Marilyn Monroe was well-known for her kindness.
Making a movie with Robert Mitchum in 1954, her male co-star noticed how Monroe was keenly aware of her surroundings and seemed so caring towards others that she was physically unable to act on camera if she noticed someone else in the scene was uncomfortable or unwell.
In Robert Mitchum’s own words, recalling an incident showcasing his co-star’s empathy:
She was a very special girl and she had an enormous feeling for, well, just for people. When we came back from Canada... they were doing close-up work of the stuff we do on the raft in the white water. And there was a fellow in the tank, blasting us with a high-pressure fire hose. And she suddenly looked over at him and started almost whimpering and I said, "What is it?"
She said, "Look at him... He's freezing." She said, "He's turning blue," and I said, "Good luck to him. He keeps hitting me with that 175-pound hose." And she made them take him out. She just stopped and said, "I can't. That man is suffering." And she stopped and she wouldn't work until they replaced him with somebody who was warmer.
Her kindness famously extended color barriers, too — Monroe greatly admired the black singer Ella Fitzgerald, but the owner of one of Monroe’s favorite clubs, Mocambo, refused to hire Fitzgerald as she was black…
Marilyn Monroe told the club owner she’d reserve a front-row table for herself and some famous friends each night Ella Fitzgerald was to perform, ensuring the club would get no shortage of publicity. If they didn’t hire Fitzgerald, she would stop come altogether. Ella Fitzgerald got the gig, and a major career boost as a result.