As a teenager, Cooper began to feel restless and decided to take several international excursions by himself toprovehe could adapt to different situations. In addition to trekking the Rockies and kayaking in Mexico, at 17 he decided to backpack through Central Africa. While there, he contracted malaria and spent time at a hospital in Kenya.
Marilyn Monroe would have been 92 years old today. Had she not passed away in 1962 at the age of 36, what might she be doing now? Would she have continued acting? Retired to become Mrs. Joe DiMaggio for the second time? Carved out an Oscar-winning career for herself? What could have been remains a mystery, much like Monroe herself. In honor of her birthday, here are 14 things wedoknow.
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Monroes bookshelf was exceedingly impressive. At the time of her death, she ownedmore than 400volumes, including several first editions. Of the thousands of photographs taken of her, she was especiallyfondof ones that showed her reading. When a director once found her reading R.M. RilkesLetters to a Young Poet, he asked her how she chose it. [On] nights when Ive got nothing else to do I go to the Pickwick bookstore on Hollywood Boulevard, shetoldhim. And I just open books at randomor when I come to a page or a paragraph I like, I buy that book. So last night I bought this one. Is that wrong?
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Despite her familys considerable wealth, Gloria Vanderbilt has no intention of leaving Cooper any cash when she exits the planet. My mom made it clear to me theres no trust fund, theres none of that, hetoldHoward Stern, calling inheritances an initiative sucker.
4. MONROE WAS HER MOTHERS MAIDEN NAME.
Maybe the trauma of being slammed against a wall by Tim Curry dressed as a sharp-toothed clown was too much for Heller, becauseItappears to have been his only acting job ever. Theres not much out there about what hes doing these days, though one site speculates that he went into sales, which is more than a little vague.
Born in New York in 1967 to actor Wyatt Cooper and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, Cooper was exposed from an early age to a very unique social circle. His parents held parties where theyinvitedthe likes of Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish, and George Plimpton. Coopers father once said that everyone treated Anderson and his older brother, Carter, like adults. No child should ever be called little, Wyatt toldNew YorkMagazine in 2005. They were always treated like potential adults.
After her death, Monroe was buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. DiMaggio originally owned the crypt above hers, but sold it when they divorced. The buyer was Richard Poncher, a fan whorequestedthat he be flipped over when he was buried so he could lay face down on top of Monroe for eternity. Charming. Though his wife obliged the request, she changed her mind in 2009 and put the plot up for sale on eBay. It brought in a whopping$4.6 million, but the buyer later backed out.
Several of her recipes were discovered after her death, and in 2010,The New York Timestried making her stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving. They found it surprisingly complex andtheorizedthat she not only cooked, but cooked confidently and with flair.
She chose her new surname because it was her mothers maiden name. In her ghost-written autobiography, Monroesaidshe was told that she was somehow related to President James Monroe, but no evidence has ever been found to support that. Marilyncamefrom a studio executive who thought she resembled Marilyn Miller, an actress who died at the age of 37 (Monroe was 36 when she passed away).
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After Coopers father passed away during heart surgery at the age of 50, 10-year-old Cooper decided that he should begin to think about providing for himself. Eager to have a source of income, he signed with the Ford Modeling Agency andbegan modeling clothesfor Ralph Lauren and Macys, among others. (The gigs lasted until age 13 when, according to Cooper, a photographer made some inappropriate comments, which led him to quit.)
Truman Capote had Monroe in mind for the lead role inBreakfast at Tiffanysand she even performed two scenes for him. She was terrifically good, Capote latersaid. In the end, she didnt take the part because her advisor and acting coach didnt think it was the type of character she should be playing. Either way, Capote wasnt at all thrilled with the studios choice of Audrey Hepburn, saying, Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey.
Hugh Hefner famously purchased the plot right next to hers. Though she graced thefirst cover ofPlayboy, the two never met. I feel a double connection to her because she was the launching key to the beginning ofPlayboy,he hassaid.
As is the case with many children, young Cooper could take information and process it literally. When his father showed him a statue that was erected in honor of ancestor Cornelius Vanderbilt, Cooperadmittedhe thought dying meant that your body would turn to stone.
The kicker? That particular fight was completely unnecessary. The crowd made enough noise that the footage shot that day was completely unusable, so Monroe had tore-shoother scenes on a closed sound stage.
As a child, Norma Jean Baker was in and out of foster homes, state care, and the guardianship of various family friends. She never knew her father, and her mother had been committed to a psychiatric facility. A 15-year-old Baker had been staying with family friend Grace Goddard, but they decided to move to West Virginia, and couldnt take Baker. Unless she married, the teenager would have been turned back over to an orphanage. So they turned to 20-year-old James Dougherty next door and suggested a marriage. I thought she was awful young, he latersaid, but we talked and we got on pretty good. They were married just 18 days after she turned 16.
After a couple of parts in movies likeRoboCop 2andWhere the Red Fern Grows, Faraizl left the business. He graduated with a degree in Pacific & Asian Studies from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, and has since become one of fewer than 100 sak experts in the United States, passing the level one and level two Sak Education Council exams in Japan. Hes currently the resident beverage director atKenichiin Austin, Texas.
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Famed photographer Diane Arbus onceconvincedVanderbilt to allow her to photograph a sleeping Cooper for a spread inHarpers Bazaarmagazine. After some reluctance, Vanderbilt allowed the photo to be published; its since become one of Arbuss most recognizable photographs and has been displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
11. HER WARDROBE IS WORTH A PRETTY PENNY.
Actor Eli Wallach once recalled that Monroe seemed to flip an inner switch and turn Marilyn on and off. He had been walking on Broadway with her one evening, totally incognito, and the next minute, she was swarmed with attention. I just felt like being Marilyn for a minute, Wallachremembersher saying. Photographer Sam Shaw often heard her critiquing Marilyns performances in movies or at photo shoots, making comments like, She wouldnt do this. Marilyn would say that.
At $1,267,500, the sheer, spangled dress Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to JFK in 1962 set the world record for the most expensive piece of clothingever sold. A collectible company purchased it. The famousSeven Year Itchdress set a record, too, selling for$4.6 millionin 2011. Casual attire goes for less, but still fetches more than your average pair of Levis: Tommy Hilfigerboughther jeans from Otto PremingersRiver of No Returnfor $37,000andgavethem to Britney Spears as a gift.
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DiMaggio continued to be there when Monroe needed him, including bringing her to spring training so she could get away from Hollywood for a while. Shortly before her death, DiMaggio had been telling friends that they were going to get remarried. When she died, he was in charge of the funeraland refused to allow almost anyone from Hollywood to attend. Tell them, if it wasnt for them, shed still be here, hesaid. The rumors are true, by the way: He had roses delivered to her grave twice a week for 20 years.
12. MONROE AND JOE DIMAGGIO WERE ONLY MARRIED FOR EIGHT MONTHS.
Following both his brothers suicide and his graduation from Yale, a distraught Cooper decided to once again head overseas to try and distract himself from emotional upheaval. Without an official job with a news outlet, Coopermade his own press passes, bought a video camera, and did freelance work from such war-torn areas as Burma and Somalia to cover famines and unrest. Back home, he was able to sell the footage to Channel One, a classroom-based closed-circuit news network. The channel later made him anofficialcorrespondent; in 1995, Cooper wound up at ABC.
During his short-lived daytime talk show,Anderson Live, Cooperinvitedlegendary broadcaster Phil Donahue for an interview. To commemorate the occasionand Halloweenhe dressed up as the silver-haired, microphone-wielding talk traffic cop. Cooper said he grew up watching Donahue and wanted to pay homage to him.
After stints on a few TV shows, Taylor appears to have taken a 15-year hiatus from acting, reappearing on the scene in 2009at least according toIMDb. But IMDb may be mixing up the resumes of two different Marlon Taylors. In thisHollywood Todayinterview, the Marlon Taylor who is in the 2009 movieKnow Thy Enemystates that its his first film ever. Anyone know what the actor who played 12-year-old Mike Hanlon has been up to?
Suspecting ABC executives were correct, Cooper backed away fromMoleduties and migrated to CNN in 2002. The networkslotted himon Paula Zahns a.m. showAmerican Morning, where Cooper failed to impress critics who may still have been doubting his credentials from the reality television stint.The Los Angeles Timescalled him the chuckling Anderson Cooper, who looked as though he rode over on a skateboard. Cooper laterdescribedhis performance on the show as nervous and uncomfortable. But by taking on other network assignments no one wanted, he was later able toearn himselfan opportunity as anchor ofAnderson Cooper 360.
You could say that Green has managed to stay busy since his days as 12-year-old Richie Tozier. Hes the voice of Chris onFamily Guy, of course, and is co-creator/writer/director/executive producer/voice actor on Adult SwimsRobot Chicken. Green has also been in pretty much everything ever, fromMr. BelvederetoHow I Met Your Mother. And he seems to be doing his best to battle Richie Toziers fear of werewolves: Not only did he play a werewolf inBuffy the Vampire Slayer, he also played a character named Wolfman when he guest-starred onseaQuest DSValongside hisItco-star Jonathan Brandis in 1993.
As any self-respectingTiger Beatreader from the 90s knows, Brandis was quite the teen heartthrob following his appearances inThe NeverEnding Story II, Sidekicks, Ladybugsand the TV showseaQuest DSV. When the show was canceled in 1996, Brandis found himself in the middle of a career downswing. After a string of small parts and a couple of made-for-TV movies, Brandis hoped to make a comeback with the 2002 dramaHarts War. Unfortunately, his scenes were cut, and friends believe it was the tipping point that caused Brandis to commit suicide in 2003.
The joke was, she couldnt make two sentences meet, said Don Murray, an actor who co-starred with Monroe in the 1956 filmBus Stop. Though some chalked it up to a lack of professionalism, othersincludingMurraybelieved it was nerves. For somebody who the camera loved, she was still terrified of going before the camera and broke out in a rash all over her body.
Monroe filed for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty not long after.
After enrolling at Yale University, Cooper noticed a flyer hanging in the schools career counseling office inviting students to explore their options with the CIA. Hedecidedto spend his summers interning at the headquarters of the agency in Langley, Virginia. Cooper latercalledthe work pretty bureaucratic and mundane and decided not to pursue intelligence work as a profession.
Fans of Canadian horror movies will know Perkins as the protagonist of theGinger Snapsseries.Supernaturalviewers might recognize Emily from a few episodes from 2009 to 2011, when she appeared as Winchester superfan Becky Rosen. She also starred in a Canadian sitcom calledHiccupsand has had small roles inJuno,Shes the Man,andProzac Nation, among other things.
Their romance is infamous, but Monroe was only married to second husband Joe DiMaggio for a Kardashian-esque 274 days. Though many things contributed to their divorce, the infamous subway scene inThe Seven Year Itch, where the skirt of Marilyns white dress billows up, was said to have been the last straw.The scenewas shot in front of a large crowd of media and bystanders, and DiMaggio became irate over how much she was exposing herself. They fought over it, andaccording to some reports, DiMaggio got physical.
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14. EVEN BEING BURIED NEXT TO HER IS A BIG DEAL.
Her marriage to writer Arthur Miller probably tells you that, but theres more evidence. Monroe was once roommates with actress Shelley Winters, who said they made a list of men they wanted to sleep with, just for fun. There was no one under 50 on hers, Winters laterreported. I never got to ask her before she died how much of her list she had achieved, but on her list was Albert Einstein, and after her death, I noticed that there was a silver-framed photograph of him on her white piano.
These days, Cranecalls himselfa washed-up actor, father and tech nerd. He has owned several businesses, includingSolid Fuel Creative, an L.A.-based marketing and advertising firm.
At ABC, Cooper was charged with anchoring the overnight news seriesWorld News Tonightandlater hostinga reality television series calledThe Mole. Perceiving the latter as a serious blow to his credibility, ABC executivessaidhe would never again work in broadcast news.
There are few among us who can say that Pennywise the Clown didnt keep them up at night when Stephen KingsItgraced the small screen in 1990. But can you imagine being the kids who had to actuallyactopposite that? Never fearfor the most part, they seem to have grown up to be well-adjusted individuals. Heres what the Lucky Seven (or the Losers Club, if you read the book) are doing these days.
Winters says she onceaskedthe actress to wash lettuce so they could have salad for dinner. When she walked into the kitchen, Winters found Monroe washing each individual lettuce leaf with a Brillo pad.
The rumor has long circulated that Ella Fitzgerald was originally denied due to her race, butaccordingto one biographer, race wasnt the deterrent for nightclub owner Charlie Morrison; Eartha Kitt and Dorothy Dandridge had already played there. The problem was that Morrison didnt believe Fitzgerald was glamorous enough for his patrons. A huge Fitzgerald fan, Monroe promised to be in the front row every night if Morrison would book her, guaranteeing massive amounts of press for the club. He agreed, and Monroe was true to her word. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again, Fitzgeraldsaid. She was an unusual womana little ahead of her times. And she didnt know it.
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