The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Marty and Cindy converse about the male urge for infidelity after seven years of marriage as depicted in The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Title: The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Director: Billy Wilder

Screenplay: George Axelrod & Billy Wilder (based on Axelrod's 1952 Broadway play)

Stars: Marilyn Monroe as The Girl | Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman

Supporting Cast: Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts, Oscar Homolka, Robert Strauss, Carolyn Jones

Cinematography: Milton R. Krasner

Music: Alfred Newman (with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 featured prominently)

Studio: 20th Century-Fox (the only Fox film Wilder ever made)

Budget: $1.8 million | Box Office: approximately $12 million

Running Time: 105 minutes

Release: June 3, 1955 (New York City); June 17, 1955 (Los Angeles)

Production & Behind the Scenes

Monroe's Fox contract required all her films in color. She believed she looked more glamorous on color film.

Ewell won the 1953 Tony Award for Actor in a Drama. He played Richard Sherman 730 times on Broadway before reprising the role on film.

Gary Cooper, James Stewart, and William Holden were all considered. Wilder screen-tested Walter Matthau but Fox wouldn't risk an unknown.

Marilyn Monroe. No one else was ever considered for The Girl.

Monroe agreed to appear in There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) before Fox would release her for this film.

George Cukor was the original choice to direct. When he passed, Wilder took it — his only Fox film.

Saul Bass created the animated title sequence — his only work for a Wilder film.

The dress sold for $4.6 million ($5.5 million with fees), topping the previous record of $923,000 set by Audrey Hepburn's dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The New York premiere was June 1, 1955 — Monroe's 29th birthday.

Joe DiMaggio was on set and reportedly furious at the attention Monroe received. Wilder had deliberately invited the press for publicity.

The Film Itself: Plot, Censorship & Details

The original Pennsylvania Station (demolished 1963) and the IRT Third Avenue elevated line both appear — the elevated line closed just three weeks before the film premiered.

Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean) also used Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2. Wilder often called it his favorite film of all time.

In the play, Sherman and The Girl actually have sex. The Hays Code reduced this to suggestion — three kisses only. Axelrod complained it gutted the third act.

Bell Brand Potato Chips — slogan: 'If It's Bell, It's Swell!' The film made them nationally famous; they operated until 1995.

In the Broadway production, Ewell's character sarcastically says '...and I've got Marilyn Monroe in the kitchen.' The film kept the line — where he actually does.

Carolyn Jones (Nurse Finch) later played Morticia Addams in the original Addams Family TV series (1964).

The visible theater marquee showed Creature from the Black Lagoon, but the front still listed Lili (1953). The contradicting marquee photo was kept in Fox's photo department for decades.

Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1949). Despite huge popularity, tapes were wiped around 1970 — only eight complete episodes survive.

Ranked #51 on the AFI's 2000 list of the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

Victor Moore (the Plumber) and Donald MacBride (Mr. Brady) both made their final film appearances here.

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