Lifetime Miniseries 'The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe' Premieres Tonight, Stars Kelli Garner, Susan Sarandon, Emily Watson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Kelli Garner (“Marilyn”) and Susan Sarandon (“Gladys”) star in the all-new Lifetime miniseries, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. Photo by Danny Feld Copyright 2015

Kelli Garner (The Aviator, Pan Am) plays the legendary star Marilyn Monroe in Lifetime's four-hour event The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe premiering Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

The miniseries, which claims to uncover many closely-guarded secrets the blonde bombshell kept from the public, also stars Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking, The Last of Robin Hood) as Marilyn's biggest secret of all, her mother Gladys, long institutionalized for mental illness. Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee Emily Watson (Hilary and Jackie) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Texas Rising, Magic City) also headline the cast while Sarandon's daughter Eva Amurri Martino (Californication) plays Gladys in her youth. Watson portrays Grace McKee, Marilyn's childhood guardian.

Based on J. Randy Taraborrelli's New York Times bestseller of the same name, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe begins with a portrait of a young Norma Jeane Mortenson as she battles a lonely and loveless existence with an absent mother. Despite the odds, Norma Jeane blossoms into a funny, smart and ambitious woman and soon reinvents herself to become the symbol of an era. She revels in stardom, yet remains a fragile artist, desperate for the approval and protection of men. The outside world never truly sees or understands the real Marilyn, a woman so different from her public persona.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Joins 'Extant' Season 2 Cast as JD Richter

Jeffrey Dean Morgan - Photo Credit: Mitch Jenkins

Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been cast as a series regular in the CBS summer drama series Extant, starring Academy Award winner Halle Berry, from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and CBS Television Studios.

Morgan will play JD Richter, a roguish womanizer and a cop of the future who is a mercenary/bounty hunter. He is free-wheeling, hard-drinking and fearless, bordering on reckless, mostly because he's got nothing to lose. He is the everyman who thought he had seen everything until Molly Woods (Halle Berry) enters his life. The second season will premiere in summer 2015.

Extant is a serialized mystery thriller about female astronaut Molly Woods, who discovers she has unwittingly put the human race on a path to destruction, and that she and a mysterious stranger may be the only hope for survival.

Morgan’s television credits include Magic City, Grey’s Anatomy and the upcoming miniseries Texas Rising. His feature film credits include Watchmen, P.S. I Love You and the upcoming Bus 657, alongside Robert DeNiro.

History Channel Event Series 'Texas Rising' Premieres Memorial Day 2015

History's eight-hour television event series Texas Rising will premiere Memorial Day 2015, it was announced today by Dirk Hoogstra, Executive Vice President and General Manager, History & H2. The series will detail the Texas Revolution and the rise of the legendary Texas Rangers.

"We're ecstatic with what we've seen so far from production," said Hoogstra, "I can't think of a better way to kick off summer than with a big television event that's sure to resonate with our fans."

Texas Rising is produced by A+E Studios and ITV Studios America in association with Thinkfactory Media for History. Leslie Greif (Hatfields & McCoys) is executive producer. Two-time Oscar-nominated director Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) is directing with an all-star cast including: Bill Paxton, Brendan Fraser, Ray Liotta, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olivier Martinez, Thomas Jane, Crispin Glover, Rhys Coiro, Jeremy Davies, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Christopher McDonald, Max Thieriot, Chad Michael Murray, Robert Knepper, Jeff Fahey, Rob Morrow and Kris Kristofferson.