Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Marilyn Monroe: Lorelei Lee

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Lorelei Lee : Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?

• Esmond Sr. : Have you got the nerve to tell me you don't want to marry my son for his money?

  Lorelei Lee : It's true.

  Esmond Sr. : Then what do you want to marry him for?

  Lorelei Lee : I want to marry him for YOUR money.

• Mr. Esmond Sr. : Say, they told me you were stupid! You don't sound stupid to me!

  Lorelei Lee : I can be smart when it's important. But most men don't like it.

• Ernie Malone : It seemed a good idea to bring some drinks. Here are your cigarettes.

  Dorothy Shaw : Oh, you're a dear. Good boy.

  Lorelei Lee : I've been wondering, what is your line, Mr. Malone?

  Ernie Malone : My line? Well, my most effective one is to tell a girl that she has hair like a tortured midnight, lips like a red couch in an ivory palace, that I'm lonely and starved for affection. Then, I generally burst into tears. It very seldom works.

  Dorothy Shaw : You idiot.

• [Lorelei is stuck going through the porthole] 

  Henry Spofford III : All right. I'll help you. I'll help you for two reasons.

  Lorelei Lee : Never mind the reasons. Just help me.

  Henry Spofford III : The first reason is I'm too young to be sent to jail. The second reason is you've got a lot of animal magnetism.

• Lorelei Lee : [Lorelei is holding a tiara]  How do you put it around your neck?

  Dorothy Shaw : You don't, honey, it goes on your head!

  Lorelei Lee : You must think I was born yesterday.

  Dorothy Shaw : Well, sometimes there's just no other possible explanation.

• Dorothy Shaw : Honey, did it ever occur to you that some people just don't care about money?

  Lorelei Lee : Please, we're talking serious here.

• Lorelei Lee : There was an old fellow named Sidney... Who drank 'til he ruined a kidney. It shriveled and shrank, but he drank and he drank... He had his fun doing it, didn't he?

• Lorelei Lee : Pardon, please, is this the way to Europe, France?

  Passport Official : To where?

  Dorothy Shaw : Not Europe, France, honey. France is *in* Europe.

  Lorelei Lee : Well, who said it wasn't?

  Dorothy Shaw : Well, you wouldn't say is this the way to North America, Mexico, would you?

  Lorelei Lee : If that's where I wanted to go, I would.

  Dorothy Shaw : The dealer passes.

• Olympic athlete : Hi. Remember me?

  Lorelei Lee : Yes. You're one of the Olympic athletes.

  Olympic athlete : I'm the only 4-letter man on the team.

  Lorelei Lee : You should be ashamed to admit it. No, don't say another word. No, don't say another word.

• Lorelei Lee : [sing]  A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, / But diamonds are a girl's best friend. / A kiss may be grand, but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat. / Or help you at the automat. / Men grow cold as girls grow old, and we all lose our charm in the end. / But square-cut or pear-shaped, these rocks won't lost their shape. / Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

• Lorelei Lee : I always say a kiss on the hand might feel very good, but a diamond tiara lasts forever.

• Dorothy Shaw : Listen, either you hock some of that stuff or get the price of a diamond tiara out of him.

  Lorelei Lee : How much do you think a diamond tiara will cost?

  Dorothy Shaw : Fifteen thousand at least.

  Lorelei Lee : [Concentrates]  Let's see, that'll take an hour and 45 minutes.

• Lady Beekman : It's a tiara.

  Lorelei Lee : You DO wear it on your head. I just LOVE finding new places to wear diamonds.

• Gus Esmond : [as she tries on the diamond ring he's just given her]  Is it the right size?

  Lorelei Lee : Well, it can never be too big. Do you think that's too small, Dorothy?

  Dorothy Shaw : [whistles]  Looks like it oughta have a highball around it.

• Lorelei Lee : Dorothy, please, a lady never admits her feet hurt.

• Dorothy Shaw : Bottom's up!

  [Dorothy, Lorelei and Ernie drink their cocktails] 

  Dorothy Shaw : He looks like he's going to explode.

  Ernie Malone : What was that?

  Lorelei Lee : Just equal parts of Scotch, Vodka, Brandy, and Gin.

• Lorelei Lee : Dorothy. Mr. Esmond and I are getting married.

  Dorothy Shaw : To each other?

  Gus Esmond : Of course to each other. Who else to?

  Dorothy Shaw : Well, I don't know about you Gus, but I always figured Lorelei would end up with the Secretary of the Treasury.

• Lorelei Lee , Dorothy Shaw : [singing]  We're just two little girls from Little Rock, We lived on the wrong side of the tracks, But the gentlemen friends who used to call, They never did seem to mind at all, They came to the wrong side of the tracks...

• Henry Spofford III : Hey, look someone's coming.

  Lorelei Lee : Oh dear, what'll I do?

  Henry Spofford III : Quick! Hold this around your neck tight!

• Lorelei Lee : I can't get over that passenger list. Calling a young boy "mister." A girl could waste a whole trip to Europe if she trusted a passenger list.

  Dorothy Shaw : Then, you think we better give up the whole idea, huh?

  Lorelei Lee : Well, if he was 16 or 17, even, you could marry him in Tennessee.

• Lorelei Lee : I did not steal Lady Beekman's tiara.

  Lady Beekman : Then perhaps you'll explain how it happens to be in your possession?

  Lorelei Lee : Suppose we say that's my affair.

  Ernie Malone : Well, that's one explanation.

• Lorelei Lee : Why did you just stand there and let him kiss you?

  Dorothy Shaw : You want to hear something crazy? I think I'm falling in love with that slob.

  Lorelei Lee : Oh, you just feel that way because he's poor.

  Dorothy Shaw : I hope so.

• [repeated line] 

  Lorelei Lee : Thank you ever so!

• Lorelei Lee : If you had a daughter, wouldn't you rather she didn't marry a poor man? You'd want her to have the most wonderful things in the world and to be very happy. Well, why is it wrong for me to want those things?

• Dorothy Shaw : [singing]  When love goes wrong, nothing goes right. This one thing, I know.

  Lorelei Lee : [singing]  When love goes wrong, a man take flight.

  Dorothy Shaw : [singing]  And women get uppity-oh.

• Henry Spofford III : Hello.

  Lorelei Lee : Oh, Mr Spoffard. Would you please give me a hand? I'm sort of stuck!

  Henry Spofford III : Are you a burglar?

  Lorelei Lee : Heaven's no! The steward locked me in. I was waiting for a friend.

  Henry Spofford III : Why didn't you ring for him?

  Lorelei Lee : I didn't think of it. Isn't that silly?

  Henry Spofford III : If you were a burglar, and I helped you escape...

  Lorelei Lee : Please help me before somebody comes along.

  Henry Spofford III : I'm thinking.

• Dorothy Shaw : What were you doing before Piggy started barking like a seal?

  Lorelei Lee : That wasn't barking, that's Swahili.

• Lorelei Lee : Where's Dorothy?

  Gus Esmond Jr. : Oh, I don't know. Someone whistled at her and she disappeared.

• Dorothy Shaw : Honey, did it ever occur to you that some people just don't care about money?

  Lorelei Lee : Please, don't be silly. We're talking serious. You don't want to end up with a loveless marriage, do you?

  Dorothy Shaw : Me, loveless?

  Lorelei Lee : That's right. Because, if a girl spends all of her time worrying about the money she doesn't have - how is she going have any time for being in love? I want you to find happiness and stop having fun.

  Dorothy Shaw : That baffles me.

  Lorelei Lee : You'll thank me someday.

• Lorelei Lee : What do you do for a living?

  Ernie Malone : Oh, that kind of a line. Nothing, I'm afraid. Just clip coupons and live off the fat of the land.

  Lorelei Lee : Coupons. That's like money, isn't it?

  Ernie Malone : Very similar.

  Lorelei Lee : I'm so pleased Dorothy's taken an interest in you. I mean, she's never been interested in anyone worthwhile.

  Ernie Malone : No taste, eh?

  Dorothy Shaw : No, I'm a hobo collector. I might even find room for you.

• Lorelei Lee : There's one other place it could be.

  Dorothy Shaw : Where?

  Lorelei Lee : His pants.

  Dorothy Shaw : Well, we'll have to get those too.

  Lorelei Lee : Would you rather I did it alone?

  Dorothy Shaw : No. I think two heads are better than one.

  Lorelei Lee : I suppose so.

  Dorothy Shaw : It's ticklish business anyway you look at it.

• Lorelei Lee : It's men like you who have made me the way I am. And if you loved me at all, you'd feel sorry for the terrible troubles I've been through, instead of holding them against me.

• Mr. Esmond Sr. : Young lady, you don't fool me one bit.

  Lorelei Lee : I'm not trying to. But I bet I could though.

• Lorelei Lee : I just can't wait!

  Dorothy Shaw : For what?

  Lorelei Lee : Dorothy, didn't you notice? His pocket was bulging!

  Dorothy Shaw : That could be a bag of gumdrops.

• Gus Esmond Jr. : I hope she's not going to be a bad influence on you.

  Lorelei Lee : Oh, no, lover. Dorothy's not bad. Honest! She's just dumb. Always falling with some man just because he's good-looking. I keep telling her, it's just as easy to fall with a rich man as a poor man. But, she says, "Yes, but..." If they're tall, dark and handsome, she never gets around to vital statistics until it's too late. That's why I'm her best friend, I guess. She really needs somebody like I to educate her.

  Gus Esmond Jr. : Yes, dear. But very few girls have your - wonderful willingness to learn.

  Lorelei Lee : I suppose that's true.

• Lorelei Lee : Dorothy, did you ever hear of a rich pole-vaulter?

  Dorothy Shaw : Maybe not; but, who cares? I like a man who can run faster than I can.

• Lorelei Lee : Pardon my saying so, but, having heard so much about you and all, I expected you'd be much older.

  Sir Francis 'Piggy' Beekman : Me? Well, my, you don't say. By George! Older than what?

  Dorothy Shaw : The Pyramids.

• Lorelei Lee : Daddy! Daddy! Sometimes I think there's only one of you in the whole wide world!

• Dorothy Shaw : Wait a minute, what do you mean you're all bruised? Malone's been here with me the whole time.

  Lorelei Lee : Mr. Spofford pulled me too hard.

• Lorelei Lee : Are you enjoying the trip? How many times have you crossed? Don't you feel alone out on the big ocean? I just adore conversation, don't you?

• Lorelei Lee : Do you think three sleeping pills are enough?

  Dorothy Shaw : Three's quite a lot. That's pretty potent stuff!

  Lorelei Lee : The things worth doing is worth doing well.

• Ernie Malone : Miss Lee, before I go, I'm gonna tell you this. Because once in awhile even a mercenary nitwit like you has a decent impulse. Don't let your friend here get mixed up in any of your schemes. Because I'm gonna rub your nose in them and I don't want this character to get hurt on the way.

  Lorelei Lee : If you've nothing more to say, pray, scat.

• Hotel Manager : Mr. Esmond refuses responsibility for your bills.

  Lorelei Lee : That's very inconvenient. Because we've just spent all of our money.

• Lorelei Lee : I won't let myself fall in love with a man who won't trust me, no matter what I might do.

• Dorothy Shaw : [singing]  A woman's a fright, a terrible sight

  Lorelei Lee : A man goes out, gets high as a kite

  Dorothy Shaw , Lorelei Lee : Love is something you just can't fight

  Dorothy Shaw : You can't fight it, honey, You can't fight it

  Dorothy Shaw , Lorelei Lee : When love goes wrong...

• Hotel Manager : Madam, are these the persons you were talking about?

  Lady Beekman : Yes, these are the persons.

  Lorelei Lee : Why, Lady Piggy! I mean Beekman. What a pleasant surprise.

  Lady Beekman : Hmm, I dare say.

• Lorelei Lee : Gus, he's always been interested in my brains.

  Mr. Esmond Sr. : No. No, that much of a fool he's not.

• Dorothy Shaw : You get the money and I'll take care of the gendarmes.

  Lorelei Lee : How?

  Dorothy Shaw : Never mind how. You're not the only one around here with hidden talents.

• Lorelei Lee : I want to kiss you goodbye.

  Gus Esmond Jr. : Very well.

  Lorelei Lee : No, no. Not in front of everybody. Come on in, Daddy darling.

• Dorothy Shaw : [after Lorelei relates Piggy's story of how a python can squeeze a goat]  Well, what's incriminating about that?

  Lorelei Lee : Well... Piggy was being the python, and I was a goat.

• Lorelei Lee : [singing]  Tiffany's! Cartier! Black, Starr, Frost, Gorham, Talk to me, Harry Winston, Tell me all about it!

• Lorelei Lee : [singing]  Someone broke my heart in Little Rock, So I up and left the pieces there, Like a little lost lamb I roamed about, I came to New York and I found out

  Lorelei Lee , Dorothy Shaw : That men are the same way everywhere...

• Lorelei Lee : Dorothy, I'm sailing on Saturday, with or without Mr. Esmond. And I'm not coming back from Europe until he comes and gets me. When we're in France, where his father can't phone him twice a day, well...

• Lorelei Lee : Sometimes Mr. Esmond finds it very difficult to say no to me.

  Dorothy Shaw : Well, that's very possible.

• Lorelei Lee : You can be a pretty naughty boy sometimes.

• Gus Esmond Jr. : Lorelei, I want to talk to you.

  Lorelei Lee : Sure.

  [sits down and starts bouncing up-and-down on the bed] 

  Gus Esmond Jr. : Dear, I want to tell you something... I want to remind you of something... Very... Stop that! Please. It's most distracting.

• Lorelei Lee : Did you say "diamonds"?

  Sir Francis 'Piggy' Beekman : Well, well, well! By George, I must say! No doubt about it, no sirree. By George, no doubt about it at all.

  Dorothy Shaw : Miss Lee, meet Piggy.

  Sir Francis 'Piggy' Beekman : Delighted! Delighted!

  Lorelei Lee : You did say "diamonds." I can tell.

• Dorothy Shaw : Boy will I tell that stinker off when we get those pictures back.

  Lorelei Lee : The question is how do we do that?

  Dorothy Shaw : Well, the simplest way is to swipe 'em. Come on, we'll get our warpaint on and go to work.

• Lorelei Lee : Don't worry about me. I'm only concerned about you two. There's a wonderful moon out tonight.

• Lorelei Lee : Gee, Piggy, a girl like I almost never gets to meet a really interesting man. Sometimes my brain gets real starved.

• Dorothy Shaw : We'll have a better chance of getting those pictures back if he doesn't know we're onto him.

  Lorelei Lee : I'll get them.

  Dorothy Shaw : How?

  Lorelei Lee : He's a man, isn't he?

• Lorelei Lee : How does it look?

  Dorothy Shaw : Exactly like trouble.

• Sir Francis 'Piggy' Beekman : Are you sure there are no more?

  Lorelei Lee : Positive, Piggy. Do you feel better?

  Sir Francis 'Piggy' Beekman : You little angel.

• Dorothy Shaw : When love goes wrong / Nothing goes right / This one thing I know

  Lorelei Lee : When love goes wrong / A man takes flight

  Dorothy Shaw : And women get uppity-O

  Lorelei Lee : The sun don't beam / The moon don't shine / The tide don't ebb and flow

  Dorothy Shaw : The clock won't strike / A match won't light

  Dorothy Shaw , Lorelei Lee : When love goes wrong / Nothing goes right

• Lorelei Lee : [singing "Bye Bye Baby"]  I'll be in my room alone, every post-meridian. / And I'll be with my diary, and that book by Mr. Gideon.

• Lorelei Lee : [singing "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend"]  The French are glad to die for love. / They delight in fighting duels. / But I prefer a man who lives / And gives expensive jewels.