Biography - Marilyn Monroe

Published by lilli97

Marilyn Monroe (1 June 1926 - 5 August 1962) was born Norma Jean Mortensen, in LA. Her mentally unstable mother placed her in a foster care when she was just a baby, and made occasional visits between time spent in a psychiatric hosital. At sixteen, Norma Jean wed a man she called 'Daddy'. Her husband joined the military and spent much of his time away, meanwhile Norma Jean went blonde and launched a career in modelling. They divorced in 1946 and later that year she was discovered by Ben Lyon at 20th Century Fox, who offered her a contract and persuaded her to take on a pseudonym. Norma Jean became Marilyn Monroe, taking screen heroine, Marilyn Miller and her maternal grandmother as inspiration. After her small part in 'The Asphalt Jungle', Hollywood acknowledged her potential as a screen goddess. Fox resigned her to a seven year contract and cast her in 'Niagra' (1953) and 'Genltemen Prefer Blondes'. That same year, she made the cover of the first 'Play Boy' magazine (with Tom Kelly's nude photograph), and sex symbol stardom was born. In 1954 she embarked on a nine month marriage to baseball great, Joe Dimaggio. Then in 1955 she starred in 'The Seven Year Itch', before deciding to shed her sexpot image for that of a serious actress. This she achieved, not only by wowing critics at the release of 'Bus Stop' (1956), but also by marrying playwright, Arthur Miller. Marilyn yearned for a family, but sadly, endometriosis resulted in two miscarriages and unsuccessful surgery. Her husband persuaded her to take the part in 'Some Like it Hot' (1959), but this could not lift her fom her depression. She went on to have an affair with french actor Yves Montand and her marriage ended in divorce in 1961. It was also to be the year that she starred in her last film, 'The Misfits' (she was dropped from 'Something's Got to Give' for lateness and drug dependency). On May 26, 1962 she famously sang 'Happy Birthday' to President JohnF Kennedy in Madison Square Gardens, but less than three months later, she was found dead in her Brentwood home. The verdict was suicide, the result of an overdose.