Marilyn: Behind the Icon

Producer, Nina Boski interviews series narrator, Brad Hyland. As an award-winning voice actor, Brad has been voicing projects for over 20 years and he is perfect for the sound of this podcast. His bold but friendly and connective style can be heard in museum and visitor center film narrations, as well as many current corporate and commercial projects all around the globe. He has voiced commercials for Pepsi Max, Amtrak, Abercrombie & Fitch, TaylorMade Golf, Whirlpool/Maytag, Texas A&M and other major universities, and is also the voice of “Santa” for Elf on the Shelf. https://www.americanvoicepower.com/

Producer, Nina Boski interviews actress Erin Gavin who plays Marilyn Monroe. Erin was a child actress and then expanded into roles on the television series EastEnders, Still Game, and Footballers’ Wives, in addition to a role in the horror film Dread before moving from the UK to California. Since that time, she has had roles in films and television series including Junk, 1000 Ways To Die, Making Thirty, and The Love Addict. In 2014, Erin played the role of Marilyn Monroe in the stage play Marilyn: My Secret at the Macha Theatre in Hollywood, California. She also played Monroe in the television film Marilyn Monroe: The Last Investigation. Now she is taking on the role that was made for her, Marilyn: Behind the Icon.

Marilyn drives to Palm Springs to meet her father with a friend in early 1951. She recalls her early years living with her Mother and her childhood experiences escaping her lonely life at the local movie theater. Norma Jeane attends a movie premiere in 1933 at the Chinese Theater with Gladys and Grace. She begins to build an imaginary world to escape her harsh reality through the fantasy of the movies of the early 1930s. Flash forward to Marilyn meeting her childhood film idol, Clark Gable, the King of Hollywood, at a lavish Hollywood party after The Seven Year Itch is released. More at BehindtheIcon.com

Co-producers Nina, Randall, and Gary discuss the circumstances surrounding Marilyn Monroe’s birth, the sources they used to reconstruct the early attachment challenges between the child and her mother, in addition to the symptoms of mental illness experienced by her mother and grandmother. Gary outlines Monroe’s multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences and their impact on the star’s life.

Norma Jeane is born in Los Angeles. Gladys’s best friend Grace comes to visit her after the baby’s birth and talks about the child’s future. Infant Norma Jeane is placed in foster care with the Bolenders, a couple who have rigid religious beliefs. She begins her life experiencing childhood trauma and abuse. Della, Norma Jeane’s grandmother, has a psychotic episode at the Bolenders. Norma Jeane adopts her first pet, a stray dog that follows her to school.

Co-Producers Nina, Randall, and Gary analyze Monroe’s remarks about her childhood as “grim” and her efforts to ground and rebuild her life with DiMaggio in a new home in Brentwood as a corrective experience for her unstable childhood. Gary describes the Bolender household as rigid and punitive. Randall reviews the relationship between Monroe’s mother Gladys, and her best friend, Grace McKee and the episode’s re-creation of their peripheral work in the film industry in the 1920s. The co-writers analyze the matriarchy of Monroe’s family during a changing time in American history. Gary provides a timeline of the chaos in the lives of Monroe’s mother and grandmother.

Marilyn purchases a Spanish hacienda style home in Brentwood, California in early 1962, and reflects upon her childhood. Her memories take us back in time to the 1920s as we learn the story of her mother Gladys in the years shortly before Marilyn was born. The episode introduces Gladys and new found friend Grace McKee’s relationship when they worked together as film cutters at Consolidated Film Industries in the early years of the Hollywood motion picture industry during the Roaring Twenties. More at BehindtheIcon.com

The series producers, Nina, Randall, and Gary investigate Monroe’s negative childhood memories and explain their use of creative license to dramatize factual events in her life. They discuss the episode’s depiction of Monroe’s psychotherapy sessions with Dr. Ralph Greenson as a window into viewing her family history of mental illness and other serious personal challenges. Gary responds to questions about the limits of Monroe’s treatment options in the late 1950s and early 1960s compared to today’s effective interventions.

The episode opens with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn on the set of Some Like it Hot discussing the production shoot. Marilyn reveals an early childhood memory that still haunts her. In 1960, Marilyn engages in psychotherapy with Dr. Ralph Greenson as a result of her personal crisis after the production of Let’s Make Love. She explores her extensive maternal family history of mental illness as Greenson begins to connect the patterns in her past to her current relationships with men. More at BehindtheIcon.com

The series producers, Nina, Randall, and Gary provide insight into the Monroe-DiMaggio relationship at the end of Marilyn’s life. Gary discusses the Tampa Bay, Florida community’s reaction to the couple’s famous visit in 1961 depicted in the episode from a historical perspective. Nina and Randall talk about working with actress Erin Gavin and the studying of Monroe’s real life vocal inflection, intonation, and speech patterns using actual recordings and how it differs from her acting voice. Gary reveals more about Marilyn’s professional goals in 1961 and DiMaggio’s efforts to increase his sincere emotional support for Marilyn despite his past transgressions. More at BehindtheIcon.com