Marilyn Monroe – American actress and singer – one of the greatest movie stars of the twentieth century. At one time, she was the most famous and photographed woman in the world. In the 1950s, she was declared a sex symbol and movie icon by 20th Century Fox. Monroe embodied in her roles the femininity and sensuality of a naive and awkward girl in a world ruled by men.
Marilyn Monroe, real name Norma Jean Baker, was born June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles in the family of a single editor, Gladys Pearl Mortenson. The identity of the father is unknown. Even as a child, she was considered difficult to educate and mentally unbalanced girl. Even when she was in elementary school, she was taken in by a foster family. In the new house, Monroe was brought up harshly and strictly according to the Christian faith.
When Monroe was seven years old, she returned to her parents’ house. In the same year, her mother fell into a deep depression and ended up in a sanatorium. Norma Jean was taken in by the parents of her childhood friend Grace McKee. Monroe was considered an orphan and therefore placed in an orphanage. However, the relationship with her friend Grace remained, and two years later she returned to them. After Monroe was sexually abused by her new adoptive father, she moved in with a distant relative, her aunt. But after her death, Norma had to return to a foster family.
She captured the spirit of the times and American taste so much that a whole series of photographs appeared in the army magazine. Norma Jean Baker felt confident in her job and applied as a fashion model in 1945. To honor the agency’s wishes, she dyed her brown hair straw. I took posing lessons. In just a few weeks, she became the most sought-after model of the agency under the name Norma Jean and graced numerous covers of various magazines.
In 1946, Monroe’s first marriage ended.
In 1948, she received her first film contract with 20th Century Fox. Since the film company didn’t think she was qualified to play the lead role, Norma decided to use her mother’s maiden name, Monroe, and chose Marilyn for her first name. During her two-year contract, only two films were made in which she was seen in small supporting roles. In 1949 at Columbia, Monroe landed her first leading role in Ladies of the Choir, in which she also sang. For work and her new friend Johnny Hyde, she had plastic surgery on her nose and chin. Since 1951, she again worked in front of the camera at 20th Century Fox, but with a seven-year contract.
Numerous films characteristic of this time have now been made with Monroe. She received her first starring role in 1953 in the film Niagara. That same year, Monroe celebrated her international breakthrough with How to Marry a Millionaire and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in which she became an American sex symbol. Although she starred and films made millions thanks to her participation, she was paid the lowest salary for a leading role in 20th Century Fox due to her terrible character.
In 1954, Monroe married baseball star Joe DiMaggio, twelve years her senior, who suffered from her success and popularity. This was followed by filming of Billy Wilder’s popular comedy The Seven Year Itch in which Monroe’s white dress was blown away by subway winds, which has since become one of the most famous images in film history. Her marriage to DiMaggio ended in divorce that same year.
With the support of Miller, whom she married in 1956, she founded Marilyn Monroe Productions in 1957. Shortly thereafter, The Prince and the Showgirl starring Laurence Olivier was released. Her mental state deteriorated as the second child she longed for died of a miscarriage. She was forced to turn to the child psychologist Anna Freud, daughter of Sigmund Freud.
In 1960, on the set of Let’s Make Love, Monroe had a brief affair with Yves Montand. At that time, she was already addicted to pills that stimulated her in the morning and made her sleep at night. The effects of the pills were constant mood swings, fatigue and memory loss. After Arthur Miller confessed to an affair with another woman, this marriage also fell apart. And in 1960, her psychologist placed Monroe in a psychiatric clinic.
In 1961, she completed her last film, The Misfits.
In 1962, Dean Martin began filming Something’s Got to Happen. But even here, as on previous shoots, she struggled to keep her text in her head for several minutes, which made working together a test of nerves for everyone involved. The film “Something’s Got to Happen” remained unfinished.
On the night of August 4–5, 1962, Monroe was found unconscious by her housekeeper in Brentwood. Marilyn Monroe was officially declared dead in a Los Angeles hospital in the early hours of August 5, 1962.
