Marylin Monroe was the quintessential All-American bombshell: white, gorgeous, blonde, and prodigiously talented. Why, then, would Ana de Armas, a Latina actress, play Marilyn in a movie about Monroe’s life? Surely, there are plenty of white American actresses suitable for the role.
Ana de Armas does a brilliant job playing Monroe, and her performance just generated Oscar buzz. Our interest lies not in her acting but in her casting.
Andrew Dominick, BlondThe director of , may have cast Ana de Armas in the role as a clever way to highlight Marilyn Monroe’s Mexican heritage.
Marilyn’s mother, Gladys Baker, was born in Mexico to white parents.
Gladys Baker and Marilyn Monroe | Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
In the 1890s, a severe drought struck the Midwest, forcing American families to travel south to Mexico. Otis Elmer Monroe, Marilyn’s grandfather, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana; Della Mae Hogan, Marilyn’s grandfather, hailed from Bentonville, Arkansas.
Otis and Della settled in what is now Piedras Negras, Mexico, a town just across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. In the 1890s, Piedras Negras was known as Porfirio Díaz.
The family learned ranching and agriculture from their Mexican hosts and integrated Mexican culture into their lives. Otis supplemented his income by working as a painter for a railroad in Porfirio Díaz.
Otis and Della welcomed Gladys Pearl in 1902, a year before they returned to the United States. In 1903, the family settled in Los Angeles, where Otis worked for the Pacific Electric Railway Company. However, the Monroes did not abandon the Latino culture: Gladys grew up learning Spanish and English.
Marilyn Monroe was born to Gladys Pearl and Charles Stanley Gifford on June 1, 1926. Gifford was a white man from Newport County, Rhode Island. Gladys had Latino roots but was of white ethnicity.
Therefore, although Marilyn’s mother grew up surrounded by Latino culture, she was white, just like Marilyn Monroe.
Monroe embraced her Mexican heritage later in her career.
During Monroe’s time, white Americans, who made up almost 90% of the population, had little patience for diversity in Hollywood or anywhere else. Hollywood responded by modifying the identities of the performers to meet the demands of viewers. For example, ethnic-sounding names were changed to sound American.
If Monroe wanted to succeed, she had to hide her Mexican roots. Publicly, she Marilyn suppressed her Latina identity but secretly took Spanish lessons. Studio executives were concerned that she might speak Spanish during a trip to Mexico, which would ruin the ‘California Girl’ facade they had created for her.
In 1955, Monroe formed Marilyn Monroe Productions to manage her career. Freed from the demands of Hollywood executives, Marilyn set her sights south of the border and began to openly embrace her Mexican roots.
He frequented entertainment venues in Mexico’s border cities alongside celebrities such as Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. In February 1962, Monroe visited Mexico City and dined on tacos while being serenaded by mariachis.
Monroe climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun and told a reporter at the Continental Hotel in Spanish that she was open to falling in love with a Mexican. True to her word, she Marilyn embarked on a whirlwind romance with writer-producer José Bolaños.
In her last photo shoot, Marilyn wore a sweater she had bought during her trip to Mexico City. Authorities found the sweater in furniture that she had imported from Mexico to Los Angeles.
Monroe’s grandfather came from the Scottish Munro clan.
According to an August 2019 report from the scotsman, Monroe’s grandfather, Otis Elmer Monroe, came from the Scottish Munro clan. The outlet claimed that Otis could trace his line back to John Munro, “a prisoner of war exiled to the United States after the Battle of Worcester during the English Civil War in 1651.”
the scotsman reported that the Clan Munro DNA project had shown that Marilyn’s ancestors originated from the Moray village of Edinkillie, near Forres.
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Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn