Marilyn Monroe

CHICAGO – Film elites are a particularly hard category of movie buffs to satisfy come gift giving time. When they drop terms like auteur and film movements and directors you’ve never heard of, what’s the best DVDs to give them? Here are three notables that have been released in the last couple of years.

CHICAGO – On September 13th, the celebrity participants of the 32nd Season of “Dancing with the Stars” was revealed, and among those taking on the challenge is Mira Sorvino, the Oscar-winning actor and activist. Ms. Sorvino was recently photographed by Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com at Chicago’s FAN EXPO in August.

CHICAGO – The celebrity line-up at the upcoming FAN EXPO Chicago is top of the pops, and making a prime appearance is actor Mira Sorvino, who made a big splash by winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Mighty Aphrodite” in the 1990s. The FAN EXPO takes place from August 10-13, 2023.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on September 22th, 2022, reviewing “Blonde,” the latest biography film of Marilyn Monroe. In select theaters now, streaming on Netflix on September 28th.

CHICAGO – The movie star Marilyn Monroe, arguably the brightest star in the history of Hollywood, led a life of triumph and tragedy, up to and including her death in 1962. The recent Netflix release of “The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes” – directed by Emma Cooper – is a documentary that seeks truth, through never-heard-before audio interviews.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review on “The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes,” the latest documentary on the movie star who passed away in 1962 but is still revered. The film will stream on Netflix beginning April 27th.

CHICAGO – Misty Rowe is a Country Music cultural icon, through her many years with TV’s “Hee Haw,” but she also portrayed Marilyn Monroe in “Goodbye, Norma Jean” (1976). She remembers it all in her new memoir, “Misty Memories.”

CHICAGO – Misty Rowe is a Country Music cultural icon, through her many years with TV’s “Hee Haw,” but she also portrayed Marilyn Monroe in “Goodbye, Norma Jean” (1976). She remembers it all in her new memoir, “Misty Memories.”

CHICAGO – There was a time in America when the medium of the magazine produced superstars. Famous writers, reporters, photographers and illustrators ruled the day, from the magazine’s invention in the 1920s to their ebbing in the 1960s (when TV became a rival) to their last gasp before the internet. One superstar that emerged worked for Playboy Magazine, and was as influential as founder Hugh Hefner in creating the ethos of that particular empire. A legendary art director is profiled in the documentary, “Art Paul of Playboy: The Man Behind the Bunny.” The film is screening at the 54th Chicago International Film Festival on Sunday, October 14th, 2018 (7pm). For details and tickets, click here.

LOS ANGELES – Hugh Hefner was the man who turned the key to the sexual revolution when he founded Playboy Magazine in 1953. What started in an apartment in Chicago became a worldwide empire as the Playboy brand and image was embedded into American consciousness. Hefner died on Sept. 27, 2017. He was 91.