Monroe was uncomfortable acting alongside the naturally beautiful younger actress, and demanded - unsuccessfully - that Lange dye her hair darker for the role.

In 1956, Lange appeared in an episode of 'Kraft Television Theater' (NBC, 1947-1958) that gained the attention of Hollywood producer Bud Adler, who cast Lange in his film adaptation of the William Inge play, 'Bus Stop' (1956) starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray. When a photo of her walking Roosevelt's dog appeared in a local newspaper, Lange was spotted and immediately signed by a modeling agency. She also earned money as a dog walker for Fala, a Scotch terrier belonging to former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who lived nearby. Lange waited tables along with her sisters and brother in between attending high school and dance classes - at one point training with Martha Graham - modeling, and performing in plays.

She did so by opening Minette's of Washington Square, a family-run restaurant that catered to the theatrical crowd, many of whom could eat for free in exchange for a performance. In 1942, when Lange was 12 years old, her father died, leaving Lange's mother to care for the four children on her own. From that point, Lange grew up surrounded by actors, singers, dancers and musicians, and by the age of eight she was on Broadway herself, appearing in the children's chorus of 'Life, Laughter and Tears' at the Booth Theater. When she was still just a toddler, Lange's father was hired as a music arranger and director for Florenz Zeigfeld's 'Follies,' and moved the family moved to New York's Greenwich Village. 28, 1931 in Redding, CT, the second of four children of John Lange, a cellist and composer, and his wife Minette (nee von Buddecke), an actress. Hope Lange's long and acclaimed career, which eschewed the shallow trappings of glamour and celebrity, was a testament to her quiet, subtle and assured talent. She would also play Dick van Dyke's wife in 'The New Dick Van Dyke Show' (CBS, 1971-74) and star in a constant stream of made for television movies before poor health forced her into retirement in the late 1990s. Lange found her way back to the top of her form on television, winning two Emmy Awards for her starring role on the romantic sitcom 'The Ghost and Mrs. Paired with the hottest young stars on the Twentieth Century Fox lot, Lange spent a decade as the on-call ingénue before her affair with older actor Glenn Ford, who demanded that she be cast in his films, sidelined her career with two back-to-back disappointments. Her quiet, calm manner may not have inspired the same kind of lurid celebrity as Monroe, but Lange's assured performance in the racy, taboo-flaunting 'Peyton Place' (1957) the following year earned her nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. As a soft-spoken, natural beauty, Hope Lange was the antithesis of many of her glamorous contemporaries, such as Marilyn Monroe, whom Lange supported in 'Bus Stop' (1956).

Dyke Drama by Leslie Lange