Intelligence vs. Icon

I believe that Marilyn Monroe 'hid' her intellect in order to better her career. Monroe often played the roles of dumb bimbo blondes and those roles are what made her successful. People created this image for her and what they expected her to be like in real life, and this image is what everyone loved. For Monroe to reveal her intelligence, she could have jeopardized her ability to still get the roles she was used to and lost her credibility to play those parts. It is similar to situations of some actors and actresses today. Will Farrell plays solely comedy roles in movies; if he were to begin playing horror film roles or action/thriller roles, people would have a hard time taking him seriously. I believe there are celebrities today that share the same situation as Monroe. A modern day celebrity that actually hid part of their intellect was Nolan Gould. Nolan Gould plays Luke on the popular TV show Modern Family. Luke is the youngest child and only son of the Dunphy family and is known to be very dim-witted and immature. In the show, Luke's stupidity is often the punchline to successful jokes. In real life, Gould is a genius. He is a member of Mensa society of people with incredibly high IQ's. Nolan Gould's IQ is estimated to be approaching 150, and he also graduated high school at 13 years old. Overall, I believe Gould has to hide his incredible intellect in order to play the part of Luke Dunphy. If he had not hid his intellect, Gould may never have gotten the role in Modern Family that has made him such a successful actor.