Insights on Marilyn Monroe’s Underrated 1952 Comedy ‘We’re Not Married’

Imagine telling someone, “We’re not married,” despite having thought that you were. Well, that’s exactly what happens to the five couples in the hit 1952 Marilyn Monroe film We’re Not Married, except now they must decide if they want to remarry or not. And if the plot of the film wasn’t dramatic enough, these behind-the-scenes facts are! Keep scrolling to learn exactly what they are.

We’re Not Married served as Monroe’s 10th credited film since her acting debut in 1947. She would go on to star in 35 films in total before her tragic passing in 1962, which also means that We’re Not Married was released 10 years before her death.

Actor Walter Brennan and actress Hope Emerson were supposed to play the sixth and final couple in We’re Not Married, but 20th Century Studios eventually cut all of their scenes.

Brennan was best known for his work in Come and Get It (1937), Kentucky (1939), The Westerner (1941) and Sergeant York (1942). Emerson, on the other hand, was best known for her work in Adam’s Rib (1949), Caged (1950) and Westward the Women (1951).

We’re Not Married marked the final film for both Marjorie Weaver and June Bright. Weaver also starred in Michael Shayne: Private Detective (1940), The Man Who Wouldn’t Die (1942) and The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944), as well as 42 other titles. This was the exact opposite of Bright, who only worked on two other projects.

On the other end of the spectrum was actress June Wurster, who made her film debut in We’re Not Married. After that, she appeared in The Girl Next Door (1953) and the TV series Racket Squad (1952 to 1953), but those were her only three credits.

Lee Marvin — best known for Paint Your Wagon (1969), The Dirty Dozen (1967) and The Professionals (1966) — had a small role in the film. He played a man named Pinky, who was a friend of Eddie Bracken (Wilson Boswell “Willie” Fisher).

Actresses Marilyn Monroe and Zsa Zsa Gabor — who played Annabel Jones Norris and Eve Melrose, respectively — despite being extremely successful actresses, were mainly in the presses for their marriages.

Monroe was married three times. First to James Dougherty from 1942 until 1946, followed by Joe DiMaggio in 1954, but she left him in 1955 due to his reportedly violent and aggressive tendencies. Finally, the actress married Arthur Miller in 1956 and remained with him until 1961.

This was nothing compared to Gabor, though, who was married nine times over the course of her life. First, from 1935 until 1941, Gabor was married to Burhan Asaf Belge, and then she was with Conrad Hilton from 1942 to 1947. Two years after that, Gabor married George Sanders before divorcing him in 1954. Her fourth marriage was to Herbert Hutner in 1962, but that only lasted four years. Directly after divorcing Hunter, she married Joshua S. Cosden Jr and remained with him for a little over a year. Then came Jack Ryan, who Gabor was with from 1975 until 1976. After Ryan, Gabor married Michael O’Hara for seven years. Her shortest marriage came next, marrying Felipe de Alba for a day in 1983. Finally, she was with Frédéric von Anhalt from 1986 until her death in 2016, her longest marriage.

Unlike their characters in We’re Not Married, though, all of Monroe’s and Gabor’s marriages really happened.

For more Marilyn Monroe content, keep scrolling!

Source: Various sources