The imminent stardom, which everyone felt was sure to follow the release of Niagara and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953, did not, however, convince Marilyn she could sustain it, much less grow as a good actress. “I’m really eager to do something else,” she told a reporter during production that autumn. “Squeezing yourself to ooze out the last ounce of sex allure is terribly hard. I’d like to do roles like  Julie in Bury the Dead, Gretchen in Faust and Teresa in Cradle Song. I don’t want to be a comedienne forever.” Nor was she much gratified when critics, typically, stressed only her looks in assessing Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.