SOME LIKE IT HOT
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Marilyn Monroe gets most of the attention, and deserves it, for her role in this 1959 comedy, directed by Billy Wilder. It’s about two musicians (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) who witness a gangland murder, then hide out by dressing in drag and going on tour with a women’s traveling band. (Monroe is the featured singer.) Recently on TCM, Curtis did a short feature in which he saluted Cary Grant as his childhood idol and inspiration for becoming an actor. When it came time to star in Some Like It Hot, Curtis found himself playing three roles: the musician on the run, his female alter ego, and another alter ego, pretending to be a suave millionaire. And for that latter role, Curtis asked to, and was allowed to, adopt the recognizable accent and demeanor of Cary Grant. That may sound like a full-circle kind of show-biz story, but the real full circle came two films later that same year of 1959, when Curtis was cast as co-star of Operation Petticoat – opposite Cary Grant.