Marilyn Monroe
Actress Marilyn Monroe was born as Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. During her all-too-brief life, Marilyn Monroe overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the world's biggest and most enduring sex symbols. During her career, Monroe's films grossed more than $200 million. Monroe died of a drug overdose on August 5, 1962, at only 36 years old.
Early Life
Marilyn
Monroe was born as Norma Jeane Mortenson (later baptized as Norma Jeane Baker)
on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles, California. During her all-too-brief life,
Marilyn Monroe overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the world's
biggest and most enduring sex symbols. She never knew her father, and once
thought Clark Gable to be her father—a story repeated often enough for a
version of it to gain some currency. However, there's no evidence that Gable
ever met or knew Monroe's mother, Gladys, who developed psychiatric problems
and was eventually placed in a mental institution. As an adult, Monroe would
maintain that one of her earliest memories was of her mother trying to smother
her in her crib with a pillow. Monroe had a half-sister, to whom she was not
close; they met only a half-dozen times.
Growing
up, Monroe spent much of her time in foster care and in an orphanage. In 1937,
a family friend and her husband, Grace and Doc Goddard, took care of Monroe for
a few years. The Goddards were paid $25 weekly by Monroe's mother to raise her.
The couple was deeply religious and followed fundamentalist doctrines; among
other prohibited activities, Monroe was not allowed to go to the movies. But
when Doc's job was transferred in 1942 to the East Coast, the couple could not
afford to bring Monroe with them.
At 7
years old, Monroe returned to a life in foster homes, where she was on several
occasions sexually assaulted; she later said that she had been raped when she
was 11 years old. But she had one way out—get married. She wed her boyfriend
Jimmy Dougherty on June 19, 1942, at the age of 16. By that time, Monroe had
dropped out of high school (age 15). A merchant marine, Dougherty was later
sent to the South Pacific. Monroe went to work in a munitions factory in Van
Nuys, California, where she was discovered by a photographer. By the time
Dougherty returned in 1946, Monroe had a successful career as a model, and had
changed her name to Marilyn Monroe in preparation for an acting career. She
dreamt of becoming an actress like Jean Harlow and Lana Turner.
Monroe's
marriage to Dougherty fizzled out as she focused more on her career. The couple
divorced in 1946—the same year that Monroe signed her first movie contract.
With the movie contract came a new name and image; she began calling herself
"Marilyn Monroe" and dyed her hair blonde. But her acting career
didn't really take off until the 1950s. Her small part in John Huston's crime
drama The Asphalt Jungle (1950) garnered her a lot of attention. That
same year, she impressed audiences and critics alike with her performance as
Claudia Caswell in All About Eve, starring Bette Davis. She would
soon become one of Hollywood's most famous actresses; though she wasn't
initially considered to be star acting material, she later proved her skill by
winning various honors and attracting large audiences to her films.
In
1953, Monroe made a star-making turn in Niagara, starring as a young
married woman out to kill her husband with help from her lover. The emerging
sex symbol was paired with another bombshell, Jane Russell, for the musical
comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). The film was a hit and Monroe
continued to find success in a string of light comedic fare, such as How to
Marry a Millionaire with Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall, There's No
Business like Show Business (1954) with Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor,
and The Seven Year Itch (1955).
"Being
a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and
bewildered."
With
her breathy voice and hourglass figure, Monroe became a much-admired international
star, despite her chronic insecurities regarding her acting abilities. Monroe
suffered from pre-performance anxiety that sometimes made her physically ill
and was often the root cause of her legendary tardiness on films sets, which
was so extreme that it often infuriated her co-stars and crew. "She would
be the greatest if she ran like a watch," director Billy Wilder once said
of her. "I have an aunt Minnie who's very punctual, but who would pay to
see Aunt Minnie?" Throughout her career, Monroe was signed and released
from several contracts with film studios.
Tired
of bubbly, dumb blonde roles, Monroe moved to New York City to study acting
with Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio. She returned to the screen in the
dramatic comedy Bus Stop (1956), playing a saloon singer kidnapped by a
rancher who has fallen in love with her. She received mostly praise for her
performance.
In
1957, Monroe starred in The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence
Olivier, who also directed and produced the film. She often didn't show up for
filming and her erratic behavior on set created a tense relationship with her
co-stars, the crew and Olivier. The film received mixed reviews and was a box
office hit in Britain, but not as popular in the United States. The troubled production
was the backdrop for the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn, starring
Michelle Williams as Monroe.
In
1959, Monroe returned to familiar territory with the wildly popular comedy Some
Like It Hot, with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. She played Sugar Kane
Kowalczyk, a singer who hopes to marry a millionaire in this humorous film, in
which Lemmon and Curtis pretend to be women. They are on the run from the mob
after witnessing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and hide out with an all-girl
orchestra featuring Monroe. Her work on the film earned her the honor of
"Best Actress in a Comedy" in 1959, at Golden Globe Awards.
Reunited
with John Huston, Monroe starred opposite Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift in The
Misfits (1961). Set in Nevada, this adventure drama features Monroe, who
falls for Gable's cowboy but battles him over the fate of some wild mustangs.
This was her last completed film.
In
1962, Monroe was dismissed from Something's Got to Give—also starring
Dean Martin—for missing so many days of filming. According to an article in The
New York Times, the actress claimed that the absences were due to illness.
Martin declined to make the film without her, so the studio shelved the
picture.
At the
time, Monroe's professional and personal life seemed to be in turmoil. Her last
two films, Let's Make Love (1960) and The Misfits (1961) were box
office disappointments.
Death
and Legacy
On
August 5, 1962, at only 36 years old, Marilyn Monroe died at her Los Angeles
home. An empty bottle of sleeping pills was found by her bed. There has been
some speculation over the years that she may have been murdered, but the cause
of her death was officially ruled as a drug overdose. There have been rumors
that Monroe was involved with President John F. Kennedy and/or his brother
Robert around the time of her death.
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