River of No Return

In person: author, filmmaker, and actor Joshua John Miller

Newlyweds Ray and Polly Cutler (Jean Peters and Casey Adams) take a postponed honeymoon at Niagara Falls, where they encounter Rose and George Loomis (Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten). The Loomis’s rocky relationship hangs over the couple’s romantic getaway, further complicated by a murder. 1953 was an important year for Monroe with the successes of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire in the following months, and her breakout performance as the sensual Rose in Niagara catapulted the actor into superstardom.

In person: Vanity Fair Contributing Editor Lorraine Nicholson

Clash by Night

In the small seaside town of Monterey, the elusive Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwyck) returns after a 10-year absence, to the disappointment of her brother Joe (Keith Andes). Mae’s arrival comes on the heels of an affair with a married politician, a scandal that ended with his death. Marilyn Monroe co-stars as Joe’s girlfriend, Peggy, who offers Mae a warmer homecoming. Finding a kindred spirit in Mae, Peggy yearns for excitement and independence. This screen adaptation of Clifford Odets’s play of the same name was directed by German émigré Fritz Lang, who struggled to maintain control of his production when the press acquired 3-year-old nude photos of Monroe and began swarming the studio during the shoot.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

In this 1953 musical comedy, adapted from Joseph Fields and Anita Loos’s searingly funny stage musical based on her 1925 novella, showgirl Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe) is resplendent in beautiful gowns, most notably in the pink satin dress designed by Travilla during the now-classic number “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Lorelei is seen throughout the picture in jewel tones and literal jewels, carefully selected to play up the lush Technicolor cinematography lensed by Harry J. Wild. Both effervescent and timeless, this witty gem showcases Monroe’s brilliant comic timing as well as her vocal chops. Premiering in the middle of the actress’s career and released the same year as Niagara and How to Marry a Millionaire, Howard Hawks’s film helped to plant Monroe in the hearts of the American public, making her one of the most famous people in the US.

Peggy Martin (Marilyn Monroe), a burlesque-show chorus girl who works alongside her mother, Mae (Adele Jergens), gets her big break after the lead unexpectedly quits. When Peggy is pursued by the wealthy society man, Randy Carroll (Rand Brooks), Mae worries their class differences will doom the relationship and tries to protect Peggy from the same heartbreak she once suffered. Ladies of the Chorus features Marilyn’s first starring role, and her only film role during her short stint on contract at Columbia Pictures. The film also marked the first time Monroe sang and danced in a film.

Schatze, Pola, and Loco (Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable) are Manhattan models on a mission to marry rich husbands. Although they set their sights on Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, their plans go awry when they become attracted to men who look to be penniless. How to Marry a Millionaire was released at the end of Monroe’s breakout year, having starred in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Niagara in 1953. The film is notable as the first to be completed in CinemaScope, and Monroe had such broad appeal that 20th Century-Fox used her to advertise this new widescreen format: a slogan above an image of Marilyn claimed she was “Big as life and a million times more fun in Cinemascope!”

In person: writer Kim Morgan

The Donahue clan, led by husband and wife Molly and Terry (Ethel Merman and Dan Dailey), navigate the ups and downs of show biz, from their beginnings in Vaudeville to the Great Depression, in this musical comedy with songs by Irving Berlin. The family’s close bond is further tested with the arrival of the talented and driven Vicky Parker (Marilyn Monroe). Costume designer Travilla played an integral role in shaping Marilyn Monroe’s public image on- and off-screen. Together they famously produced looks that evaded censorship while still courting controversy. His designs for her showgirl characters are of particular note.

The Prince and the Showgirl in 35mm

In this sole collaboration between Warner Bros. and Marilyn Monroe Productions, Monroe plays Elsie Marina, a witty American showgirl who gets noticed by the eccentric Prince Regent Charles (Laurence Olivier). Set in Edwardian London and directed by Olivier, the film was a famously troubled production, with tension between co-stars and cinematographer Jack Cardiff. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios outside London; Monroe’s difficulties on and off set were adapted into Simon Curtis’s fictional My Week with Marilyn (2011), with Michelle Williams starring as Monroe.

Director George Cukor’s musical comedy was Monroe’s second-to-last completed film. She plays a bohemian off-Broadway actor who is in a show satirizing a French billionaire, Jean-Marc Clément (Yves Montand). While scoping out the production, Clément is cast in the play and the two fall in love, though deception threatens to ruin everything. Monroe worked closely with costume designer Dorothy Jeakins to draw inspiration from her personal style for the film’s looks.

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).