Marilyn Monroe, Part 2: The Playwright, the Prince, and the Misfits — Fame, Control, and the Long Collapse
6/2/20261 hr 16 min
This is Part 2 of our three-part series on Marilyn Monroe — marking her centennial on June 1, 2026, what would have been her 100th birthday.
By 1956, Marilyn Monroe had everything she'd fought for. Her own production company. The most unprecedented studio contract any actress had ever signed. The most respected playwright in America at her side. And the chance, for the first time, to be happy.
It would take less than two years for it all to begin falling apart.
Part 2 of our three-part series on Marilyn Monroe traces what came after she'd arrived — the films that proved every critic wrong, the marriage that broke her open, and the long slow collapse that no amount of success could outpace. It follows her through The Prince and the Showgirl opposite Laurence Olivier, the grueling production of Some Like It Hot, the script of Breakfast at Tiffany's before it went to Audrey Hepburn, and The Misfits — Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, John Huston, and the screenplay her husband wrote as a valentine and finished as a goodbye. And her tumultuous relationship with Fox — and with an industry that could never quite decide what she was allowed to be.
It also follows the personal collapses — the ones the public saw and the ones it didn't. The children she wanted more than anything, and the pregnancies that ended in heartbreak. The marriage to Arthur Miller, the man she believed finally saw her for who she really was — and the quiet, devastating realization that he didn't. And the pills that, year by year, took more and more of her.
This is the story of what fame takes from the women it makes — and of an actress who, even as everything fell apart around her, was still fighting to be seen for who she actually was.
WTWMI is written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Rankin. Original artwork by Simone Beech and original music by Lionel Ziblat.
Part 3 releases Tuesday, June 9. Part 1 is available now.
New episodes of WTWMI drop every Tuesday. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsPatrick Rankin· Host0:00
A quick content warning before we begin. Parts of this episode touch on difficult subjects: pregnancy loss, suicide, and mental health struggles, including substance dependence. We hold these moments with care and don't go into graphic detail, but they're part of Marilyn Monroe's story, and we want you to know before going in. Thank you. [crowd noise] Los Angeles, March 8th, 1960. Inside the Coconut Grove, the lights are low, the tables are crowded, and the room is abuzz in celebration. It's Golden Globes night, a night the industry gathers to honor its own, and the Ambassador Hotel's famous nightclub has been dressed for the occasion. White tablecloths, champagne, an orchestra playing beneath the noise of a hundred conversations. Clark Gable is at a table near the front. Bing Crosby is somewhere in the crowd. Joan Collins holds court. And then Marilyn Monroe arrives. She's dressed all in white,