Was Marilyn Monroe an Extra in When Worlds Collide?

When Worlds Collide was released in August, 1951. At that time, Marilyn Monroe was taking bit parts and going to college. The Wikipedia entry for Monroe says this about her life and career at the time:

Following Monroe's success in these roles, Hyde negotiated a seven-year contract for her with 20th Century Fox, shortly before his death in December 1950.[33] It was at some time during this 1949–1950 period that Hyde arranged for her to have a slight bump of cartilage removed from her somewhat bulbous nose which further softened her appearance and accounts for the slight variation in look she had in films after 1950.

In 1951, Monroe enrolled at University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied literature and art appreciation.[34] During this time Monroe had minor parts in four films: the low-budget drama Home Town Story with Jeffrey Lynn and Alan Hale, Jr., and three comedies: As Young as You Feel with Monty Woolley and Thelma Ritter; Love Nest with June Haver and William Lundigan; and Let's Make It Legal with Claudette Colbert and Macdonald Carey, all of which were filmed on a moderate budget and only became mildly successful.[35] In March 1951, she appeared as a presenter at the 23rd Academy Awards ceremony.[36] In 1952, Monroe appeared on the cover of Look magazine wearing a Georgia Tech sweater as part of an article celebrating female enrollment to the school's main campus. In the early 1950s, Monroe unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Daisy Mae in a proposed Li'l Abner television series based on the Al Capp comic strip, but the effort never materialized.[37]

The IMDB entry for Monroe says nothing about When Worlds Collide. Likewise, the entry for When Worlds Collide says nothing about her. The official website for Monroe says nothing. And several Google searches have come up empty. The movie was made at Paramount Studios, but that might have been before her contract with 20th Century Fox took effect. Or maybe the contract with Fox prohibited anyone from using her name in association with movies made at other studios at the time. Who knows?

But look at this picture. Her hair is the right color--Monroe's natural, pre-bottle blonde color. She has a widow's peak. And you can just see the mole on the right side of her face (her left). Certain lines in her face seem slightly different, the nose and maybe the chin, but the mole convinces me it's her. Also, it's plausible she would take a few bucks to sit in that chair for a while at that point in her career.

One more. Not so clear, but a slightly different expression.

If anyone knows how to get or make a higher resolution still, let me know. If you care to make one, email it to me, and I'll add it to the post. Also, if we have any trivia buffs who know the answer, please, let's hear it.

I took all of her scenes from the last few minutes of the movie and put them in one video. She does have a two-word line.

Here's a link to the full movie. Whether the actress appears earlier in the movie, I don't know. I don't recall seeing her, but I wasn't really looking.

If it's not her, she's an amazing lookalike.

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Update: Commenter "WisdomLover" has this to say:

There was a little sub-plot in the movie involving a young couple who were working on the project to build the space craft. The young man won the lottery to get on the ship to safety. The young woman did not. The young man returned his ticket for someone else to use, but the head of the program arranged for both to go (later sacrificing himself and denying a place for the crippled old millionaire who financed the project). The couple pictured is this young couple.

The female character's name is Julie Cummings.

The actress who played her is Judith Aames.

This was Aames' first role. Aames went on to be called Rachel Aames and played in the soap opera General Hospital through 2009 as Audrey March/Hardy.

posted by rdbrewer at 02:44 PM

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