Marilyn Monroe (1 June 1926 – 4 August 1962), born Norma Jeane Mortenson, was an American actress, singer, and model.
She became one of the most prominent sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as a symbol of the era’s sexual revolution, due to her humorous “blonde bombshell” roles.
Early Years
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles, California on June 1, 1926. Marilyn did not discover she had a half-sister until she was 12 years old; her half-brother passed away in 1933.
Her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker, had two children before leaving her abusive husband (who later kidnapped the children), and Marilyn did not discover she had a half-sister until she was 12 years old.
Gladys married Martin Edward Mortensen in 1924, but they divorced a few months later; although she listed him as Monroe’s father on her birth certificate, it is thought he was not her biological father.
Gladys suffered from mental illness and financial difficulties, and after her mother’s mental collapse, Marilyn became a ward of the state. Monroe spent the subsequent years living in foster homes, where she was subjected to sexual assault, which caused her to become reclusive and develop a stutter.
She eventually resided in the Los Angeles Orphans Home, and in 1936, her mother’s friend, Grace Goddard, became her formal guardian.
However, after Goddard’s husband, Doc raped Marilyn, she lived with various relatives (including Goddard’s relatives and friends). In 1938, she moved in with Grace’s aunt, Ana Lower, and began writing for the Emerson Junior High School newspaper. Monroe returned to the Goddard household in 1941 and enrolled in Van Nuys High School.
However, when Doc’s job relocated him to another state, California child protection regulations prevented Marilyn from accompanying the family. Monroe married their neighbor’s son, dropped out of school, and relocated to Santa Catalina Island in 1943 to avoid returning to the orphanage.
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Early Profession
Marilyn resigned from her employment at the Radioplane Company, where she met photographer David Conover, to pursue a career in modeling. She began modeling for Conover and some of his pals in 1945 when she was contracted to the Blue Book Model Agency. By 1946, Monroe had adorned the covers of more than 30 publications.
In June 1946, she signed with an acting agency, and in August 1946, Darryl F. Zanuck, the top executive of 20th Century-Fox, signed her to a six-month contract. She adopted the theatrical name Marilyn Monroe and began acting, dancing, and singing classes. Marilyn made her film debut in “Dangerous Years” in 1947, followed by “Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!” in 1948 after her contract was renewed.
She attended studies at the Actors’ Laboratory Theatre at the studio’s request around this time, but Fox did not extend her contract in August 1947 because her tutors believed she was too shy to succeed as an actress.
Monroe signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in March 1948 and starred in the 1948 film “Ladies of the Chorus,” but her contract was not renewed.
Success
Monroe immediately formed a relationship with the vice president of the William Morris Agency Johnny Hyde, who assisted her in landing roles in the 1950 films “All About Eve” and “The Asphalt Jungle” and negotiated a seven-year deal with 20th Century Fox.
Next, she starred in “Let’s Make It Legal,” “As Young as You Feel,” “Home Town Story,” and “Love Nest” in 1951, as well as “Clash by Night,” “We’re Not Married!,” “Don’t Bother to Knock,” and “Monkey Business” in 1952. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association dubbed her the “greatest young box office personality” in 1952, and the 1953 thriller “Niagara” made her one of Hollywood’s most prominent sex symbols.
In the same year, Marilyn starred in the musical comedy “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (with her memorable performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”) and the romantic comedy “How to Marry a Millionaire,” appeared as a guest star on “The Jack Benny Program,” and graced the cover and centerfold of “Playboy” magazine’s first issue. Monroe’s participation in “Playboy” occurred without her agreement; a 1949 nude shot was used as the centerfold, and a 1952 image from the Miss America Pageant procession served as the cover image.
In 1954, she starred in the musical “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” and in 1955, she appeared in “The Seven Year Itch,” which had the infamous “subway grate scene” that angered her then-husband, Joe DiMaggio.
In 1955, Marilyn relocated to Manhattan and began individual acting training with Lee and Paul Strasberg. After starring in “Bus Stop” in 1956 and “The Prince and the Showgirl” in 1957, she took an 18-month hiatus to focus on her marriage to Arthur Miller.
Monroe co-starred alongside Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the 1959 film “Some Like It Hot,” which was saved in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1989 for its “cultural, historical, or artistic significance.” She appeared in “Let’s Make Love” in 1960 and “The Misfits” in 1961, which was her final picture. In 1962, she had a notable performance on CBS’s “President Kennedy’s Birthday Salute.”
Marilyn began filming “Something’s Got to Give” in 1962, but she was extremely ill for the first six weeks owing to sinusitis, and the studio claimed she was faking her illness to force her to work. Later, the studio fired Monroe from the film and sued her for $750,000; they halted shooting when Dean Martin refused to work with anybody other than Marilyn.
Fox ultimately decided it wanted Monroe back and re-signed her to a contract that included “Something’s Gotta Give” and “What a Way to Go!” She then photographed for “Vogue,” posing for a fashion feature and a series of naked photographs titled “The Last Sitting” and published after her death.
Personal Life
Marilyn, age 16, married James Dougherty, age 21, on June 19, 1942; they divorced in 1946. Monroe filed for divorce just nine months after marrying Joe DiMaggio, a retired baseball player who was possessive, domineering, and aggressive.
On June 29, 1956, she wed playwright Arthur Miller, and the couple divorced in 1961. Marilyn allegedly had romantic relationships with Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, President John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy, and she was claimed to have planned to remarry Joe DiMaggio on the day of her death, August 8, 1962.
Monroe struggled with melancholy and drug addiction, and she was hospitalized in the late 1950s due to an overdose of barbiturates. Monroe underwent surgery for endometriosis and cholecystectomy in 1961, and she was sent to a mental institution; DiMaggio came to her rescue and secured her early release.
Net Worth
At the time of her death in 1962, the American actress, model, and singer Marilyn Monroe had a net worth of $800 thousand according to celebritynetworth.com.
Inflation-adjusted, this is equivalent to approximately $7 million in current terms. Marilyn made slightly under $3 million in film compensation over the course of her career, or around $24 million before taxes when adjusted for inflation.
She spent lavishly on strangers, family, and employees, while also purchasing jewelry, clothing, and other items for herself that were extravagant.
Morbidity and Funeral
In the early hours of August 5, 1962, Eunice Murray, Marilyn Monroe’s housekeeper, awoke to discover light emanating from beneath her bedroom door.
The door was locked, so she summoned Monroe’s psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, who arrived within a half-hour and broke in through a bedroom window to find Marilyn naked on her bed with empty prescription bottles by her side. After arriving at the residence, her physician, Hyman Engelberg, pronounced her dead, and the LAPD was contacted at 4:25 a.m.
Monroe’s death was estimated to have occurred between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. the night before, and a toxicology study revealed that she had 4.5 mg% pentobarbital and 8 mg% chloral hydrate in her blood and 13 mg% pentobarbital in her liver. The possibility of an accidental overdose was ruled out because the numbers were “several times the deadly limit.”
Marilyn’s funeral was held in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on August 8, and she was interred in the Corridor of Memories. DiMaggio assisted with the funeral arrangements, and for the next twenty years, he had six roses delivered to Monroe’s tomb three times every week.
Decades after Marilyn’s death, even though “Coroner to the Stars” Thomas Noguchi pronounced her death a suicide, many concerns linger.
Monroe appeared to be in a good mood when Joe DiMaggio Jr. spoke with her at 7:00 p.m. on the night of her death, he said. Greenson and Engelberg asserted that they waited hours before calling the police because they needed approval from 20th Century Fox’s publicity department. When the LAPD arrived, they saw Murray washing bedsheets mysteriously.
Murray initially stated that she awoke about midnight, but then stated that it was actually 3 a.m. Although it was reported that Marilyn took more than 50 pills, investigators found no water glass in her room (and the water had been turned off since she was redecorating) and no pill residue in her stomach.
Officer Jack Clemmons told the author Donald Wolfe that he immediately suspected that she had been murdered. Clemmons concurred that Monroe’s physique appeared to have been staged.
In a 1983 interview with author Anthony Summers, Murray declared, “Of course, Bobby Kennedy was there [on August 4], and there was an affair with Bobby Kennedy.” Kennedy was supposed to be in San Francisco on that day, but Murray’s son-in-law, Norman Jefferies, confirmed that Bobby was at Monroe’s house that afternoon and argued with Marilyn.
Lynn Franklin, a traffic officer, asserts that he pulled over a limousine holding Kennedy, Greenson, and Peter Lawford on the evening of Monroe’s death, as stated by witnesses who saw Kennedy arrive with two men around 10 p.m.
A persistent rumor claims that Marilyn told Bobby that she was tired of being “passed around like a piece of meat” by the Kennedy brothers and that she threatened to reveal the contents of her diary, including her affairs with both brothers as well as their ties to the mob and a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.
Other hypotheses regarding Monroe’s death mention the FBI, the CIA, Jimmy Hoffa, and Sam Giancana as her murderer(s). DiMaggio once asserted that the Kennedys were to blame, “I have always known who murdered her, but I did not wish to incite a revolution in this nation. She informed me that someone would kill her, but I remained silent.”