Mamie Van Doren Quotes

You know, talking about Marilyn Monroe is strange. To me, she’s a person; to most people, she’s an idea.

Sometimes I’m misunderstood and it’s hard to come by that. My life has been full of excitement. I’ve done pretty much what I wanted to do. I came from the Midwest, from South Dakota, and I came up the hard way. We lived on a farm; we didn’t even have electricity or running water if you know what I mean. People don’t know what that life is like.

... in those days, there were hardly any women who headlined movies. Men always had first billing, unless it was a Joan Crawford or Bette Davis movie. But I starred in most of my so-called B movies.

Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t do drugs, and get enough sleep. A healthy lifestyle will increase your lifespan considerably.

Marilyn came along in the 1950s. She really opened the door for me. When I got my contract at Universal, I was their answer to Marilyn Monroe. They made my hair platinum, and they gave me a lot of sexy roles—dumb roles, actually.

I’ve never acted my age and I never will. It’s just the way I’ve always been.

The studio didn’t really know how to groom a female star because they only had male stars ... they didn’t know what to do with a well-endowed blonde, except giving her dumb roles.

I have done A movies too, but I preferred doing B movies—if that’s what people want to call them, then so be it. Elvis Presley did B movies; Jack Nicholson did B movies,… So when I am referred to as ‘The Queen of the B Movies,’ I leave that to the person who reads it.

In films, she <nowiki>[Jayne Mansfield]</nowiki> played mostly character roles, while Marilyn did more sophisticated movies, and I did several rock 'n roll movies. The three of us were often compared, maybe because we had blonde hair, but all three of us were very different.

She <nowiki>[Marilyn Monroe]</nowiki> was so vulnerable to the world, but what a sweet person she really was, lovable, compassionate—I have nothing but grace for Marilyn, and she should have been at least nominated for an Academy Award for Bus Stop.. But in those days, they preferred to nominate the Bette Davis kind of stars.

They said I wasn’t the type for it, so they put a dark blonde wig on me. They wanted me to look like Grace Kelly with breasts.