Även med Miller nådde Monroe inte ända fram

 

Marilyn Monroe's longest marriage was with third husband Arthur Miller. The two were complete opposites: a movie star sex symbol in love with a cerebral, award-winning playwright. But in the end, Miller, just like second spouse Joe DiMaggio, wasn't enough for the fragile actress. In addition to marital stressors like failed pregnancies, misunderstandings and clashes over work, Monroe's demons, evinced in her drinking and drug use, proved impossible to escape.

Monroe first encountered Miller in 1950. At the time she was still trying to find fame, while he was already acclaimed as one of the country's leading playwrights, thanks to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman. Monroe was also sleeping with Miller's friend, director Elia Kazan, who was in Los Angeles to pitch a screenplay with Miller.

Monroe saw Miller off at the airport in January 1951 when he returned to New York. He'd told her how unhappy his current marriage was, so she expected he'd soon return. In the meantime, she placed his photo on a bookshelf above her pillow. But though the two exchanged letters — Monroe bought a biography of Abraham Lincoln that Miller recommended in one note — he stayed in New York.

 Monroe and Miller didn't meet again in person until 1955 after she'd moved to New York City to study at the Actors' Studio. With her most recent marriage to DiMaggio lasting less than a year, she was single and still very much interested in Miller. Monroe even forged a relationship with his friends Norman and Hedda Rosten to get closer to the playwright.

Soon Miller and Monroe embarked upon an affair, despite the fact that he remained a married man. However, in the years since they'd first met, she'd become a star. This meant the press paid close attention to every move Monroe made, and their affair couldn't remain a secret.

Monroe wanted to be with Miller, who seemed to offer her both love and the sense of security she'd always yearned for. She also liked the idea of being seen as a serious actress who was partnered with a renowned playwright. Miller was reluctant to leave his wife, but he was very much in love with Monroe; in one letter, he told her, "I believe that I should really die if I ever lost you." In the spring of 1956, he went to Nevada to establish residency so he could divorce his wife.

Though Miller was cited for contempt (his subsequent conviction would eventually be overturned on appeal), he did get his passport. Miller and Monroe got married on June 29, 1956, in a judge's office in White Plains, New York; a Jewish ceremony followed on July 1. Together, they next headed to England so Monroe could work on The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier.

Monroe was delighted by her marriage, saying at one point, "This is the first time I’ve been really in love." But the movie shoot didn't go smoothly and she clashed with Olivier. Then she happened upon notes Miller had been making about her. The exact words she read are unknown, but they related that Miller was disappointed by their marriage and sometimes found Monroe embarrassing.

Monroe's discovery in England wasn't enough to end her marriage. She and Miller would have happy moments, such as when he dedicated an edition of his collected plays to her. Monroe also tried to embrace a quieter life of cooking and homemaking. But these moments of happiness were interrupted by other problems.

Monroe was particularly devastated by her inability to give birth to Miller's child. She experienced a miscarriage in September 1956, lost an ectopic pregnancy in August 1957, and had a second miscarriage in December 1958, shortly after she'd finished shooting Some Like It Hot. A regular user — and abuser — of pills and alcohol, Monroe blamed herself for the last miscarriage.

Miller was finding the peace and emotional quiet he required to write lacking, while Monroe had come to resent her husband. She didn't like that he'd ignored his principles and did a lackluster rewrite of scenes for her film Let's Make Love. And when she had an affair with co-star Yves Montand, she noted that Miller didn't fight for her, or even object to the liaison.

Monroe and Miller's relationship reached its end point while they worked together on what would be her final film, The Misfits. The movie script, based on a short story by Miller, had initially been intended to help her be seen as a serious actress. Yet by the time the film was shooting in the summer of 1960, she disliked the script, declaring at one point, "Arthur said it’s his movie. I don’t think he even wants me in it. It’s all over. We have to stay with each other because it would be bad for the film if we split up now."

 Reflecting on her relationship with Miller, Monroe admitted, "I wasn’t sweet all through. He should love the monster, too. But maybe I’m too demanding. Maybe there’s no man who could put up with all of me. I put Arthur through a lot, I know. But he also put me through a lot." Her relationship with Miller, and everyone else, came to an end after she died from a drug overdose on August 5, 1962. Miller opted not to attend her funeral, noting, "She won’t be there."