Dear Juliet, why?

Caught between love and fame, Juliet Prowse had to choose: diamond ring or her rising star

- Juliet E Prowse

Publisher's note: This extract is from the biography Juliet Prowse: Born to Dance, written by Prowse’s niece, the story of the dancer-entertainer who burst into the spotlight with her first movie, 1960’s Can-Can, where she met Frank Sinatra. Prowse, who grew up in South Africa, was new in Hollywood and wanted to establish herself as an entertainer. A kiss from Sinatra, which was not in the Can-Can script, led to them dating. But Sinatra was not for the faint-hearted - he dated multiple women at the same time but was furious when he heard Prowse was seeing someone else. This edited extract picks up after a fight about her “other man”.

Juliet was relaxing at the pool when she first heard the news. “What? Frank is dating Marilyn Monroe?” She laughed out loud — she couldn’t imagine them together. She was still confused about Frank, but hadn’t seen or heard from him for months since their blow-up. “Oh well, cosi é la vita!” — the Italian c’est la vie! Frank and Marilyn had been friends for years, and after her failed marriage to Arthur Miller and a stint in rehab, she was recuperating at Frank’s house. But between Marilyn’s dalliances with the Kennedy brothers and her erratic behaviour, Frank’s feelings were more protective than passionate.

Apparently, he preferred women with inner strength and self-reliance, like his mother and Ava Gardner — Marilyn was too much trouble. In Juliet, Frank certainly had an independent woman who believed things worked out as they should. As she said, “I feel if I get what I want, I was right for it. If not, I don’t cry over it.”