A look at actors and celebrities whose careers have intersected with Marilyn Monroe and her legacy
Plus IconCynthia Littleton
Business Editor
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Clockwise from left: Laurence Cendrowicz/The Weinstein Company/Courtesy Everett Collection; Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection; Chris Polk/WWD/Penske Media Marilyn Monroe still casts a long shadow across Hollywood. The highs and lows of her life and work are a constant source of comparison for fast-rising female stars. Especially if they happen to be young, talented and blonde.
Monroe’s indelible image defines what it means for an actor to achieve a transcendent level of celebrity status that never dims. Contemporary fans may never have seen any of her movies in full, but Monroe’s name and likeness are nonetheless imbued with meaning, from sex appeal to a tragic early death to her rags-to-riches origin story. The legend of how Norma Jeane Baker triumphed over a childhood in orphanages and foster care to become a Hollywood icon is deeply embedded into the American story.
Nearly 65 years after her death at age 36, every stage of Marilyn Monroe’s short life has been the source of endless fascination, as detailed in books, novels, movies, plays (her third husband, Arthur Miller, wrote two, 1964’s “After the Fall” and 2004’s “Finishing the Picture”), documentaries, TV series, artworks of all kinds and more. All of this has kept Monroe front and center as a pop culture touchstone.
The myth-making around Monroe started before her death. Kim Stanley played a thinly veiled version of Marilyn in Paddy Chayefsky’s 1958 film “The Goddess.” Barbara Loden won a Tony in 1964 for her portraying a thinly veiled version of Monroe in the original Broadway production of “After the Fall.” Most recently, up-and-comer Ana de Armas delivered a raw portrait in 2022’s “Blonde,” from writer-director Andrew Dominik, based on Joyce Carol Oates’ biographical novel from 2000.
For sure, list of actors and celebrities who have been influenced by or relentlessly compared to Monroe is long (and not all blonde). Just ask Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Pamela Anderson, Sienna Miller and Catherine Deneuve, to name but a few.
“I think I was offered every Marilyn Monroe script ever. I was like, ‘Is this the end of the road creatively?,’ ” Johansson told Variety in May 2023 of reaching a career crossroads in the mid-2010s.
Deneuve made peace with the blonde specter that has hung over her career by embracing Monroe’s skill as an actor. “She did comedies, dramas. She was funny, moving, seductive. I found her incredible. She embodied beauty and cinema at the same time,” Deneuve told Variety in December 2016.
Oates emphasizes that at heart, “Marilyn Monroe” was a persona, a character and a shield that a streetwise young woman named Norma Jeane Baker adopted to survive in a cutthroat world and difficult profession.
“In a sense, Norma Jeane Baker represents the authentic self — as we all possess ‘authentic selves’ usually hidden beneath layers of defensive personae. ‘Marilyn Monroe’ is the performing self that really exists only when there is an audience,” Oates told Variety in 2022.
Here’s a sampling of actors and celebrities who have felt the impact of Hollywood’s Monroe Doctrine.
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Kim Basinger
Image Credit: WireImage The actress could not escape the Marilyn Monroe mentions as she emerged as a force on screen such films as 1984’s “The Natural,” 1985’s “Fool for Love,” 1986’s “9 ½ Weeks” and 1989’s “Batman.” Off screen, Basinger’s romantic life intersected with dynamic figures that fueled more public interest in her life.
Variety observed it during our February 2025 story, revisiting Basinger’s 1997 Oscar win, writing, “Like Marilyn Monroe before her and Demi Moore and Pamela Anderson after, Basinger shed the expectations of her looks and her tabloid-friendly personal life (in addition to Baldwin, former lovers included Prince, ‘Batman’ producer Jon Peters and Richard Gere) and proved that she deserved a crack at the meaty roles.”
