Don Murray recalls his experience of working with American actor, singer late Marilyn Monroe who suffered from crippling anxiety.
The now-89-year-old who starred alongside Marilyn Monroe in 1956s 'Bus Stop'
"She was very, very nervous, she'd break out in a rash every time we'd shoot a scene," Murray was quoted by Fox News as saying to Closer Weekly.
According to Murray, Monroe's rashes got so bad that makeup artists were called in to hide her blemishes. However, it was difficult for them to make the distressed actress look flawless during certain scenes.
"We had a scene where she was naked in bed, and she kept rolling around and accidentally exposing herself," recalled Murray.
The actor said that he tried every possible means to make Monroe feel at ease on set, but filming "Bus Stop" was not an easy task.
"After the first day of shooting, Joshua Logan, the director of the film came to me and said, 'Marilyn has a tendency to miss her marks,'" said Murray. "He told me, 'Whenever she's off her mark, put your hands on her hips and move her.'"
The 'From Hell to Texas' actor claimed that every time he attempted to move Monroe a little bit to the left or right, she would get angry with him.
Despite the on-set struggles, Murray never regretted appearing in his first big film with the singer.
"I never really held it against her, because for her to agree to let me play this leading role was such a generous thing; she and I had never done a movie," said Murray. "I was always aware of that and grateful to her."
This is not the first time; Murray has opened up about working with the famous actor. According to Fox News and as cited by FilmTalk.org, back in 2014 also, Murray spoke that despite Monroe being a big star, she was affected with a lot of insecurities.
"She was very insecure, very frightened of acting in front of the camera, which is amazing," said Murray at the time. Being such a big star, she had done so many films, and yet, she was so frightened. But she took the part very seriously, listened to Josh Logan and took his directions."
He further said, "Her coach Paul Strasberg was also on the set: she was coaching her to do the role. A lot of directors had trouble with Paula being on the set, but for Josh, it worked fine. I think together with Paula, he created a wonderful character."
Murray, along with his other co-actors felt that 'Bus Stop' would be a risk of becoming a box office failure because of continuous strenuous work it took for Monroe to portray her part. But everyone was stunned when they saw the film for the first time.
"The first time we saw it at a preview, all of a sudden we realized the real essence of the film, with the editing and cutting it all together: she was magnificent!" said Murray.
"I never understood why she was not nominated for an Academy Award for 'Bus Stop.' It was won by Ingrid Bergman, a wonderful actress, there's no question about that, but Marilyn's performance in 'Bus Stop' was so much richer, it had so much more variety and it was so much more interesting than Ingrid Bergman's character in 'Anastasia," he said.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
