Marilyn Monroe American Actress (1926–1962)

Early life

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress and film producer, born Norma Jeane Mortenson on 1 June 1926 in Los Angeles. Her mother, Gladys Monroe, was unable to care for her for long, and Monroe spent much of her childhood with foster families and, for a period in the mid-1930s, at a Los Angeles orphanage. She later lived with relatives and friends of her legal guardian, Grace Goddard, and attended Emerson Junior High School and Van Nuys High School.

In 1942, when the family she was staying with had to leave California for work, she left school and married a neighbour, the factory worker James Dougherty. He joined the Merchant Marine the following year and was sent overseas in 1944. While he was away, she took a job at a munitions plant in Van Nuys, where a photographer working for a military film unit noticed her. She began modelling in 1945 and signed with the Blue Book Model Agency, which placed her on dozens of magazine covers within a year. She and Dougherty divorced in September 1946.

Career

In mid-1946 Monroe signed a short contract with 20th Century-Fox, and the name Marilyn Monroe was chosen at that time; Monroe was her mother's maiden name. Her first screen appearances were small parts in Dangerous Years (1947) and Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948). Fox let the contract lapse in 1947, and a later deal with Columbia Pictures produced one film, Ladies of the Chorus (1948), her first leading role, before it also ended.

She went back to modelling and, with the help of a talent agent, won small roles in All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle, both released in 1950. A seven-year Fox contract followed in December 1950. After supporting parts in comedies in 1951, she received top billing in 1952 in Clash by Night, Don't Bother to Knock and We're Not Married!, and also appeared in Monkey Business and O. Henry's Full House that year.

Three films released in 1953 established her as a star: the thriller Niagara, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire. In 1954 the studio suspended her for refusing a project, and she returned to make River of No Return and There's No Business Like Show Business. The Seven Year Itch, filmed from September 1954 and released in 1955, was among the year's largest box office successes.

Monroe was unhappy with her pay and the limits on her choice of roles. In late 1954 she and the photographer Milton Greene formed Marilyn Monroe Productions, and she moved to New York, where she studied acting with Lee Strasberg and attended sessions at the Actors Studio. By the end of 1955 she had agreed a new contract with Fox that gave her the right to choose her projects, directors and cinematographers. In February 1956 she legally adopted the name Marilyn Monroe.

Her first film under the new terms was Bus Stop (1956). Her own company produced The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She then starred in Some Like It Hot (1959) and Let's Make Love (1960). Her last completed film was The Misfits (1961). Her screen credits total 36 entries, from Dangerous Years in 1947 to the documentary Marilyn Monroe: Photobiography in 2020. She also recorded songs, among them "I Wanna Be Loved by You" and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", the latter performed in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She is also known for singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President".

Recognition

Monroe won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for Some Like It Hot, awarded in 1959. For The Prince and the Showgirl she won the David di Donatello Award for Best Actress and received a BAFTA nomination; the Italian Targa d'Oro of 1958 is also credited to that film. A further Golden Globe recognition is recorded for 1960, and she received the Henrietta Award in 1961. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Earlier in her career, in 1953, she was given the Photoplay award for fastest rising star.

Personal life

Monroe married three times. Her first marriage, to James Dougherty, lasted from 1942 to 1946. In January 1954 she married the retired baseball player Joe DiMaggio in a ceremony at San Francisco City Hall; she filed for divorce that October, and the marriage ended formally in 1955. On 29 June 1956 she married the playwright Arthur Miller, and she converted to Judaism for the marriage. The couple divorced in 1961. She had no children.

She died in Los Angeles on 4 August 1962.