30 Years of Brilliance: 1930-1959
Marilyn Monroe died a suicide at 36, after starring in only a handful of movies, but she dominated the golden age of Hollywood and personified Hollywood glamour and she became, without question, the most famous woman of the 20th Century. Although she was an alluring beauty with voluptuous curves and a generous pout, Marilyn was more than just a '50s sex goddess. Her apparent vulnerability and innocence, in combination with an innate sensuality, has endeared her to a mass consciousness. She was also a clever and underrated actress and comedienne.
Search Amazon for Marilyn MonroeDue to her mother's mental instability and unmarried state at the time, Norma Jeane spent most of her childhood in foster homes and orphanages until 1937, when she moved in with family friend Grace McKee Goddard.
Norma Jeane then met Jim Dougherty, 5 years her senior. Grace encouraged the relationship and set in motion plans for Norma Jeane to marry Dougherty which she did on June 19, 1942, just two weeks after she turned 16, basically so that Norma Jeane would not have to return to an orphanage or foster care. Jim was soon sent overseas with the Merchant Marines and Norma Jeane started working in a parachute factory. She was discovered by photographer David Conover while taking pictures for Yank magazine. She was a natural in front of the camera and by 1945, she had appeared on 33 covers of national magazines. In 1946, she came to the attention of talent scout Ben Lyon. He arranged a screen test for her with 20th Century Fox and she was offered a standard six-month contract. She divorced Jimmy in June of that year.
Soon after, Norma Jeane dyed her hair blonde and changed her name to Marilyn Monroe (borrowing her grandmother's last name).
After several minor roles in low budget movies Marilyn's first serious acting job came in 1950 when she had a small but crucial role in "The Asphalt Jungle" and received favorable reviews. Later that year, Marilyn's performance as Claudia Caswell in All About Eve (starring Bette Davis) earned her further praise. From then on Marilyn worked steadily in movies such as: Let's Make It Legal, As Young As You Feel, Monkey Business and Don't Bother to Knock. It was her performance in 1953's Niagara, however, that delivered her to stardom.
Marilyn's success in Niagara was followed with lead roles in the popular Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (co-starring Jane Russell) and How to Marry a Millionaire (co-starring Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable). These lavish Technicolor comedy films established Monroe's "dumb blonde" on-screen persona. Photoplay magazine voted Marilyn the Best New Actress of 1953, and at 27 years old she was undeniably the best-loved and best known actress in Hollywood.
Marilyn met Joe DiMaggio in early 1952, she was 25 and he was 37. DiMaggio, recently retired from baseball, had expressed a desire to meet this famous star. By February the romance was in full bloom and in January 1954 Joe and Marilyn were married. The wedding captured the headlines worldwide but the marriage was in trouble from the beginning, haunted as it was by Marilyn's fame and sexual image and Joe's jealousy. Nine months later on October 27, 1954, Marilyn and Joe divorced. They attributed the split to a "conflict of careers," and remained close friends.
In 1956, Marilyn started her own motion picture company, Marilyn Monroe Productions. The company produced Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl (co-starring Sir Laurence Olivier). These two films allowed her to demonstrate her talent and versatility as an actress. She received further recognition in 1959 when she scored the biggest hit of her career starring alongside Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot. After shooting finished, Wilder publicly blasted Monroe for her difficult on-set behavior. Soon, however, Wilder's attitude softened, and he hailed her as a great comedienne. Some Like It Hot is consistently rated as one of the best films ever made. Monroe's performance earned her a Golden Globe for best actress in musical or comedy.
On June 29, 1956, Marilyn wed playwright Arthur Miller. The couple met through Lee Strasberg, and friends reported she made him "giddy."
Nominally raised as a Christian, she converted to Judaism before marrying Miller. After she finished shooting The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier, the couple returned to the United States from England and discovered she was pregnant. However, she suffered from endometriosis and the pregnancy was found to be ectopic. A subsequent pregnancy ended in miscarriage.
While they were married, Arthur wrote the part of Roslyn Taber in 1961's The Misfits especially for Marilyn. She frequently clashed with director John Huston and co-stars Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift, often failed to appear on-set, and was hospitalized several times for depression.
The Misfits was to be Marilyn and Gable's last completed film By the time filming started in 1960 her marriage to Miller was beyond repair. A Mexican divorce was granted on January 24, 1961. On February 17, 1962, Miller married Inge Morath, one of the Magnum photographers recording the making of The Misfits.
In light of her erratic behavior on the set of the follow-up, the ironically titled Something's Got to Give, she was fired 32 days into production and slapped with a lawsuit.
In May 1962, she made her last significant public appearance, and one of her most famous, singing Happy Birthday, Mr. President at a televised birthday party for President John F. Kennedy.
Just three months later, on August 5, 1962, she was found dead by her housekeeper. She was discovered lying nude on her bed, face down, with a telephone in one hand. Empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her depression, were littered around the room.
One of Marilyn's favourite songs "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" was played at her funeral. She was laid to rest in a lime green Pucci dress in a bronze casket.
The official cause was an overdose of barbiturates, although the truth will likely never be revealed and there is strong suspicion of suicide. Her alleged affairs with President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert, have been the focus of much speculation regarding the events leading to her demise, but many decades later fact and fantasy are virtually impossible to separate. In death, as in life, the legend of Marilyn Monroe continues to grow.
