Marilyn emerged as a popular star in the early 1950s
Although Marilyn’s roles were often stereotyped in the early 1950s, that of the dazzling blonde primarily in the film as comic relief and to brighten up the sets, her star began to rise. Critics, including the influential New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, praised her work. Crowther called her “superb” in the Fox film As Young as You Feel, though the picture was only moderately successful. But audiences noticed the blonde despite the paucity of screen time. So did fellow Hollywood stars. By 1952 Marilyn was known for dating several of Hollywood’s leading men, including Yul Brynner, Peter Lawford, director Nicholas Ray, William Holden, and former New York Yankees star Joe Dimaggio.
By 1953 she was still without a critically acclaimed film performance, yet she was a major star. Scandals over her admission to having posed nude for photographers did little to slow her rising to stardom. She also provided titillating interviews, claiming she often chose not to wear any undergarments in an age when most mature women routinely wore girdles. She was provocative and at the same time innocent, combining sexual allure with childlike naivete, creating her own image in defiance of the blonde bombshell reputation preferred by the studio moguls in Hollywood.