L-R: Jeanne Carmen, Tony Curtis, Jill Curtis
MGM Grand Hotel - Penthouse - Las Vegas
Hollywood Legend TONY CURTIS has published the book AMERICAN PRINCE: A MEMOIR: Crown Publishing Group: ISBN-13: 9780307408495
Marilyn Monroe said that when she was a child her mother had been sick. Marilyn didn’t mention her father. She had a friend named JEANNE CARMEN, a showgirl, who was very important to her, but on the whole Marilyn made it sound as if she was very isolated. We started to kiss and fondle each other, but that was the extent of the evening. At 11 o’clock, I drove her back.
I liked Marilyn very much and really enjoyed her company. She was a little odd, but so was I. We both acted very outgoing, but deep down we weren’t at ease with ourselves. Her reluctance to open up about her life just made me that much more interested in her, but the next few times I called to make a date she told me she was busy. Marilyn had been spending time at the Twentieth Century Fox studio. She was changing her style, her look, even her persona. When we had first started going out, she spoke in a normal voice, plainly and directly. Now she was learning what the public wanted, and by the end of our relationship she was beginning to talk with that breathy, sexy affectation that became her trademark. She also changed her hair colour, from red to platinum blonde.
On our next date we went for lunch at the Twentieth Century Fox commissary. That weekend I asked Howard Duff if I could use his house again. I bought a couple of steaks and picked Marilyn up at her hotel. Howard had a little grill in his garden. I cooked the steaks, opened a can of string beans, cut up some tomatoes, and uncorked a bottle of wine.
We had a leisurely dinner; then we walked outside in the moonlight. I knew something was going to happen, and so did she.
About two o’clock we went up to the bedroom, and I took off my shirt. Marilyn made herself comfortable, stripping down to her panties and bra, and sat on the edge of the bed. She was magnificent. We started to kiss and hold each other, and I undid her bra. Her breasts were every teenage boy’s fantasy come true. As we began to make love, I could tell that this was not her first time. She moved easily and seemed comfortable, which made her comfortable, too.
Something about it just seemed so right. I was bedding more than a few great-looking girls at this time in my life, but I liked Marilyn more than any of the others. She was different. She was very fragile and vulnerable, which attracted me greatly. We continued seeing each other for awhile. We would go to her friend JEANNE CARMEN’s place, or Howard’s bungalow, and once we even went to Marilyn’s hotel room. We almost never went out at night in public, though.
Marilyn was the first woman I ever truly felt close to. We had real feelings for each other, although I wasn’t ready for a serious relationship, and neither was she. Neither one of us was willing – or able – to take what we had between us to the next level.
