Marilyn Monroe Marries Arthur Miller
Today in history: June 29, 1956
Actress Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in a four-minute civil ceremony, today in history, June 29, 1956. The wedding took place in New York State, at the Westchester County Courthouse.
Writer Norman Mailer declared the wedding as a joining of "The Great American Body" and "The Great American Brain."
When Monroe met Miller, she told a friend, “It was like running into a tree! You know, like a cool drink when you’ve got a fever.”
The couple wed again on July 1, 1956, in a Jewish ceremony. The ceremony took place at the home of Miller’s agent, Kay Brown, close to Katonah, New York.
Monroe studied Judaic texts with Miller's family and rabbi, and converted to Judaism, yearning to be included in Miller’s family.
In 1951, film and theater director Elia Kazan introduced the couple on the set of As Young as You Feel. Monroe was married twice before, and it was Miller’s second time.
Monroe wrote: “Hope, Hope, Hope” on the back of one of her wedding pictures. But like Monroe’s nine-month marriage to Joe DiMaggio, cracks began forming as early in her marriage to Miller. On their honeymoon in London, she found notes written by Miller that expressed doubts regarding their marriage, from which she never fully recovered.
Also straining their marriage was Monroe’s addiction to pills, her growing volatile behavior, and her affair with Yves Montand, a French actor. Miller’s connection with Austrian photographer Inge Morath, and Miller's emotional withdrawal from Monroe.
During the filming of The Misfits, the screenplay Miller wrote for Monroe, the couple barely spoke to one another. They divorced on January 24, 1961, one week before the film opened.
Monroe, 36, was found dead on August 5, 1962, in her Los Angeles home. An empty pill bottle was found near her body.
Miller did not attend Marilyn Monroe’s funeral.