Claim: Bus Stop (1956 film) was the first film Monroe appeared in before studying at the Actors Studio in New York.

Bus Stop is a 1956 American romantic comedy film directed by Joshua Logan for 20th Century Fox , starring Marilyn Monroe , Don Murray , Arthur O'Connell , Betty Field , Eileen Heckart , Robert Bray and Hope Lange .   Unlike most of Monroe 's movies , Bus Stop is neither a full-fledged comedy nor a musical , but rather a dramatic piece ; it was the first film she appeared in after studying at the Actors Studio in New York . Monroe does however sing one song : `` That Old Black Magic '' by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer .   Bus Stop was based on two plays by William Inge , People in the Wind and Bus Stop . The inspiration for the play Bus Stop came from people Inge met in Tonganoxie , Kansas .   In the 1961 -- 62 season , ABC adapted the play and film into a television series of the same name , Bus Stop starring Marilyn Maxwell as the owner of the bus station and diner . In the segment `` Chérie '' which most closely follows the film , Tuesday Weld performed the role of Marilyn Monroe , and Gary Lockwood appeared as the Don Murray character .   The film was shot in Idaho and Arizona .