Marilyn Monroe she founded a film production company in late 1954; she named it Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP). She dedicated 1955 to building her company and began studying method acting at the Actors Studio. In late 1955, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in "Bus Stop" (1956) and the first independent production of MMP, "The Prince and the Showgirl" (1957). Monroe won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her work in "Some Like It Hot" (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed
Marilyn Monroe performances and awards "American National Biography", considers the typecast "an unfair stereotype that bothered her throughout her career". Her major breakthrough came in 1953, when she starred in three pictures: the film noir "Niagara", and the comedies "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "How to Marry a Millionaire". Sarah Churchwell, Monroe's biographer, notes that "unconscious, rather than conscious, sexuality would become the Marilyn hallmark after 1953", and the actress became one of the most popular and recognizable people in America. In 1955 Monroe appeared in the Billy Wilder–directed comedy "The Seven Year Itch", in which she becomes the object of her married neighbor's sexual fantasies.