Marilyn Monroe's Real Best Friends: Animals

From pups to chimps to toy tigers, the iconic beauty – immortalized by Michelle Williams in the new film My Week with Marilyn – adored all kinds of beasts
By People Staff
Updated November 23, 2011 11:00 AM

1 of 11

HAND-IN-HAND

Credit: SNAP/Rex USA

Marilyn Monroe enjoyed the company of many pets throughout her life. “I like animals,” she once said. “If you talk to a dog or a cat, it doesn’t tell you to shut up.” Here, she and a collie play nice on the set of the 1953 thriller Niagara.

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 11

GETTING CHEEKY

Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Young starlet Monroe gets into the spirit of her 1952 screwball comedy Monkey Business and wraps her arms around the movie’s star chimpanzee.

3 of 11

SPEAK, BOY, SPEAK!

Credit: SNAP/Rex USA

Not only could Monroe stun all manner of men into silence, she worked her magic on dogs, too. While shooting a scene with an acting pup for 1962’s Something’s Got to Give, it wasn’t Monroe who flubbed her lines, but the dog. All he could do was stare.

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 11

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS

Credit: Sam Shaw/Rex USA

Monroe and her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller, shared a basset hound named Hugo. During a bucolic moment at the couple’s home in Roxbury, Conn., in 1957, the actress lets down her hair and enjoys a laugh with the dog.

Advertisement

5 of 11

WINDOW SEAT

Credit: Ernst Haas/Ernst Haas/Getty

Two years prior to her death in 1962, a joyful Monroe relaxes with a furry friend.

6 of 11

BEACH BABIES

Credit: Everett

Shortly before she fully transformed into Marilyn, the actress lounges on the sand with dog Ruffles in 1947.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 11

FLASH POINT

Credit: AP

“When she saw a camera, any camera, she lit up and was totally different,” photographer Laszlo Willinger said of Monroe. Even when attempting to walk her dog while skiing on sand, she could be extremely charismatic.

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 11

TOY STORY

Credit: John Kobal Foundation/Getty

Monroe’s powers of seduction even worked on a toy tiger in this photo taken in 1957.

Advertisement

9 of 11

LAWN ORNAMENT

Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Walking a dog in wedges and a bikini – anything goes with Marilyn! She and a Chihuahua pose for the cameras at a Beverly Hills home in 1950.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 11

FAMILY TIME

Credit: Seymour Wally/NY Daily News Archive/Getty

Miller, Monroe and their basset hound hang out in the yard in Roxbury in 1956. The only thing missing is a pair of sunglasses for Hugo.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

11 of 11

BY THE BOOK

Credit: SNAP/Rex USA

On the set of Monkey Business in 1952, chimpanzee Esther goes over some lines with her costar.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Up Next

By People Staff