Michelle Williams Channels Marilyn Monroe on and off Screen

Michelle Williams dazzles in Dior

It's official: Michelle Williams is no longer Miss Prim. After seasons of demure dresses, the star of My Week with Marilyn revealed some decidedly Monroe-esque cleavage in a dazzling Dior gown at the New York Film Festival afterparty for her new film. The actress tackles the daunting role of the iconic sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, alongside Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi and Harry Potter star Emma Watson. My Week with Marilyn hits theatres on Nov. 4.

Michelle also wore Dior at last year's NYFF screening of Blue Valentine, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination. Will this be the year she gets more than just a nomination?

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Critics are already raving over the film and her delicately introspective interpretation of the real woman inside the silver screen star, who struggled with insecurity, men, alcohol and drugs until her death from an overdose in 1962. The film is certainly enviably timed for a high profile since next year is the 50th anniversary of Monroe’s mysterious death. Talk about a built in Oscar awareness campaign. And her image is already experiencing a cultural renewal.

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For starters, there's the October cover of Vogue which features Michelle Williams photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Then there's a book "Intimate Exposures" by Susan Bernard which features unpublished photos by her father, Bruno Bernard, the photog behind that iconic upskirt on the subway grate shot. And a new NBC series Smash, about a Monroe-themed Broadway musical, will air in February.

VIDEO: 'My Week With Marilyn': Michelle Williams Takes on Monroe

Marilyn will also invade the retail marketplace. The Authentic Brands Group recently acquired the rights to Monroe’s likeness, image, estate and several photographic portfolios, including Bernard’s.They also plan upscale Marilyn Monroe lines of Nova Wines, Dreamwear lingerie, even Monroe merch for a skateboard company called Alien Workshop. The company has also licensed the new Christian Dior ad campaign and the commercial starring Charlize Theron — who bumps into Monroe in a dressing room — that first aired during the primetime Emmys.

We're gonna go out a limb and predict that 2012 will also be a very good year for Marilyn impersonators.

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Better Homes and Gardens: Michelle Obama Is First Public Figure on Cover Since 1963

The First Lady sits in a picnic table outside the White House and extols the virtues of healthy eating.

Michelle Obama appears on the August cover of Better Homes and Gardens, which hits stands this week -- making her the magazine's first public figure to be featured on a  cover since 1963. (Actor Cliff Robertson was the last, the Washington Post reports.)

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Obama wears a sundress and bright yellow cardigan, and poses in a picnic table on the White House grounds with veggies from her garden. She extols the importance of healthy eating, which has been one of her biggest causes since her husband, Barack, took office. She also offers advice to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables.

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“Last year, research with our readers showed this is  a really high priority moms have when it comes to healthy eating,” says Gayle Butler, the editor in chief  of Better Homes and Gardens, which is the third-largest magazine in paid circulation and the largest women's magazine.

Obama -- who has also posed on the cover of Vogue and Ebony -- is "thrilled to share the story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Let’s Move! with the millions of Americans who read Better Homes and Gardens," says her spokesperson Kristina Schake.

As the Post notes, the magazine is based in Iowa, an important campaign state -- and Michelle tracks 20 points ahead of her husband in the polls.

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Jan 3, Michelle 's Health - Visitor's Quote

by Michelle Rankin
(Huntley, IL, USA)

Health: one of the greatest gifts that we are given... one of the gifts we tend to take for granted until it's not right there.... and when it isn't, one of the gifts that we desire more than anything.

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