Elaine Joyce a call-girl service on the side. Joyce also hosted the first season (1986–87) of "The All New Dating Game." Throughout the 1980s and 1990s she was featured in many series, including "Mr. Merlin", (in which she portrayed the character Alexandra, a sorceress); "Beverly Hills, 90210"; "Melrose Place"; "Magnum, P.I."; "Simon & Simon"; "Too Close For Comfort"; and "Murder, She Wrote". In 1972, she made her Broadway debut in the title role in "Sugar", the musical adaptation of the film "Some Like It Hot", in which she portrayed band singer Sugar Kane, the role originated by Marilyn Monroe in the movie.
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.