In his autobiography Timebends, Arthur Miller tells of his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. During the filming of The Misfits Miller watched Marilyn descend into the depths of depression and despair. He was fearing for her life as he watched their growing estrangement, her paranoia, and her dependence on barbiturates.

One evening, after a doctor had been persuaded to give Marilyn yet another shot and she was sleeping, Miller stood watching her. "I found myself straining to imagine miracles," he writes. "What if she were to wake and I were able to say, 'God loves you, darling,' and she were able to believe it! How I wished I still had my religion and she hers."