Colin Clark and his true story of Marilyn Monroe

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Colin Clark - comes from an aristocratic family, a graduate of Eton and Oxford, has mastered many professions in his life: he was the personal assistant of Laurence Olivier, worked on television, was a director of documentaries. After retiring and having mastered another profession, this time as a writer, Clark releases a biographical book and becomes a real celebrity. No wonder, because in this book he talks about his short, but amazing acquaintance with the greatest movie star - Marilyn Monroe!

In the photo below, Colin Clark and Marilyn Monroe.

Third assistant director

Colin was born in 1932 in England, in the most aristocratic family: his father was an influential art historian and director of the National Gallery. In 1957, after graduating from Eton and having failed in the field of military aviation (Clark wanted to become a fighter pilot, but was unsuitable for service), the young man got a job as the third assistant director on the set. It happened in many waysthanks to his father's connections. It was the shooting of Laurence Olivier's film "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Marilyn Monroe in the title role. Colin was a lively young man, brought up from birth in the best English traditions, he turned out to be accommodating and grasped everything on the fly. The director noted these qualities and after the filming of the film he kept it to himself. For a long time, Clark remained Olivier's personal assistant. But Colin published a book about these shootings only many years later - in 1995, and he wrote about the details of his personal acquaintance with Marilyn even later - in 2000, just two years before his own death.

Personal Assistant

Laurence Olivier is one of the most famous and prominent actors of the 20th century, as well as a director and producer. Even before starting work on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, Colin was well acquainted with both Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh. They were friends of his father and often came to visit the Clarks. "I have always treated them as part of our extended family," Colin recalls in the pages of his second book. It was thanks to Olivier's favorable attitude towards him, an inexperienced young man, that Colin Clark later became a successful television worker. "I learned a lot from Olivier, I learned even when he didn't say anything, just by being around him," Clarke wrote.

Pictured below are Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl.

Meet Marilyn Monroe

The brightest starAmerican cinema and one of the greatest comedy actresses in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe in 1956 was at the peak of her popularity. At this time, she received an offer to star in the film "The Prince and the Showgirl", on the set of which Clark met her. “I didn’t dare write my book while Marilyn was alive,” says the opening lines of A Week with Marilyn, “and now I’m writing it in the hope of paying tribute to the wonderful woman who changed my life. If I could, I would like to save her." As the third assistant director, Colin somehow imperceptibly became the unofficial personal assistant of a Hollywood star: he rented a house for her, hired the entire staff of assistants - from bodyguards to a cook. Here's what Colin Clark said about her:

Marilyn turned out to be a goddess and should have been treated accordingly.

Colin Clark's "The Prince, the Showgirl and Me"

Clark released this work at the end of his life, in 1995. It is a fictionalized diary he kept during his time on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl. The book may be of interest to all lovers of "behind the scenes". It is a rather colorful collection of excerpts from the lives of so many celebrities, not just Olivier and Monroe. True, nine days were omitted from the detailed narrative. This is the period when Clark simply had no time to write. It was these days, restored from memory after the death of the actress, that formed the basis ofthe basis of the next book, My Week with Marilyn.

Unforgettable week

Speaking about the events described in the book, Clark uses one word - "magic". Indeed, this is not a diary, not another superficial biography of the actress, this is a fairy tale, a miracle that happened to an English young man and changed his life forever.

For the first time off set, Colin runs into the actress at her home, witnessing a nasty family scene between her and her husband, playwright Arthur Miller. Because of this, Marilyn suspects the young man of espionage, and on this basis she herself enters into a dialogue with him. From that moment on, Colin considers himself her friend, protector and something like a personal page. She invites him to visit, they begin to spend part of the time together. Marilyn sometimes seems to openly laugh at the naive and head over heels in love with her young man, but it is still noticeable that Colin is actually some kind of outlet for her.

Suddenly she wrapped her arms around my head, pulled me to her and kissed my lips. It took me a hundredth of a second to realize what was happening. A second later, I realized that Marilyn was not wearing clothes - at least above the waist. The touch of her lips and chest in the icy water nearly made me faint.

– Phew! It was wonderful, - breathed Marilyn. - I kissed someone younger than me for the first time. Shall we repeat?

The photo below is a frame from the film "Seven Days and Nights with Marilyn", where Monroe and Colin Clarkfilmed in a candid scene in a pond.

According to Clark, she becomes more confident and collected on the set, and all simply because he was the only one in this foreign country who treated her with warmth and understanding. No one else could think of such a simple thing.

The book ends with a sad conclusion: after the end of filming and the departure of the actress, Colin Clark never saw or spoke to her again. Four years later, she called him one day and left her number since Clark was not at home.

I finally dialed the number and listened to the beeps for a long time in the silence of the California night. No one answered, and I - ashamed to admit - felt relieved. And not because there was no longer a place for her in my heart. And because by that time no one could help her. Poor Marilyn. Time is up.

Screening of memoirs

11 years after the publication of the book, "Seven Days and Nights with Marilyn" is released, starring Michelle Williams and Eddie Redmayne, illustrating the story of Colin Clark. Filming took place at the same studio where "The Prince and the Showgirl" was once filmed.

The film was favorably received by the audience and critics, however, none of the main participants in those events were alive at the time of the film's release, so it is very difficult to judge the authenticity of the events depicted. But the film succeeded in one important task: it drew attention to the book by Colin Clark,after reading which, perhaps, someone will feel sympathy for Marilyn Monroe in the same way that Colin Clark once sympathized with her.