Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe is known for being an American actress, model, and a singer.  She was very successful in starring in motion pictures in 1950’s and 1960’s.  Marilyn had a rough childhood, but that didn’t bring her down!  Here is her story.

Marilyn Monroe was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California as Norma Jeane Mortensen.  She was born from her mother Gladys Pearl Baker.  Marilyn lived a tough childhood; she never knew her biological father.  At one point she thought Clark Gable was her biological father.  Marilyn had a half sister whom she was not close with, and they met only six times in her lifetime.  

Marilyn spent a lot of time in a foster home or orphanage when she was younger.  A family friend and her husband Grace and Doc Goddard took care of Marilyn for a couple years.  This family was paid a twenty five-dollar reward per week from her mother Gladys.  The Goddard’s were very religious; consequently, Marilyn was not allowed to go to movies and went to church every morning.  In 1942, Doc’s job was moved to the East Coast and the Goddard’s moved over there, but they couldn't afford to take Marilyn along.

Marilyn at the age of seven, went back to a foster home where she was sometimes sexually assaulted.  At the age of eleven she was raped; there was only one way out.  Because of this, she decided to get married to her boyfriend Jimmy Dougherty at the age of 16; on June 19, 1942.  Therefore, she has dropped out of high school at the age of fifteen.  Jimmy was sent to the South Pacific as a merchant marine. Marilyn moved to California to get a job at a munitions factory.  Here she was found by a photographer.  Marilyn had a successful career as a model; she also changed her name to Marilyn Monroe in preparation for her acting career.  Throughout Marilyn’s childhood she always had dreamt to become an actress like Jean Harlow and Lana Turner.  

In 1946, Marilyn and Jimmy got a divorce because she wanted to focus more on her career.  That same year she signed a contract for her first movie.  With her movie contract, she dyed her hair blonde and went by “Marilyn Monroe.”  Marilyn’s acting career actually didn’t really start until 1950’s.  Marilyn had a small part in John Huston’s movie The Asphalt Jungle she gained a lot of attention anyway.  That same year Marilyn had impressed the audiences in All About Eve by Claudia Caswell starring Bette Davis.  She soon would be one of Hollywood’s most famous actresses.  Even though she wasn’t initially thinking about becoming a world attraction, but she later proved them wrong by winning various honors and attracting a various amount of audiences to her films.

In 1953 Marilyn starred as a young married woman out to kill her husband with the help of her lover in the movie Niagara.  Because of Marilyn’s wonderful breathy voice, by this time she had become an admired international superstar.  She suffered from pre-anxiety that often made her physically sick.  This made Marilyn tardy to her film set practices.  Throughout her whole career she was signed and released from many different contracts with film studios.

Marilyn moved to New York City to study acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors’ Studio.  She returned and starred in the dramatic comedy Bus Stop in 1956; she played a saloon singer kidnapped by a rancher who had fallen in love with her.  In 1959, with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis she returned to star in Some Like It Hot.  In 1959, at the Golden Globe Awards, Marilyn was awarded with “Best Actress in Comedy” award.  She received this for her work on all the films she starred in.  Marilyn got back with John Huston and starred with Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift in The Misfits which was set in Nevada.  This was her last completed film.

After that Marilyn’s career went downhill.  Marilyn was dismissed from the film Something’s Got to Give for missing so many days of filming.  A New York Times article stated that she said her absence was  it was from illness.  At this time in Marilyn’s life it seemed to be confusing.  (Her marriage with Joe Dimaggio only lasted nine months in 1954.)

One August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe at the age of thirty-six died in her home in Los Angeles.  There was a empty bottle of sleeping pills lying next to her bed.  Over the years there has been some questions if she was murdered, but it cause of her death was officially from drug overdose.

Marilyn’s favorite Emilio Pucci dress is what she was buried in.  Her casket was known as “Cadillac casket” which is the most high-end casket available.  She didn’t own her own house until her last year before death. Apparently she didn’t have very many possessions.  One of her most prized is a autographed photo of Albert Einstein that said “To Marilyn, with respect and love thanks”.  That is the life of  Norma Jeane Mortensen (Marilyn Monroe).  

Very rare photos of Marilyn Monroe were published in books of photographs by Sam Shaw.  August 5, 2012 was the fiftieth  anniversary of Marilyn’s death.  More than half a century later the whole world is still fascinated by her talent and beauty.