FILM · 1961
The Misfits
82 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
61 Interesting Facts About The Misfits
- #001
In a scene between Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, Gable enters the bedroom and kisses Monroe on the neck while she sleeps naked under the covers. He then leaves. In the final edit, she stands up holding the sheet over her body and puts on her blouse. During filming, however, she decided to remove the covers, shocking the crew and camera by showing her naked body as she put on the blouse. Director John Huston insisted on a reshoot, feeling it was completely unnecessary for the scene. But Monroe kept dropping the sheet each time, and Huston grew angry and reminded her that she was supposed to stay covered. Gable and others were reportedly unsuccessful in trying to persuade her to keep the nudity. The risky footage was thought to have been destroyed, but according to a Deadline report it was saved by producer Frank E. Taylor, who kept it in a locked vault that his son Curtice Taylor has maintained since 1999. Curtice said his father believed it was very important and groundbreaking and preserved it. Taylor also agreed with Monroe's decision to be naked. "Why would a woman sitting on a bed with no one else in the room pull up the sheet while also trying to put on a blouse? It makes no sense at all," he said. Had they kept it in, it would have been the first nude scene by an American actress in a feature film since the Production Code banned nudity and heavy sexual content in American films in 1936.
- #002
- #004
- #007
- #008
Marilyn Monroe blamed herself for Clark Gable's death. It should be noted, however, that Gable's health was already poor when filming began. He had smoked continuously since his mid-teens and, despite being 59, still drank and smoked as much as ever. Twice in the previous decade he had suffered severe chest pains that may have been heart attacks.
- #009
This film was on television the night Montgomery Clift died in July 1966. His live-in personal secretary, Lorenzo James, asked Clift whether he wanted to watch it. "Absolutely not!" was Clift's reply, the last words he said to anyone. He suffered a heart attack that night and was found dead the next morning.
- #011
- #012
- #013
- #014
- #015
- #017
Despite the advice of friends who thought the role was physically too demanding and not well suited to him, Clark Gable agreed to make the film. One of his friends suggested the reason he took it was the paycheck. At $750,000 plus ten percent of the gross, it was more than he had ever been offered for a film. Gable also planned to make only two more films before retiring, and he wanted one of them to be a great film. He sincerely hoped this would be that film.
- #018
- #021
- #022
Director John Huston initially wanted Robert Mitchum to play "Gay Langland," but Mitchum disliked the script and turned it down. Huston and writer Arthur Miller rewrote the script, but by then Mitchum had seen the rewrite and was committed to another film. The role was instead offered to Clark Gable, who took it.
- #023
United Artists executives were unhappy with the film's rough cut, so director John Huston, producer Frank E. Taylor and writer Arthur Miller agreed to reshoot several scenes. Clark Gable, however, had script approval and rejected the idea. Other disagreements over the final cut resulted in Marilyn Monroe's bare breasts being removed from the bedroom scene.
- #024
As filming progressed, Marilyn Monroe became increasingly dependent on pills. Prescriptions were sent by her Los Angeles doctors every two days, and she obtained additional medication from local doctors. She was taking three times the normal dose of the sleeping pill Nembutal. The pills left her disoriented and unsteady and inconsistent on her feet. They also caused severe mood swings and rashes.
- #025
The cast struggled with health problems worsened by the heat of the Nevada shoot. Marilyn Monroe was ill and had begun abusing alcohol and pills, which led to a 10-day hospital stay. Montgomery Clift was also ill, and Thelma Ritter fell ill from exhaustion on the final day of shooting and was hospitalized. Clark Gable skipped the wrap party and left; less than two weeks later he died of a heart attack. Columnist Louella Parsons suggested that Monroe's delays contributed to it.
- #026
Clark Gable's close friend John Lee Mahin tried to dissuade him from making the film, insisting the role needed a better actor such as Spencer Tracy. Gable initially felt out of place because Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach all practiced the Method, which seemed to him like a foreign religion.
- #029
- #032
- #033
- #034
- #035
- #036
- #037
John Huston insisted on using real wild horses for the rodeo scene. The horse Montgomery Clift had to ride was too wild for the actor, but Huston insisted he sit on it for a close-up in the bull-riding chute. When the horse lost control, it threw Clift against the edge of the chute and tore his shirt. This was the approach Huston used on the film.
- #038
- #040
- #041
- #044
- #045
- #047
- #048
- #049
- #050
As her marriage was collapsing, Marilyn Monroe was sinking into alcoholism and prescription drug addiction. Production had to be halted for two weeks while she dried out in hospital. Because she looked visibly drained by the experience, most of her close-ups after her release were shot in soft focus.
- #051
- #052
- #054
- #055
- #056
At the start of production, Marilyn Monroe's entourage consisted of her husband Arthur Miller, a press agent, an acting coach, two hairdressers, a makeup artist, a seamstress, a body cosmetics specialist, an agent, a masseur, a secretary, a wardrobe girl and a personal secretary. Clark Gable, by contrast, had only one assistant: his friend Lew Smith, billed as a "dialogue coach."
- #058
- #059
- #061
- #062
- #063
- #064
- #065
- #067
- #068
- #069
- #070
- #071
- #072
- #073
- #076
- #077
- #078
- #079
- #080
- #081
- #082
