Last Movies of 9 Noteworthy Stars, 7-9

On this page you will find the final three members of our list, including Marilyn Monroe.

7. Henry Fonda

You know you've had a stellar acting career when your greatest film is a toss-up between The Grapes of Wrath and 12 Angry Men. Or was it The Ox-Bow Incident or Mister Roberts? Some critics pass over those classics altogether and declare Henry Fonda's best film to be his last, On Golden Pond. The actor received numerous Oscar nods during a career that spanned five decades, but by the 1980s, he had limited most of his work to television, with the exception of 1981's On Golden Pond. The film, which also starred his daughter Jane and Katharine Hepburn, tells the story of an aging couple who spend a life-changing summer at their vacation home. It earned 11 Academy Award nominations and a Best Actor win for Fonda, his first and only Oscar. He died of heart disease at age 77, just eight months after the film was released.

8. Audrey Hepburn

As a child, Audrey Hepburn grew up in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam and carried secret messages to the Resistance. After World War II ended, Audrey trained as a ballerina and worked as a model before embarking on an award-winning acting career. The graceful and elegant brunette was an instant success, winning a Best Actress Oscar for her first major film role as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953). But she is best remembered for her roles in Breakfast at Tiffany's and My Fair Lady, two roles that garnered her nods from the Academy, but no Oscars. One of only a handful of performers to win a Tony, an Emmy, an Oscar, and a Grammy Award, Hepburn portrayed an angel in her final film role in Steven Spielberg's Always (1989). She died of cancer in January 1993 at age 63.

9. Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe packed a number of memorable roles into her tragically short career, but her final completed film, The Misfits, is remembered for its offscreen turmoil as much as its big-screen success. Written by Monroe's third husband, playwright Arthur Miller, the 1961 movie was filmed in the Nevada desert and was plagued by Monroe's chronic tardiness. Ironically, costar Clark Gable suffered a massive heart attack the day after filming wrapped and died 11 days later. Meanwhile, Monroe's marriage to Miller was about to end in divorce, and she was battling substance abuse. She died at age 36 from acute barbiturate poisoning on August 5, 1962.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Helen Davies, Marjorie Dorfman, Mary Fons, Deborah Hawkins, Martin Hintz, Linnea Lundgren, David Priess, Julia Clark Robinson, Paul Seaburn, Heidi Stevens, and Steve Theunissen