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Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962) was an American actress, singer, model and pop icon. She became known for her comedic skills and screen presence, going on to become one of the most popular movie stars of the 1950s. Later in her career, she worked towards serious roles with a measure of success. However, long-standing problems were exacerbated by disappointments in both her career and personal life during her later years. Her death has been subject to extensive speculation and conspiracy theories. Marilyn Monroe was born under the name of Norma Jeane Mortenson in the charity ward of the Los Angeles County Hospital. According to biographer Fred Lawrence Guiles, her grandmother, Della Monroe Grainger, had her baptized Norma Jeane Baker by Aimee Semple McPherson. She obtained an order from the City Court of the State of New York and legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe on February 23, 1956. Her Mexican-born mother, Gladys Pearl Monroe (b. Piedras Negras, Mexico), had returned from Kentucky where her ex-husband Jasper Baker had kidnapped their children, Robert and Berniece. Some of Monroe"s biographers portray Jasper as a vicious brute. Berniece Baker Miracle recounted in My Sister Marilyn that when Robert suffered a series of physical ailments, Baker refused to seek proper medical attention for him; the boy died in 1933. Many biographers believe Norma Jeane"s biological father was Charles Stanley Gifford, a salesman for the RKO studios where Gladys worked as a film-cutter. Monroe"s birth certificate lists Gladys"s second husband, Norwegian immigrant Martin Edward Mortenson, as the father. While Mortenson left Gladys before Norma Jeane"s birth, some biographers think he may have been the father. In an interview with Lifetime, James Dougherty, her first husband, said Norma Jeane believed that Gifford was her father. Yet, when asked about her ethnic heritage, Monroe claimed to have been part Irish, part Scottish and part Norwegian which could only be true if Mortenson was her father. Whoever he was, he played no part in Monroe"s life. Unable to persuade Della to take Norma Jeane, Gladys placed her with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, California, where she lived until she was seven. In her autobiography My Story, Monroe states she thought Albert was a girl. However, some do not consider My Story trustworthy, as the book was a collaboration between Monroe and ghost-writer Ben Hecht and it was assumed Monroe was keen on dramatizing and coloring her past in order to make her public image more vulnerable. Hecht divulged to his agent: "It is easy to know when she is telling the truth. The moment a true thing comes out of her mouth, her eyes shed tears. She"s like her own lie detector." In 2001, the book was reissued and Hecht was given credit. Gladys visited Norma Jeane every Saturday. One day, she announced that she had bought a house. A few months after they had moved in, Gladys suffered a breakdown. In My Story, Monroe recalls her mother "screaming and laughing" as she was forcibly removed to the State Hospital in Norwalk. Gladys"s father, Otis, died in an asylum near San Bernardino from syphilis. According to My Sister Marilyn, Gladys"s brother, Marion, hanged himself upon his release from an asylum, and Della"s father did the same in a fit of depression. Norma Jeane was declared a ward of state, and Gladys"s best friend, Grace McKee (later Goddard) became her guardian. After McKee married in 1935, Norma Jeane was sent to the Los Angeles Orphans Home (later renamed Hollygrove), and then to a succession of foster homes. The Goddards moved to the east coast and could not take her along. Grace Goddard worried about Norma Jeane having to return to the orphanage, so she spoke to the mother of James Dougherty. Mrs. Dougherty approached her son, who agreed to take Norma Jeane out on dates. They married two weeks after she turned 16, so that Norma Jeane would not have to return to an orphanage or foster care. While her husband was in the Merchant Marine during World War II, Norma Jeane Dougherty moved in with her mother-in-law, and started to work in the Radioplane Company factory (owned by Hollywood actor Reginald Denny), spraying airplane parts with fire retardant and inspecting parachutes. Army photographer David Conover was scouting local factories, taking photos for a YANK magazine article about women contributing to the war effort. He saw her potential as a model and she was soon signed by The Blue Book modelling agency. In his book Finding Marilyn, Conover claimed the two had an affair that lasted years. Shortly after signing with the agency, Monroe began having her long, curly dark blond/light brown hair cut, straightened and lightened to a golden blonde by hairstylist Sylvia Barnhart, who continued to work on Monroe"s hair until 1953. She became one of Blue Book"s most successful models, appearing on dozens of magazine covers. In 1946, she came to the attention of talent scout Ben Lyon. He arranged a screen test for her with 20th Century Fox. She was offered a standard six-month contract with a starting salary of $125 per week. Lyon suggested she adopt Marilyn (after Marilyn Miller) as her stage name, since Norma Jeane wasn"t considered commercial enough. For her last name, she took her mother"s maiden name. Thus, the twenty-year old Norma Jeane Baker became Marilyn Monroe. During her first half year at Fox, Monroe was given no work, but Fox renewed her contract and she was given minor appearances in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! and Dangerous Years, both released in 1947. In Scudda Hoo!, her part was edited out of the film except for a quick glimpse of her face when she speaks two words. Fox decided not to renew her contract again. Monroe returned to modelling and began to network and make contacts in Hollywood. In 1948, a six-month stint at Columbia Pictures saw her star in Ladies of the Chorus, but the low-budget musical was not a success and Monroe was dropped yet again. She then met one of Hollywood"s top agents, Johnny Hyde, who had Fox re-sign her after MGM turned her down. Fox Vice-President Darryl F. Zanuck was not convinced of Monroe"s potential, but due to Hyde"s persistence, she gained supporting parts in Fox"s All About Eve and MGM"s The Asphalt Jungle. Even though the roles were small, movie-goers as well as critics took notice. Hyde also arranged for her to have minor plastic surgery on her nose and chin, adding that to earlier dental surgery. The next two years were filled with inconsequential roles in standard fare such as We"re Not Married! and Love Nest. However, RKO executives used her to boost box office potential of the Fritz Lang production Clash by Night. After the film performed well, Fox employed a similar tactic and she was cast as the ditzy receptionist in the Cary Grant/Ginger Rogers comedy Monkey Business. Critics no longer ignored her, and both films" success at the box office was partly attributed to Monroe"s growing popularity. Fox finally gave her a starring role in 1952 with Don"t Bother to Knock, in which she portrayed a deranged babysitter who attacks the little girl in her care. It was a cheaply made B-movie, and although the reviews were mixed, many claimed that it demonstrated Monroe"s ability and confirmed that she was ready for more leading roles. Her performance in the film has since been noted as one of the finest of her career by many critics. big-budget film when she starred in Niagara in 1953. Movie critics focused on Monroe"s connection with the camera as much as on the sinister plot. She played an unbalanced woman planning to murder her husband. Monroe"s performance brought her credibility as a dramatic actress, but her career would follow a comedy-oriented path. Around this time, nude photos of Monroe began to surface, taken by photographer Tom Kelley when she had been struggling for work. Prints were bought by Hugh Hefner and, in December 1953, appeared in the first edition of Playboy. To the dismay of Fox, Monroe decided to publicly admit it was indeed her in the pictures. To a journalist asking what she had on during the photoshoot, she replied: "The radio." When asked what she wore in bed, she said: "Chanel No. 5." Over the following months, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire cemented Monroe"s status as an A-list actress and she became one of the world"s biggest movie stars. The lavish Technicolor comedy films established Monroe"s "dumb blonde" on-screen persona. In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Monroe"s turn as gold-digging showgirl Lorelei Lee won her rave reviews, and the scene where she sang "Diamonds Are a Girl"s Best Friend" has inspired the likes of Madonna and Kylie Minogue. In the Los Angeles premiere of the film, Monroe and co-star Jane Russell pressed their foot- and handprints in the cement in the forecourt of Grauman"s Chinese Theatre. In How to Marry a Millionaire, Monroe was teamed up with Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable. She played a short-sighted dumb blonde, and even though the role was stereotypical, critics took note of her comedic timing. Her next two films, the western River of No Return and the musical There"s No Business Like Show Business, were not successful. Monroe got tired of the roles that Zanuck assigned her. After completing work on The Seven Year Itch in early 1955, she broke her contract and fled Hollywood to study acting at The Actors Studio in New York. Fox would not accede to her contract demands and insisted she return to work on productions she considered inappropriate, such as The Girl in Pink Tights (which was never filmed), The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, and How to Be Very, Very Popular. Monroe stayed in New York. As The Seven Year Itch raced to the top of the box office in the summer of 1955, and with Fox starlets Jayne Mansfield and Sheree North failing to click with audiences, Zanuck admitted defeat and Monroe returned to Hollywood. A new contract was drawn up, giving Monroe approval of the director as well as the option to act in other studios" projects. The first film to be made under the contract was Bus Stop, directed by Joshua Logan. She played Chérie, a saloon bar singer who falls in love with a cowboy. Monroe deliberately appeared badly made-up and unglamorous. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for the performance and was praised by critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times proclaimed: "Hold on to your chairs, everybody, and get set for a rattling surprise. Marilyn Monroe has finally proved herself an actress." In his autobiography, Movie Stars, Real People and Me, director Joshua Logan wrote: "I found Marilyn to be one of the great talents of all time... She struck me as being a much brighter person than I had ever imagined, and I think that was the first time I learned that intelligence and, yes brilliance have nothing to do with education." Monroe formed her own production company with friend and photographer Milton H. Greene. Marilyn Monroe Productions released its first and only film The Prince and the Showgirl in 1957 to mixed reviews. Along with executive-producing the film, she starred opposite the acclaimed British actor Laurence Olivier, who also directed it. Olivier became furious at her habit of being late to the set, as well as her dependency on her drama coach, Paula Strasberg. Monroe"s performance was hailed by critics, especially in Europe, where she was handed the David di Donatello, the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award, as well as the French Crystal Star Award. She was also nominated for the British BAFTA award. In 1959, 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. The New York Times proclaimed Monroe a "talented comedienne." After Some Like It Hot, Monroe shot Let"s Make Love directed by George Cukor and co-starring Yves Montand. Monroe, Montand and Cukor all considered the script subpar, yet Monroe was forced to shoot the picture because of her obligations to Twentieth Century-Fox. While the film was not a commercial or critical success, it included one of Monroe"s legendary musical numbers, Cole Porter"s "My Heart Belongs to Daddy". Arthur Miller wrote what became her and her co-star Clark Gable"s last completed film, The Misfits. The exhausting shoot took place in the hot Nevada desert. Monroe"s tardiness became chronic and the shoot was troublesome. Despite this, Monroe, Gable and Montgomery Clift delivered performances that are considered excellent by contemporary movie critics. Monroe became friends with Clift, with whom she felt a deep connection. Some blamed Gable"s death of a heart attack on Monroe, claiming she had given him a hard time on the set. Gable, however, insisted on doing his own stunts and was a heavy smoker. After Gable"s death, Monroe attended the baptism of his son. Already financially strained by the production costs of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Fox dropped Monroe from the film and replaced her with Lee Remick. However, co-star Dean Martin was unwilling to work with anyone but Monroe and she was rehired. Monroe conducted a lengthy interview with Life, in which she expressed how bitter she was about Hollywood labeling her as a dumb blonde and how much she loved her audience. She also did a photo shoot for Vogue, and began discussing a future film project with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, according to the Donald Spoto biography. Furthermore, she was planning to star in a biopic of Jean Harlow. Other projects being considered for her were What a Way to Go! and a musical version of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. Before the shooting of Something"s Got to Give resumed, Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home on the morning of August 5, 1962. She remains one of the 20th century"s legendary public figures and archetypal Hollywood movie stars. Marilyn Remembered, Oldest running club on Marilyn Monroe in the USA Forever Marilyn, Online Fan site Marilyn Monroe Collection Marilyn Monroe at the Internet Movie Database Marilyn Monroe at the TCM Movie Database Official website The Maite Minguez Ricart Collection Archival newsreels of Monroe from Paramount News and Pathe News TIME 100: Marilyn Monroe Online community Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe Forum MarilynMonroe.ca MarilynStyle.com Some of the most famous photographs of her were taken by Douglas Kirkland in 1961 as a feature for the 25th anniversary issue of LOOK magazine. Monroe returned to Hollywood to resume filming on the George Cukor comedy Something"s Got to Give, a never-finished film that has become legendary for problems on the set and proved a costly debacle for Fox. In May 1962, she made her last significant public appearance, singing Happy Birthday, Mr. President at a televised birthday party for President John F. Kennedy. After shooting what was claimed to have been the first ever nude scene by a major motion picture actress, Monroe"s attendance on the set became even more erratic. On June 1, her thirty-sixth birthday, she attended a charity event at Dodger Stadium. Fox have released an eleven-disc box containing many of Marilyn Monroe"s famous films in one collection at a reasonable price. In this anthology, ten films are featured, alongside a two hour documentary about Monroe. Don"t Bother To Knock (1952) - Directed By Roy Ward Baker This was an attempt by Marilyn Monroe to prove to critics that she could act in a dramatic role, and opposite Richard Widmark, Marilyn proves an appealing lead actress, even if the film is far from memorable. Marilyn plays Nell, a babysitter who becomes friendly with pilot Jed (Widmark) through her hotel window. However, it soon transpires that Nell"s suitability to the task of babysitting has reached a catastrophic level. Monkey Business (1952) - Directed By Howard Hawks This was Marilyn"s first collaboration with director Howard Hawks, and Marilyn only appears on-screen for approximately fifteen minutes, and is billed behind major stars Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers and Charles Coburn. The film crazily tells of a scientist named Barnaby Fulton (Grant) who is testing a youth-rendering formula on chimps. However, hi-jinx ensues when one of the chimps mixes the formula with the laboratory water cooler, causing Barnaby and his wife Edwine (Ginger Rogers) to reverse in age! Niagara (1953) - Directed By Henry Hathaway Not only is this a decent suspense thriller, but also a good indication of how successful Marilyn could prove to be as a femme-fatale if utilised properly. The plot tells of adulterous Rose Loomis (Monroe), who plots to manipulate her lover into murdering her husband George (Joseph Cotton). However, after George is reported missing, innocent couple Polly (Jean Peters) and Ray Cutler"s (Max Showalter) suspicions are aroused after spying on Rose. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - Directed By Howard Hawks A charming Hawks comedy-musical that pairs Marilyn with Jane Russell as two lounge singers Lorelei and Dorothy working their way to Europe on a cruise ship. Lorelei is engaged to a jealous husband, and her shallow attraction to money and diamonds is match by Dorothy"s shallow attraction to good looking men. Soon, the pair cause waves on the cruise ship, particularly when Lorelei sets her eye on an expensive diamond tiara. How To Marry A Millionaire (1953) - Directed By Jean Negulesco The first film to be made in Fox"s super-widescreen process Cinemascope, this is unfortunately a rather forgettable vehicle that features Lauren Bacall, Monroe and Betty Grable struggling to maintain their classy, socialite lifestyle. Therefore, they decide to set out and find a suitable millionaire to marry in order for the high life to continue. A superficial and lightweight comedy that comes off as a pale imitation to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. River Of No Return (1954) - Directed By Otto Preminger Pitted alongside Robert Mitchum, Marilyn plays Kay, a cabaret singer forced to share a raft with Mitchum after her greedy husband runs off with Mitchum"s rifle and horse in a desperate bid to make a gold claim at Council City. A run-of-the-mill musical western as opposed to a classic piece of cinema, River Of No Return was an uninspired turn for Monroe. There"s No Business Like Show Business (1954) - Directed By Walter Lang Marilyn displays her singing talents and her unique ability to light up a screen in this colourful CinemaScope musical. Telling the story of The Five Donaghues, a 1930"s vaudeville song and dance act, There"s no Business Like Show Business is light on plot, but strong on musical set-pieces with great performances from Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey and Donald O"Connor. Not essential Monroe by any means, but some of her best moments in her career can be found in this film. The Seven Year Itch (1955) - Directed By Billy Wilder Despite containing the famous sequence involving Marilyn"s skirt being blown up by an underneath vent, this is a tired and pedestrian comedy of marital infidelities that doesn"t really live up to its reputation. Marilyn plays the too-attractive blonde next door who Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) must save himself from whilst his family are away for the summer. Enjoyable in a light-hearted way, but ultimately forgettable other than for the one "highly-memorable" moment. Bus Stop (1956) - Directed By Joshua Logan This was a proper lead vehicle for Miss Monroe, and proved to be a timid comedy detailing the changing relationship between men and women. Monroe plays Cherie, a Phoenix bar singer who is caught in the path of brash rodeo cowboy Bo Decker (Don Murray), who decides that whether she likes it or not, Cherie will be his house-confined wife. A pleasant comedy with a surprising sour turn at the end, Bus Stop is little more than mildly-diverting entertainment. Let"s Make Love (1960) - Directed By George Cukor The most recent film of this anthology tells of Yves Montand arriving from France to Broadway so that he can see the rehearsal of a new play that satirises/ridicules his life. After seeing the gorgeous Monroe perform on stage, he decides that he is the best man to play himself, if just so he can be near Monroe every day. Monroe gives one of her best performances in a lightweight film, and is a delight to watch on screen. Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (2001) - Documentary Directed By Patty Ivins As a bonus, this box set also features a two-hour documentary that explores the last few months of Monroe"s life, including her infamous stint on the movie Something"s Got To Give, which saw her single-handedly cause delays, create painful tensions on-set and be fired. Two weeks later she was found dead. The documentary is slightly sanitised, but it does cover a healthy amount of ground in terms of Monroe"s "final days". Narrated by James Coburn, the documentary features many interviews with relevant members of Monroe"s life at the time of her death. What renders this documentary exceedingly collectable is the fact that as an extended epilogue it contains a thirty-seven minute rough cut of what Something"s Got To Give could have been. For that alone, this is an ultra-memorable DVD that brilliantly complements the Marilyn Monroe Collection. A three minute Movietone News promo about the Cinemascope process is also thrown in for good measure. Conclusion The ten films provided here are of variable quality, but this is clearly a collection that no fan of Marilyn Monroe should be without, as most of the films have been lovingly restored and provided with a brief splattering of extras. It might not contain Some Like It Hot or The Misfits, but it still is an excellent tribute to a treasured icon of Hollywood cinema. Comments Please login to post comments or replies.