The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie - Hardcover

by Tony Curtis (Author), Mark A. Vieira (With)

A Special Memoir for a Special Moment in Hollywood History . . .

Some Like It Hot occupies a unique place in American culture. This beloved classic showcases five comic geniuses: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, I. A. L. Diamond, Billy Wilder, and Marilyn Monroe. It has been honored by the American Film Institute as the ""Funniest Film of All Time"". It has contributed quotes, styles, and stories to film lore. Yet the full story of its making has never been told--until now.

Front Jacket

When Hollywood legend Tony Curtis meets his fans, they always ask about his 1959 comedy "Some Like It Hot." Luckily for them--and for us--Tony has stories to share. In his new book, "The Making of Some Like It Hot," he shares all of them.

"Some Like It Hot" is a beloved part of our culture, voted the "Funniest Film of All Time" by the American Film Institute, but Tony is the first to tell the complete, uncensored story of its making, a behind-the-scenes saga of intrigue, humor, and romance. A noted artist and raconteur, Tony paints word portraits of the geniuses who made the film: director Billy Wilder and his cowriter I. A. L. Diamond; actor Jack Lemmon; and sex icon Marilyn Monroe. In his engaging style, Tony tells of Wilder and Diamond's unique writing routine; Wilder's surprising first choice for Tony's costar; and Wilder's daring decision to add violence to farce.

Tony describes the challenges he faced as the "best-looking kid in Hollywood" suddenly forced to dress as a woman: meeting the limitations of a constricting costume; learning the "moves" from a female impersonator; adapting his walk and the pitch of his voice; facing people's reactions (or worse, the lack of them); working in tandem with the hilarious Lemmon; and following Wilder's precise but often impersonal direction.

Here, too, are Tony's previously unpublished recollections of his bittersweet relationship with Marilyn. He tells in vivid, compelling detail how America's most celebrated sex symbol came to work on this unlikely project; how he had met the young unknown years earlier on a studio street; about their puppy love, her meteoric rise to fame, and the resentment he saw in her colleagues; how her perfectionism nearly drove him crazy; and how her strange behavior nearly shut down the film. Disclosed for the first time are details of the affair that took place during the filming at the Hotel del Coronado and the effect it had on Tony, on the production, and on Marilyn's husband, the playwright Arthur Miller. In 1958, America read about a fistfight on the set. Now, for the first time, Tony tells what caused it--and what followed it.

Packed with scores of rarely seen black-and-white photos and eight pages of color photos that reveal how the movie would have looked in Technicolor, The Making of Some Like It Hot is the ideal way to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of this landmark film.

Author Biography

Tony Curtis is a Hollywood icon, the last surviving luminary from Some Like It Hot, and author of the memoir American Prince. His Web sites are tonycurtis.com and shilohhorserescue.com.

Mark A. Vieira is a photographer and writer specializing in the history of Hollywood.