Writing for St Louis Jewish Light, Robert A. Cohn looks back at Marilyn’s marriage to Arthur Miller.
‘Like Joe DiMaggio before him, Miller was completely smitten by Monroe, who despite her “dumb blonde” persona in many of her roles, was actually quite intelligent and a graduate of the Actors Studio, along with Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, and Dustin Hoffman. Monroe fully requited Miller’s love, and became a Jew by choice under the supervision of Rabbi Robert E. Goldburg, who signed her official Certificate of Conversion on July 1, 1956. Her conversion pleased Miller’s parents and siblings at the time, and even after her divorce, she continued to identify herself as “Jewish.” Among her prized possessions was a Hanukkah menorah that played “Hatikva,” Israel’s national anthem, an item that fetched a tidy sum when auctioned off by Christie’s in New York in 1999.’
