Marilyn Monroe started doing dramas

Marilyn is primarily known for comedy, and it is not difficult to understand why: her greatest commercial successes and the enduring public image associated with her — Some Like It Hot, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch, and How to Marry a Millionaire — firmly established her as a queen of glamour, irony, and comic timing. Yet, as has been discussed in other articles, the reality of her career is far more complex. Marilyn was a versatile actress who worked successfully in comedy, drama, and musical films, and her filmography spans a remarkable variety of genres. Nevertheless, the overwhelming success of her comedies has led many to remember her almost exclusively in that register. This perception, however, overlooks a crucial fact: Marilyn did not begin her career as a comic actress.

When modern comparisons are drawn, critics often mention comedians who later excelled in dramatic roles — Jim Carrey is a frequent example — but Marilyn’s case is fundamentally different. Carrey rose to fame through comedy and later explored drama; Marilyn, by contrast, built the foundations of her career in more dramatic contexts and only gradually came to dominate comedy. This distinction is essential for understanding her artistic trajectory.

Her earliest appearances already point in this direction. Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! was the first film Marilyn shot, though not the first to be released. She appears as Betty, first in a church scene where she says “Hi” to the female lead, and later in the background, seated in a canoe. Marilyn originally had more screen time, but much of her material was cut in the final edit. In any case, her presence is extremely brief and closer to that of an extra than to a fully developed performance. The film itself lies between drama and comedy-drama, but the role is too slight to define her acting style.

The first Marilyn Monroe film to be released was Dangerous Years. The movie is a juvenile drama, but Marilyn’s performance as Evie already displays traits that would later become emblematic: expressive gestures, playful glances, and a flirtatious tone that introduces a comic inflection within a dramatic framework. At this stage, she is not yet a fully formed comedienne; rather, her work in Dangerous Years suggests an early blending of sensuality and humor.

Her first major starring role came with Ladies of the Chorus, in which she plays Peggy Martin. This romantic drama includes musical elements, and Marilyn delivers a notably well-rounded performance, with drama and musical expression predominating and only minimal touches of comedy and action. It is important to emphasize that her debut as a leading actress clearly places her within the dramatic realm, even if the tone of the film remains light and accessible.

In the years that followed, Marilyn took on a variety of supporting roles that further demonstrated her range. In Love Happy, she delivered a comic supporting appearance in a now-legendary scene alongside Groucho Marx; in A Ticket to Tomahawk, her role was entirely musical. However, the films that truly began to give her visibility were The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve. The Asphalt Jungle is a crime noir, and Marilyn’s performance as Angela Phinlay is entirely dramatic. All About Eve, meanwhile, is a drama in which her character, Claudia Caswell, introduces comic notes, even though the film itself and the prestige it brought her are firmly rooted in drama. Significantly, the performances that first drew serious attention to Marilyn were dramatic rather than comic.

Between 1950 and 1952, Marilyn appeared in numerous supporting roles, many of them comic, though with important exceptions. In Clash by Night, she delivers a supporting performance that blends comedy and drama, revealing her ability to navigate shifting tones; in O. Henry’s Full House, she appears briefly but in a fully dramatic capacity. By 1952, Marilyn was already a highly recognizable figure, and 20th Century Fox began entrusting her with leading roles of greater weight.

The first starring roles that truly consolidated her stardom — Don’t Bother to Knock and Niagara — are both thrillers, albeit of different kinds. In Don’t Bother to Knock, she portrays Nell Forbes, a character defined by psychological tension and emotional fragility; in Niagara, she plays Rose Loomis in a thriller steeped in sexuality, danger, and conflict. In both cases, Marilyn’s performance is predominantly dramatic, and Niagara was a commercial success. For the first time, the general public saw Marilyn as a leading actress in a serious role. This point is crucial: her first major popular impact as a star came through drama and suspense, not comedy.

Shortly thereafter, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire propelled her comic persona to extraordinary heights. These films showcased her exceptional comedic and musical charisma and were even more successful than Niagara. From that moment on, public perception shifted decisively toward comedy, and Marilyn became almost automatically identified with that register.

This fame did not diminish her artistic ambitions. Marilyn was determined not to let her comic image overshadow her dramatic aspirations, which led her to study at the Actors Studio and work intensively with coaches such as Paula Strasberg. This was not an attempt to learn dramatic acting from scratch — she already possessed those skills — but rather to deepen her work, refine her technique, and strengthen her emotional credibility. Following this period, her dramatic performances gained greater psychological depth and complexity.

In the second half of the 1950s, she delivered some of her most acclaimed dramatic work. Bus Stop marked a turning point in critical recognition of Marilyn as a serious dramatic actress, and The Misfits ultimately cemented that reputation, with its somber tone and sustained emotional intensity. Even so, in purely commercial terms, her comedies generally remained more successful and continued to shape the popular image most audiences associated with her.

In summary, the earliest films in which Marilyn appeared were predominantly dramas or drama-inflected works, even if some of her initial performances incorporated comic elements. Her first film as a leading actress, Ladies of the Chorus, is a drama; the films that first brought her recognition within the industry and among audiences (The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve) are dramatic works; and her first starring roles after achieving fame (Don’t Bother to Knock and Niagara) are thrillers in which her performances are essentially dramatic. Moreover, Niagara was a success, meaning that the first time the mass audience encountered Marilyn as a full-fledged star, it was through a dramatic role.

Understanding this trajectory helps dismantle the simplistic notion of Marilyn Monroe as “only” a comic actress. Comedy was undoubtedly the field in which she reached an almost unparalleled peak, but her career demonstrates that drama was present from the very beginning and remained a fundamental part of her artistic identity. It is precisely this duality — drama and comedy coexisting within the same performer — that helps explain her enduring fascination and lasting significance in the history of cinema.