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Marilyn Munster is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom The Munsters, played by Pat Priest (and Beverley Owen for a short while). In the original series she is the daughter of Lily Munster's sister, with Herman alluding to her "plain" looks coming from Lily's side of the family. The role was later played by Hilary Van Dyke in The Munsters Today.
[edit] DescriptionPlayed first by Beverley Owen and then by Pat Priest, Marilyn lives with the Munsters through the show's run. It is never made clear why Marilyn lives with the Munsters rather than with her parents in Transylvania, and it is noted that the Munsters have raised Marilyn since she was a baby. Although she is Lily's niece, the daughter of Lily's sister, she is always referred to as "Marilyn Munster" (While the character was being developed, her name was Marilyn Mundane.). This was never explained. Although Lily is a vampire/ghoul, her brother Lester is a werewolf, making the nature of Marilyn's mother unguessable. A photograph of a woman in European peasant garb, perhaps her mother, was occasionally seen in Marilyn's room, but the camera never zoomed in to give viewers anything but a vague look. Marilyn is a fetching young blonde resembling Marilyn Monroe, and the only family member who is not ghoulish in appearance; by the Munsters' aesthetic standards, she is distressingly unattractive. The family is faintly ashamed of Marilyn's appearance but still treat her with kindness and love. Marilyn herself is all too aware of her "homeliness" and bemoans that she keeps scaring off potential boyfriends, having no clue that the young men are in fact frightened away by her monstrous family. She attends Westbury College in Mockingbird Heights. She is devoted to her family, and the surest way for a suitor to alienate Marilyn (rather than vice versa) is to disparage them. She considers her Uncle Herman and Grandpa the "two [finest] men [who ever] walked this earth." Despite her visible "normality," Marilyn, having been raised in the Munsters' ghoulish subculture of vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, mad scientists, etc., shares her family's tastes for macabre decor. (She regularly assists Lily in festooning the house with cobwebs.), food, and entertainments, although she dresses more in keeping with contemporary American fashion than her relatives, perhaps thinking that doing so directs attention away from her "homeliness." Like the rest of her family, she believes that their tastes are shared by the majority of society and that people who consider the Munsters' lifestyle odd or frightening are themselves quite strange. When, in one episode, Herman was temporarily transformed into the appearance of a normal human, Marilyn was as shocked and appalled by his transformation as anyone else in the family. Despite standing out amongst the cast more than any other character, Marilyn was the least developed character in the series. She was never the main character in any episode, and she usually acted as a catalyst for Herman and Grandpa's antics. One possible explanation as to why both she and her family see her as homely and also blame her for frightening off men, is that Marylin could actually be a very inexperienced Succubus who does not have enough influence over men to seduce to the point where they will overlook her family's appearance. It also explains why she sees her family as wonderful, and dumps any man to say otherwise, even though she socializes with humans elsewhere and understands their idea of what is normal. It also explains why her tastes and preferences are similar to those of her other family members despite her human appearance. [edit] ProductionMarilyn was originally played by Beverley Owen, who was 27 years old at the time and had to wear a blonde wig to resemble Marilyn Monroe. Convinced that the show would never succeed, she accepted the role of Marilyn, but her problems started when she had to move out of New York. On occasions, she was seen depressed and even crying in the studios. The role was taken over in episode 14 by Pat Priest after Owen left to marry (future Sesame Street writer and director) Jon Stone. According to Al Lewis in a 2001 interview with Pittsburgh radio's Doug Hoerth, Beverley Owen was troubled by the separation from her boyfriend, who stayed in New York City, and on petitions from Al Lewis and Fred Gwynne was let go by the studio. Pat Priest's resemblance to that of Owen's was so uncanny, few people noticed that the role was played by another actress. It also helped the studio in that she was Owen's size and so fit into her wardrobe. In Munster, Go Home, she is portrayed by Debbie Watson. In The Munsters' Revenge, she is portrayed by Jo McDonnell. [edit] In other mediaIn Here Come the Munsters, Marilyn is the daughter of Herman's sister (Elsa). In this version her name is said to be Marilyn Hyde. The role was played by Christine Taylor.
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