Marilyn Monroe slaps John Huston on the set of The Misfits

During the filming of The Misfits near Reno, Marilyn Monroe struck and scratched director John Huston after he seized her wrist, then returned minutes later ready to resume the scene as Roslyn. The incident turns a clash on a punishing desert set into a pointed demonstration of Monroe’s control over the boundary between herself and the character she played.

Setting and confrontation

The scene took place outdoors near Reno during the filming of the rodeo sequence. Though it was late October, the desert heat felt like August: the sun was blinding, and the temperature reached at least thirty-eight degrees Celsius in the shade. From his folding chair, sweating heavily, Huston called for Monroe to look toward him. When she did not respond, he got up, ran over, and grabbed her by the wrist.

The account’s narrator recalls that Monroe had caused many difficulties during the weeks of filming in sun and sand. The group’s hostility makes the reversal sharper: the narrator admits that they would have liked to see her knocked down, but when Huston laid hands on her, Monroe turned suddenly, slapped him, and scratched him like a cat.

The outburst and return

Monroe pulled free, ran away, and shut herself in her trailer, where the air conditioning offered relief from the heat. The retreat lasted only a few minutes. She came back to the set with her makeup restored and her hair put back in place, with Whitey and the others available to help. She had become Roslyn again: smiling, coaxing, and gentle in manner.

That abrupt return unsettled the people watching. The narrator remembers being frightened by the animal force of Monroe’s anger, despite Huston’s considerable size advantage—he weighed about fifty kilograms more than she did. Yet the fury did not simply carry over into the next take. Monroe could leave the confrontation behind, restore her appearance, and resume the role.

Monroe and Roslyn

Fleece understands the episode as a message directed at him: Monroe was not Roslyn and had nothing to do with Roslyn’s tenderness toward the defeated men she cared for. She could play that tenderness as a virtuoso plays an instrument. The distinction is not merely between anger and sweetness; it is between the performer and the character, and between an emotion enacted for the scene and the person who enacts it.

In this reading, the slap gives the scene its force beyond the physical confrontation. Monroe’s return makes the point visible: she could embody Roslyn’s warmth without being absorbed into Roslyn, and could switch back to that performance after an explosive refusal of Huston’s physical control. Once Fleece understood what she was showing him, the scene could end.