Marilyn Monroe turns into Mt. Prospect impersonator's best friend

The iconic Marilyn Monroe was dead long before Mount Prospect native Sheri Winkelmann was old enough to know who she was.

In the years that Winkelmann became an actress and dancer as a student at Prospect High School, she never gave Monroe much thought.

Winkelmann studied theater at DePaul University and was signed by the famed William Morris Agency. Her acting career took her to New York and Los Angeles. She ran a theater in Hawaii. Then seven years ago, she moved to Palatine, reclaimed her suburban roots and started her own entertainment company called Wink Productions (winkpro.com).

“I do a lot of the entertainment myself, and I have a stable of talent,” Winkelmann says.

Her company handles everything from bar mitzvahs and children's birthday parties to corporate conventions and stage shows.

In addition to face-painters, clowns, jugglers and stilt-walkers, Winkelmann offers performers who impersonate celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. Winkelmann herself spanned generations with her impersonations of Connie Francis and Madonna. But she had one gap in her all-service entertainment agency.

“I kept getting calls for a Marilyn, and I didn't have one,” Winkelmann says. “Then I thought, ‘You know, this would be a wonderful acting challenge.' ”

She hired Nan Zabriskie, one of her former instructors at DePaul, to design the makeup and capture the look she needs to portray Marilyn.

“I don't even look like her,” Winkelmann says. “This is an art to put on this makeup.”

She watched every Marilyn Monroe movie and bought custom-made outfits and “a pretty extensive wig collection” to perfect the look. Then she went to work.

“I needed to research and study her just as if I was cast in a play playing Marilyn,” Winkelmann says. “After I studied her, I have a huge appreciation for her.”

While Monroe often is dismissed as simply a ditsy blonde bombshell, Winkelmann sees much more.

“I had no idea how talented and intelligent she was,” Winkelmann says, talking about Marilyn's acting, singing, humor and desire to do more than the roles she was offered.

In the past couple of years, Winkelmann has turned Monroe into a business (marilynshows.com) on its own.

“I've got about 15 of her favorite songs in my repertoire,” says Winkelmann, who adds that Valentine's Day is a good time for her impression to pay some visits on gentlemen.

“People call all the time for birthdays. I've even jumped out of cakes,” Winkelmann says. “I do a lot of office deliveries, too, just like a telegram.”

Last fall, Winkelmann took her Marilyn Monroe act to India, where she entertained at an international sugar convention. “It was their 20th anniversary and they wanted ‘Happy Birthday,' ” she says, recalling that image of a breathy Marilyn Monroe once serenading John F. Kennedy with a sultry version of “Happy Birthday.”

Winkelmann, who describes herself as 5-feet-5 and “curvy,” acknowledges that sometimes men do make a pass at her portrayal of the famous sex symbol.

“The older they are, the bolder they are. Maybe because they remember her or they don't care anymore,” Winkelmann says with a laugh. But she finds her portrayal of the soft-spoken legend has a calming effect on younger audiences.

“It's amazing how that softness really softens men. It's very sweet,” she says. “Everybody needs the gentleness and the love that she embodied.”

Monroe, who would have turned 85 this year, died at age 36. Winkelmann, who jokes that she is a “reincarnation” of the movie star, says she can't play the part forever.

“After I fulfill my dream of performing for the troops, like Marilyn did, I'll hang up my wigs. But for now, I'm having a blast,” Winkelmann says. “I'm having an absolutely wonderful time doing her.”