Sugar Kane, as played by Marilyn in Some Like it Hot, ranks 10th in Total Film‘s list of the 100 Greatest Female Characters. (Ellen Ripley of Alien is the overall winner.)
Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
The Character: How to torment two guys in drag who need to keep their cover intact? A girl so sweet you can’t help liking her…and sexy as hell singing ‘I Wanna Be Loved By You’ in a diaphanous gown. Some Like It Hot, indeed.
The Actress: Billy Wilder had suffered agonies while filming The Seven Year Itch trying to get Marilyn Monroe to remember her lines. But he still knew the effort of hiring Hollywood’s biggest star was worth it.
The Performance: Monroe famously studied Method acting during the late 1950s, something that made her the butt of cruel Hollywood jokes. But she mined her troubled personal life to add a tangible air of sadness to counterpoint her exquisite comic timing.