Lexi Cruickshank
English 7 periods 4-6
January 31, 2015
Marilyn Monroe interview questions
1. Interviewer: Alright Marilyn, lets start with the questions. Your mother was institutionalized when you were very young. Did this affect your childhood?
Marilyn: Yes, it did. Since my mother could not take care of me I had to go through orphanages and foster homes. Some of the people that took care of me abused me which greatly lowered my self esteem.
2. Interviewer: When you said you were abused, what did you mean?
Marilyn: At the age of 11 I was sexually abused by my foster dad. It was the worst thing I have ever experience in my life and I would prefer not to talk about it.
3. Interviewer: That’s okay. Let’s talk about your career then. When or how did you start modeling?
Marilyn: Well, it started when I married James Daugherty and began working in a munitions factory in Burbank. A photographer came in and started taking pictures of us. I was told that I looked very natural in front of the camera and from there I started modeling.
4. Interviewer: Interesting. Then what lead you to becoming an actress?
Marilyn: In 1946 James and I got divorced and I started focusing on my career. I had always aspired to be an actress and once I became a model I could go places and people would take me seriously.
5. Interviewer: You signed your first contract with FOX the same year, what was your first role in a major movie?
Marilyn: My career as an actress didn’t really take off until the 50s. I played the mistress of a murderer in
The Asphalt Jungle. It was a small role but I seemed to have gained a lot of attention for it. We were nominated for four academy awards!
6. Interviewer: How many movies do you think you’ve appeared in?
Marilyn: I believe about twenty-seven.
7. Interviewer: And which one do you think was the most successful?
Marilyn: That would have to be The Seven Year Itch.
It’s about a man whose family traveled to Maine for the summer when I move upstairs. Eventually, he falls in love with me.
8. Interviewer: Was that movie your favorite? Or was it another movie?
Marilyn: One of my favorites would have to be Niagra it’s very different from my other films; much more serious. People take me as a joke, a dumb blonde. In this movie I’m out to kill my husband. If that didn’t change things I don’t know what did.
9. Interviewer: Your real name isn’t Marilyn Monroe, is it?
Marilyn: No. I was born with the name Norma Jeane Mortensen.
10. Interviewer: When did you decide to change your name to Marilyn Monroe?
Marilyn: Well, when I first began acting, really. So I would say around 1948.
11. Interviewer: Why did you change your name?
Marilyn: Norma and Marilyn are two different people. Norma is broken, had an atrocious childhood, and wants a normal life. Marilyn on the other hand is a star. She hardly thinks about her past and lives in a way many people dream about. The two sometimes come together and can either be a total pain in the butt or a total sweetheart. But both of them are strong parts of me.
12. Interviewer: What are your thoughts on Hollywood?
Marilyn: "If I close my eyes and think of Hollywood, all I see is one big varicose vein," (actual response to a similar question)
