Marilyn Monroe is one of the most iconic Hollywood actresses of all time. Born Norma Jean Mortenson in California in 1926, Monroe started acting in the late 1940s and became a known name in the 1950s. She drew a lot of people in thanks to her charm and acted alongside some of the most famous actors of this era.
Throughout her life, Marilyn Monroe had roles in over thirty movies and could have amassed many more if she hadn't died prematurely in 1962 at the age of 36. Those who want to see more of Marilyn Monroe's work shouldn't miss out on watching her best-rated movies. And as for Monroe's life, they can learn more about the actress in the new Netflix movie Blonde in which Ana de Armas portrayed Marilyn Monroe.
5 O. Henry's Full House (1952)
One of Marilyn Monroe's lesser-known movies is the anthology O. Henry's Full House which has less than three thousand ratings on IMDb. As the movie's title suggests, it offers five stories inspired by O. Henry's writing work. As a result, the movie had five different directors as well, and different actors in each story, or segment, as they're called.
Marilyn Monroe appeared in the segment The Cop and the Anthem about a man who has no home and wants to get arrested to stay in prison over the winter. But no matter how hard he tries, he can't get himself arrested. The story offers a bit of humor but also social criticism, creating a unique mix that has the power to make the audience think. Marilyn Monroe played the part of a Streetwalker in the segment and shows that even in a limited space, she can give a balanced performance - even though her biggest roles were yet ahead of her.
4 The Misfits (1961)
Marilyn Monroe's last movie before her death in 1962 was also the final movie for another iconic actor, Clark Gable. Ironically enough, Monroe and Gable play a couple in the movie. Marilyn Monroe stars as Roslyn Taber, a young, recently divorced woman, who meets an older cowboy Gay Langland (Gable), and falls for him. The movie is different from other romantic dramas, it shows that love isn't always pretty, even when people have the best intentions.
Marilyn Monroe gives one of the most intense, yet relatable performances of her career in the movie, despite the fact that she struggled with personal and physical problems at the time. The Misfits weren't very commercially successful at the time of the movie's release, but the later audience appreciated the movie.
3 The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Throughout her relatively short career, Marilyn Monroe has appeared in movies of various genres, such as comedy, romance, and sometimes even crime drama. The Asphalt Jungle belongs in the third category. It focuses on a group of people who plan a heist, execute it, and are trying to keep their stolen one million dollars a secret, which is more difficult than they'd expected. Monroe plays Angela Phinlay, a mistress of the wealthy lawyer Alonzo Emmerich who's by no chance a good guy. The same can be said for most of the characters who could be considered antiheroes at best but villains for the most part.
Since the movie was made at the beginning of her career, Marilyn Monroe has only a small part as Angela, but she manages to sell her character's feelings and make them believable despite her youth. The Asphalt Jungle was one of the movies that drew more attention to Monroe and set her on her path to stardom. An interesting fact is that Marilyn Monroe herself believed she had given one of her best performances in The Asphalt Jungle.
2 All About Eve (1950)
Every actress has to start somewhere, even one who goes on to become as famous as Marilyn Monroe. All About Eve is a Hollywood movie about Hollywood, and it doesn't spare its heroes. Bette Davis gives an excellent performance as Margo Channing, an aging star, who befriends a young actress Eve without knowing that Eve is after everything Margo holds dear and is much more ruthless than she lets on. Davis as Margo and Anne Baxter as Eve are the real stars of this movie, and it's thrilling to watch their developing conflict, caused by Eve's calculating personality.
Marilyn Monroe's fans will be looking forward to seeing her scene - Monroe appears briefly in the movie as Miss Caswell, a naive young girl who desires to be an actress, and even in her short scenes, she manages to capture the audience's attention. All About Eve turned out to be one of the most successful Hollywood movies of the 1950s. It was nominated for fourteen Oscars and won six of them, including the one for best picture.
1 Some Like It Hot (1959)
Marilyn Monroe's best-rated movie on IMDb is this classic comedy that's set in 1929. Two musicians, Joe and Jerry, are hiding from a group of gangsters and to escape them, they join a girl band in disguise. While in the band, Joe, who now poses as Josephine, falls in love with the beautiful singer Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, played by Monroe. The movie offers many surprising and fun twists, considering how Joe and Terry switch between various identities and suitors.
While the attention is focused on Tony Curtis as Joe and Jack Lemmon as Jerry, Marilyn Monroe easily draws attention to herself in every scene she appears in. That's even more impressive considering the fact that this character wasn't originally supposed to be in the movie. The movie was nominated for six Oscars and won one for the best costumes.