There’s No Business Like Show Business

Marilyn Monroe’s work in director Billy Wilder’s comedic classic is often cited as her best. The film was controversial for its racy humor and story about two musicians (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) who disguise themselves as women to evade the Mafia. But of equal scandal were the Oscar-winning costumes made by Orry-Kelly for Monroe’s Sugar Kane Kowalczyk. Both dresses are on display in the exhibit Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon, on view through February 28, 2027. Some Like It Hot was made during a year of dramatic highs and lows for Monroe, with this film standing as a high point.

Penned by Arthur Miller, this contemporary Western centers on the recently divorced Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe) and her relationship with an aging former cowboy, Gay (Clark Gable), who now survives by rounding up wild mustangs to sell them to a slaughterhouse. Considered a commercial failure at the time of its original release, the film has since been regarded as a classic by critics and audiences, perhaps notably because it was the final completed film of both Gable and Monroe, and a fitting bookend to Monroe’s career—she credited Huston for her first big break in his The Asphalt Jungle (1950).

Restored by the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

Penned by Arthur Miller, this contemporary Western centers on the recently divorced Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe) and her relationship with an aging former cowboy, Gay (Clark Gable), who now survives by rounding up wild mustangs to sell them to a slaughterhouse. Considered a commercial failure at the time of its original release, the film has since been regarded as a classic by critics and audiences, perhaps notably because it was the final completed film of both Gable and Monroe, and a fitting bookend to Monroe’s career—she credited Huston for her first big break in his The Asphalt Jungle (1950).

In person: writer Kim Morgan