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This riveting, internal journey explores Marilyn Monroe’s personal and professional world as never before. Evolving from an acquaintance with Marilyn that spanned a decade, John Gilmore’s penetrating memoir unseals the closed world of the casting couches, the so-called modeling agencies and escort services, and searches through the Beverly Hills glitter and bright success that mantled over Marilyn Monroe. These first-hand portraits, etched with the razor clarity familiar to Gilmore fans, unfold Marilyn’s tragic detour from happiness and self-fulfillment. Gilmore’s bond with his remarkable subject radiates from their parallel lives—two native Angelenos, both born in the charity ward of L.A. General Hospital, nine years apart, one misbegotten and both emotional castaways into empty childhoods in the Hollywood way of life. A close friend of James Dean and confidant to celebrities and boulevard lowlifes alike, Gilmore’s revelations of fame in the fast lane paint an indelible picture of the real Marilyn Monroe, an emotionally tortured, unloved, lonely and desperate goddess, ricocheting in a make-believe realm fueled by alcohol and pills, imprisoned by an industry that discounts and disparages her ambitions as she blossoms into the most important movie star in the world. Never before published photos. |
