RIVER OF NO RETURN (1954)
Starring:
Robert Mitchum (1917-1977)
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)
Rory Calhoun (1922-1999)
Tommy Rettig (1941-1996)
Murvyn Vye (1913-1976)
Douglas Spencer (1910-1960)
Directed by:
Otto Preminger
Jean Negulesco
Writers:
Frank Fenton (screenplay), Louis Lantz (story)
FUN FACTS:
During the difficult shoot, Otto Preminger had to contend with frequent rain, Robert Mitchum's heavy drinking, and an injury to Marilyn Monroe's ankle that kept her off the set for several days and ultimately put her in a cast. Young Tommy Rettig seemed to be the director's sole source of solace. He respected the boy's professionalism and appreciated the rapport he developed with Monroe, which often helped keep the actress on an even keel. When Natasha Lytess, Monroe's acting's coach, began to interfere with Rettig's performance, thereby undermining his confidence, Preminger let the cast and crew know about her behavior. Preminger was delighted to find that they finally began to support him in his efforts to remove her from the set.
The 3 pairs of jeans that Marilyn Monroe wore in the movie were among a collection of her personal items that were sold for $42,550 at auction at Christies Auction House to designer Tommy Hilfiger.
Marilyn Monroe was accompanied by Natasha Lytess, her acting coach. Otto Preminger clashed with the woman from the very start. She insisted on taking her client aside and giving her direction contrary to that of Preminger, and she had the actress enunciating each syllable of every word of dialogue with exaggerated emphasis. Preminger called Stanley Rubin in Los Angeles and insisted Lytess be banned from the set, but when the producer complied with his demand, Monroe called Darryl F. Zanuck directly and asserted she couldn't continue unless Lytess returned. Zanuck commiserated with Preminger but, feeling Monroe was a major box office draw he couldn't afford to upset, he reinstated Lytess. Angered by the decision, Preminger directed his rage at Monroe for the rest of the production.
Film editor Dann Cahn recommended a young woman he was dating for the part of a beautiful young woman in Your Show Time (1949). Producer Stanley Rubin auditioned her and turned her down because she did not have enough experience. The young woman's name was Marilyn Monroe. Rubin later tried to make up for his mistake and cash in on Monroe's fame by casting her in River of No Return (1954).
Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe in River of No Return (1954)
While most of the cast and crew went to lunch, Marilyn Monroe preferred to go underneath the set, between all the pillars and dust, to find Bandit the raccoon. She would put him in her lap, pet him, and talk to his owner Ralph Helfer about animals and horses.
As the studio caravan motored to location near Banff, traffic was halted after a gasoline truck ahead of them exploded. Members of the company and Marilyn Monroe's boyfriend Joe DiMaggio organized a search party to find the driver, who had run into the woods, his clothes on fire. They found the badly burned driver, and rushed him to the hospital.
Marilyn Monroe's voice was her own & she worked hard to get her guitar fingering accurate. (She may have worked hard, but even an amateur guitarist can tell that she isn't playing.)
Both Otto Preminger and Marilyn Monroe were forced to do the film against their will, due to contractual obligations. They both expressed their frustration over the script which they considered below par. However, the film was a box office hit upon its release and remains a popular classic western.
*Courtesy of IMDb.com
