Modern day Marilyn Monroes contend for Best Actress at 2023 Oscars

The 2023 Oscars will see two actresses who have both played the late movie star and fashion icon Marilyn Monroe competing for the Best Actress Award.

Two blondes, one award

Ana de Armas played Monroe in the 2022 film, ‘Blonde’, a biopic of the star’s life, and is up for a 2023 Oscar for her work. The biographical psychological drama film’s director Andrew Dominik has made it clear that the film does not reflect true events.

Michelle Williams played Monroe in ‘My Week With Marilyn’, directed by Simon Curtis , a true story of a young man who fast-talked his way into a job on 1957′s ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’.

Williams picked up an Academy Award for her performance more than a decade ago, and she is now once again up for the honor for the 2022 film ‘The Fabelmans’.

Also up for Best Actress at the 2023 Oscars held March 12 are Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh, and Andrea Riseborough.

Did Marilyn ever go to the Oscars?

Marilyn Monroe never took home an Oscar, though the legendary actress did win a Golden Globe for her work on Billy Wilder’s ‘Some Like It Hot’. However, Monroe’s one Oscar appearance was a memorable one.

She attended the Oscars as a presenter, and as a rising star on the silver screen. The actress was there to present the award for Best Sound Recording, while the film she had appeared in, ‘All About Eve’, was nominated for 14 Oscars at the 1951 Academy Awards.

Monroe played Miss Caswell in ‘All About Eve’, the film by Joseph L Mankiewicz. The film’s 14 nominations broke records for its time. The record was later matched by the likes of ‘Titanic’ and ‘La La Land’.

The show was not yet available on television — not until two years later, in 1953 — but it was literally broadcast in the streets, with Hollywood Boulevard lined with bleachers and speakers broadcasting from inside the theater.

Marilyn Monroe’s fashion faux pas at the 23rd Oscars

Just before Monroe was about to step onto the stage, the young actress realized that there was a large tear down the side of her gown and burst into tears, proclaiming that she could not take the stage. However, just in time, a seamstress was summoned and had the rip fixed within minutes.

The delay gave Astaire the opportunity to dramatize his introduction of Monroe.

“If you follow the sport pages, you may have noticed a recent picture of Miss Marilyn Monroe, taken with the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team,” he bantered. “A Louiseville sports editor summed it up when he said it’s the best the Pirates have looked since before they blew the 1927 World Series.”

The audience laughed and the host continued, “to present the award for Best Sound Recording, Miss Marilyn Monroe,” the que for the starlet to stride along the red carpet wearing a big smile and stunning black, flowing gown — minus the ripped seam.

Monroe announced the film she made an appearance in, ‘All About Eve’, as the winner, beamed at the audience, and scurried quickly offstage.