Legendary Women In History...Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

American Actress, Model, Singer. American sex symbol.

She was born, Norma Jeane Mortenson,  on 1 June 1926 in the Los Angeles County Hospital, She lived with a number of foster parents, as her mother was mentally unstable, until her mother's best friend Grace McKee became her guardian.

McKee was inspired by Jean Harlow and allowed the nine-year-old Norma to wear makeup and curl her hair, until McKee married and sent Norma Jean to an orphanage.

 At 16, married a 21-year-old aircraft plant worker, Jim Dougherty. The couple divorced four years later. By this time she had begun modeling bathing suits and, after bleaching her hair blonde, was posing for pin-ups and glamour photos.

20th Century-Fox, signed her to a contract - at $125 per week for six months - and changed her name to Marilyn Monroe.

After appearing in small parts in films including 'Love Happy' and 'All About Eve', Monroe found fame in 1953 with 'Niagara', 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and 'How To Marry a Millionaire'. That same year, she began dating baseball player Jo DiMaggio, and a nude spread of her appeared in the debut issue of Playboy magazine. Monroe had hit stardom.

In 1954, she eloped with DiMaggio - a union which was only to last eight months - before filming 'There's No Business Like Show Business' and 'The Seven-Year Itch', the latter featuring the classic scene in which she stood over a subway grating, skirt billowing. She applied for divorce from DiMaggio.

Monroe's work began to slow down, but critics praised her acting in 1956 film 'Bus Stop'. She married playwright Arthur Miller the same year, divorcing him four years later. In the meantime, she fell prey to alcohol and pills, and suffered two miscarriages.



After a year off in 1958, Marilyn returned to the silver screen for smash comedy 'Some Like It Hot'.

'The Misfits', written by husband Miller, was to be her final film.

On 19 May 1962, the actress attended the early birthday celebration of John F Kennedy at Madison Square Gardens, singing 'Happy Birthday Mr President' in a performance that became legendary.

She went into seclusion and on 5 August 1962, she was found dead at her home of an overdose of sleeping pills, aged 36. The verdict was suicide but has always been disputed, with countless conspiracy theories triggered by alleged affairs with brothers John F and Robert Kennedy.

Monroe has been portrayed by a number of actresses over the years, including Michelle Williams in 2011's 'My Week With Marilyn'.

 

Source: www.lifetimetv.co.uk