Susan Sarandon to play Marilyn Monroe's mother in TV miniseries

Actress Susan Sarandon has joined Lifetime's Marilyn Monroe miniseries Marilyn. The Oscar-winning actress has signed up to play Monroe's mother in the TV adaptation of J Randy Taraborrelli's 2010 book The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, reported Digital Spy.

Sarandon's character, Gladys Mortenson, is described as a frequently delusional and sometimes violent woman who has been diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Mortenson's parents have also suffered with mental health problems - her mother committed suicide as a result of her own mental illness, and her father died of syphilitic insanity.

With a strong belief in Christian Science, Monroe's mother urges Marilyn to reject drugs and believes that in returning to the tenets of the faith, she could be saved.