Marilyn Monroe, Charlton Heston and Rock Hudson At The 1962 Golden Globe Awards
Charlton Heston admires his Golden Globe Award for Most Popular Male Star as Marilyn Monroe is embraced by Rock Hudson who awarded Marilyn the Golden Globe’s Henrietta Award as The World’s Most Popular Female Star at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.photo: Golden Globe Awards, March 5, 1962
It may come as no surprise that Marilyn Monroe never won an Academy Award. She was never even nominated for one. Despite strong performances in Bus Stop and Some Like It Hot Marilyn was considered by many in the Hollywood community as a personality rather than a true actress.
But Marilyn’s popularity with the public never waned, at least internationally.
The Golden Globe Awards created by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association were voted from newspaper readers in 50 countries.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, founded in 1943 disbanded in 2023. The Golden Globes assets and intellectual property was purchased and taken over by Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge Industries.
At the 1962 Golden Globe Awards, Marilyn was selected the world’s favorite female star with Rock Hudson presenting Marilyn with her award. Charlton Heston won the award for favorite male star.
Popularity in the United States however can be fickle.
Interestingly in the March 26, 1962 Box Office magazine the results of their annual survey for All-American Screen Favorites for 1961 were released and neither Marilyn Monroe or Charlton Heston made the list.
The participants of the survey were comprised of American motion picture press from newspapers, radio and television, film exhibitors, and public film groups. They voted Rock Hudson as the number one male star and Elizabeth Taylor as tops for female stars.
The remainder of the list is as follows:
Male Stars
John Wayne
Tony Curtis
Cary Grant
Glenn Ford
Kirk Douglas
William Holden
Burt Lancaster
Marlon Brando
Jack Lemmon
Gregory Peck
James Stewart
Female Stars
Doris Day
Debbie Reynolds
Shirley MacLaine
Sandra Dee
Susan Hayward
Natalie Wood
Deborah Kerr
Kim Novak
Audrey Hepburn
Janet Leigh
Joanne Woodward
61 years later if you were to show a photograph of all 24 of these stars to people under the age of 25, probably only a few would be able to name more than one star.
Virtually everyone would still know Marilyn Monroe.
I wonder how much of Monroe’s continuing popularity is due to her dying so young. Had she lived, it’s difficult to picture her comfortably adjusting to character roles as she aged out of her symbol days, and go up against newcomers like Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton.