Marilyn Monroe gave a cameo-strength performance as a streetwalker in O. Henry’s Full House, an anthology feature from 20th Century Fox. Released on 10.16.52, it was her fourth film release that year. It feels like the kind of role that a young actress (Monroe was 25 during filming) would play in hopes of being noticed or, considering her costar Charles Laughton, classing up her career. But Monroe was already well on her way.
Her twin breakout performances in John Huston‘s The Asphalt Jungle (’50) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz‘s All About Eve (ditto) had surfaced two years prior. Her performances in Fritz Lang‘s Clash by Night (6.16.52) and Edmond Goulding‘s We’re Not Married (7.11.52) received above-the-title billing. Plus she was Richard Widmark‘s front-and-center costar in Don’t Bother to Knock (7.18.52). Plus she’d been seeing Joe DiMaggio (whom he would marry in early ’54) for several months.