlikely to become a mother herself, Monroe was greatly affected by this news and sealed herself away in her bedroom, refusing to see or speak to anyone.
    One further traumatic event was still to reach Marilyn. In the second week of January, Hollywood gossip columnists excitedly wrote about the engagement between Frank Sinatra and Juliet Prowse on Monday 8 January. While she proudly showed off her sparkling new 10-carat gold ring, he excitedly declared he was ‘very, very much in love’. Even though Marilyn’s romance with the Rat Pack star had been dormant for just over three months now, the