8. Marilyn Monroe
While we're speaking of suicidal blonde sex kittens with dramatic aspirations higher than their good looks would allow them, what list would be complete without Marilyn Monroe? This one may be contentious, but hear me out: I bet the image that just flashed in your brain just now was the subway grate photo from The Seven-Year Itch, or maybe the infamous "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" performance. Maybe you thought of a beautiful woman with a sad and troubled story. I guarantee you that you didn't think of a woman who had a knack for making people laugh, which is why she has a spot on this list. Monroe never got the credit she deserved as an actress, comedic or otherwise, except within movie nerd circles. Pop culturally, she's had plenty of credit as a sex symbol (maybe because she did us a favor and died young, sparing everyone the awkward indignity of watching her age), but precious little as an artist plying a craft or a genuinely funny person. Sure, she had starring roles in plenty of comedies, but nearly always as the dumb blonde at the butt of the jokes. This all despite director Billy Wilder's confidence in her "absolute genius" in comedy and Sir Laurence Olivier's firm belief that she was "a brilliant comedienne." Lee Strasberg, one of her instructors at the Actors Studio, also cited her as one of the most singular and diligent members of the studio, second only to Marlon Brando. Everyone knows how the story ends: plagued by health issues (both mental and physical), Monroe became increasingly erratic and difficult to work with. Ultimately everything ended with an overdose of barbituates, substances Monroe had been abusing for quite some time. It's hard to know what's sadder: being a funny person only remembered for being beautiful and tragic, or being a funny person who's not remembered at all.