Marilyn Monroe Personal Beverly Hills Hotel Letterhead

From the Personal Files of Marilyn Monroe: A set of three unused sheets of letterhead from the Beverly Hills Hotel was retained among Monroe’s personal papers. Each page bears the printed hotel heading and reflects standard stationery provided to guests for personal correspondence while in residence.

Monroe stayed at the hotel on multiple occasions throughout her career, often occupying private bungalows during periods of film production, publicity commitments, and personal transition.

Each sheet bears the printed heading:

BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL AND BUNGALOWS
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
Featuring the Famous Lanai Restaurant, Crystal Room and Rodeo Room

The Beverly Hills Hotel was one of the most significant locations in Monroe’s personal and professional life. She resided there on numerous occasions throughout her career, often occupying private bungalows that provided both comfort and discretion during periods of film production, public appearances, and personal transition.

Hotel letterhead such as this was commonly used by guests for personal correspondence, allowing Monroe to communicate while in residence at one of Hollywood’s most iconic destinations. Its preservation among her personal papers suggests it was retained during one of her stays, reflecting her direct and personal connection to the hotel.

These three pages of letterhead were included inside Marilyn’s personal script for How to Marry a Millionaire, when it was acquired and added to the collection in 2006.

The Beverly Hills Hotel

9641 West Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills

Marilyn first moved in to a third-floor room at this hotel in late 1952, after a brief lease had run out on a Hollywood Hills house she had co-rented with Joe DiMaggio. It was to this room that she returned from the studio party that year, to spend what she later told friends was her best-ever Christmas; rather than spending it alone, as she had expected, she found DiMaggio had not gone to be with his family in San Francisco but had flown in as a surprise. He had brought a tree and decorations, put the champagne on ice, and prepared a blazing fire to welcome her home. Marilyn was still living at the Beverly Hills Hotel on March 9, 1953, which was very convenient for an evening engagement she had to pick up her Photoplay magazine award for Hollywood’s Fastest Rising Star at the hotel’s Crystal Room. That evening, her vampish attire caused great scandal and, to the more prudish members of the audience, even offense.

Marilyn and Joe stayed at the hotel soon after they were married, in early 1954, while waiting for decorators to finish work on their home on Palm Drive. She was back once more on March 8, 1954 to pick up another Photoplay award, this time she dressed more demure and did not cause an outburst. Later that year, after she split up with DiMaggio, Marilyn may have stayed a few days at this hotel as she worked out her next move.

During the years she was based in New York, the Beverly Hills Hotel was where she stayed when filming commitments took her to Los Angeles; in 1958, shooting for Some Like It Hot, and in 1960 for Let’s Make Love, perhaps her longest sojourn when for four months she and husband Arthur Miller lived in neighboring bungalows with Yves Montand and his wife, actress Simone Signoret.