The Book
Ralph Roberts, actor, masseur, and former Pentagon liaison, could frequently be found in the kitchen of Lee Strasberg’s NYC apartment on Central Park West. One pleasant spring morning he by chance met Marilyn. Not the turned-on public persona of Marilyn Monroe he had crossed paths with in the past, but the honest, casual Marilyn who existed outside the public eye. Thus set in motion the beginnings of a deep friendship that forever changed Ralph, and unquestionably altered the course of his life. The next several years saw him in the Nevada desert with Montgomery Clift and Clark Gable, at the NYC apartment of Lester Markel, grilling at Frank Sinatra’s hilltop home, and on the phone with President Kennedy. Ralph saw Marilyn almost daily, and served as a sympathetic ear and a close friend. He was fiercely protective of his friend and her privacy. This book is a collection of Ralph’s recollections, and a rare and intimate view of Marilyn as the person she was when the cameras were off. Years after her untimely passing, fed up with the many falsehoods printed about his friend, and with the encouragement of Lee Strasberg and May Reis, Ralph set out his honest account of Marilyn Monroe’s last years.
Ralph passed away in 1999, leaving his manuscript an unfinished array of papers. We have compiled everything together, careful to retain as much as possible, and published his story. We hope you enjoy it and that you get to see Marilyn in a more personal light as Ralph had hoped.
Purchase
Check Your Local Bookstore!
We encourage you to support your local bookseller, but you can purchase online below.
Ralph
You can read more about Ralph at his web site, RalphLRoberts.com
Ralph was born in Salisbury, NC, August 16, 1916 and passed away April 30, 1999. He was educated at Catawba College and the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill). Ralph studied for the stage with Herbert Berghof’s Acting Class. He also studied at Lee Strasberg’s Actors’ Studio in New York in the early 1950’s. Ralph appeared on tour with “Big People” in 1947 and made his Broadway debut in the 1948 revival of “Angel Street.” Ralph’s screen debut was in MGM’s “Phone 1119” in 1951.
Ralph acted in various roles, on and off Broadway and in the movies. We are currently compiling a list of his roles.
If you are aware of a role we might have missed please let us know. We would like to be as complete and accurate as possible.
Television
"Gunsmoke" (25 March, 1967) - Season 12 Ep. 27 (#436)
"Ladies From St. Louis" - playing "Williams"
TV
Tome
"Monkees, The" (26 December, 1966) - Season 1 Ep. 16
"The Son of a Gypsy" - playing a Security Guard
TV
Tome
"Wild Wild West, The" (29 October, 1965) - Season 1
Ep. 7 "The Night of the Glowing Corpse" - playing
"Senator Hastings" (Uncredited)
TV
Tome
"Grindl" (27 October, 1963) - Season 1 Ep. 7
"One Angry Grindl" - playing "Willard Pulasky"
TV
Tome
"Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The" (27 September, 1962) -
Season 1 Ep. 2 "Don't Look Behind You" - playing
"Paul Hatfield"
TV
Tome
Movies
Resurrection (1980) - playing
"Buck"
(Universal)
IMDB
The Rose (1979) - playing a doorman
IMDB
Kotch (1971) - Blue Scarecrow (uncredited)
IMDB
Hello, Dolly! (1969) - playing a Policeman (uncredited)
IMDB
This Property is Condemned (1966) - playing a boarding house
tenant
IMDB
Gone Are the Days! (1963) - playing a Deputy
aka
Man from C.O.T.T.O.N., The (1966) (USA reissue title)
aka
Purlie Victorious (1963)
IMDB
Misfits, The (1961) - playing the Ambulance Driver at the Rodeo
(uncredited) (United Artists)
IMDB
Bells Are Ringing (1960) - playing
"Francis" (MGM)
IMDB
Killer's Kiss (1955) - playing a Gangster
IMDB
The Groom Wore Spurs (1951) - playing a truck driver (uncredited)
IMDB
Dial 1119 (1950) - playing Boyd (uncredited) (MGM)
aka Violent Hour, The
(1950) (UK)
IMDB
Broadway
TEXAS TRILOGY (Oldest Living Graduate)
The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks
The Milktrain Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
The Lark
0ff Broadway
Siamese Connections (Public Theatre)
S.S. Glencairn 1948
Off-Off
Dead Sure
Spring of Frankincense
Regional
Of Mice and Men . . Lennie
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Bus Stop
Arsenic and Old Lace
Lady's Not For Burning
Other Broadway and off Broadway Appearances by Ralph
"The Big People" 1947
"Angel Street" 1948
"The Wedding" 1948
"In the Zone" 1948 (picture)
"Four Chekhov Comedies" 1948
"The Madwoman of Chaillot" 1949
"Witness for the Prosecution" 1954 (picture)
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
"Medea"