Marilyn Monroe and Ronald Reagan possible friends
There´s no much information about the realation between Marilyn Monroe and Ronald Reagan. Despite being both actors from a similar time, in most biographies of Marilyn, Ronald Reagan doesn´t appear as an important person in Marilyn´s life. However, the photographer George Barris, who was a friend of Marilyn, started with her in 1962 a project of an autobiography of Marilyn´s life. Marilyn told Barris many important aspects of her life, but because Marilyn´s death, the project was unfinish. George Barris released the book decades later, commenting on some notes in addition to Marilyn's own words. In that notes of Barris, at some part, he talk about Marilyn´s friends and between them it appears the name of Ronald Reagan.
What George Barris sais is specifically "Ronald Reagan, actor, friend", but is important to know what it means a friend for Barris. In comparison with others, Barris sais about Lee Strasberg "close confidant" or about Milton Greene "close friend". When George Barris sais friend he probabily refears to a minor friend or to an acquaintance. If most biographies don´t say much or even anything about Marilyn Monroe and Ronald Reagan is because there is not much about them, but the posibility of a minor friendship or at least being acquaintances is very high. Indeed they met each other several times. There is a photo of Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan at a party in 1953.
As we know Marilyn was a democrat and in the future Reagan would be a republican President, Howerver at the time they know each other, Reagan was still a democrat. Reagan was anticommunist, in contrast Marilyn wasn´t communist, she was a liberal, but she hated McCarthyism. Marilyn defended Arthur Miller when he declared at HUAC, but she was also close to people who said names at HUAC like Elia Kazan or Paula Strasberg. At that time Marilyn was more liberal than Reagan but Marilyn wasn´t sectarian, she had republican friends such as Jane Russell or Clark Gable, so politics wasn´t a reason to her for not being a friend of Reagan.
Both Marilyn Monroe and Ronald Reagan were notable actors, but during Monroe’s golden era Reagan was reaching the end of his film career. Reagan was one of the most prominent figures in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), even serving multiple terms as its president while Monroe was active in Hollywood. Monroe supported unions and sought to protect her working conditions, so she inevitably had some level of connection with SAG. As George Barris has noted, there is evidence that Monroe and Reagan enjoyed at least a brief friendship. This would mean that Monroe counted two U.S. presidents among her friends, although Reagan would not reach the White House until two decades after her death. This small friendship has rarely been discussed but remains a fascinating detail of her life.
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario