Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 13:58, 22 April 2006

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortensen, June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962) is the twentieth-century's most famous movie star, sex symbol and pop icon. Monroe's rise to stardom began when she was recruited to do magazine modeling while her first husband was in the Merchant Marine. She did most of her films for 20th Century Fox, where she adopted the name with which she gained superstardom. After acting in bit roles for several years, she gradually became known for her comedic skills and remarkable screen presence. Later in her career, she worked toward serious roles with a measure of success. However, constant publicity and romantic disappointments excaberated longstanding personal problems. The circumstances surrounding her death have been the subject of much speculation, but have not tarnished her reputation as one of the most legendary public figures of all time.

Early life

Although she would eventually become one of the most celebrated actors in film history, Monroe's beginnings were humble. She was born in the charity ward of the Los Angeles County Hospital. Her registered name was Norma Jeane Mortensen (her grandmother, Della Monroe Grainger, later had her baptized Norma Jeane Baker). Most biographers believe her biological father was Charles Stanley Gifford, a salesman for the studio where Monroe's mother, Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker Eley, worked as a film-cutter. However, her birth certificate lists Norwegian Martin Edward Mortensen as her father, and in later years some biographers have leaned towards believing that is the case.

Gladys was unable to persuade Della to look after Norma Jeane, so she was placed with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, California, southwest of Los Angeles, where she lived until she was seven years old. In her autobiography My Story, Monroe states she thought Albert and Ida were her parents until one day, rather rudely, Ida corrected her.

Again according to My Story, Gladys visited Norma Jeane every Saturday, but never smiled, hugged or kissed her. At some point, Gladys announced that she had bought a house for herself and her daughter, but a few months after they moved in, she suffered a mental breakdown. Monroe recalled Gladys "screaming and laughing" as she was forcibly removed to the State Mental Hospital in Norwalk, California, the same hospital where Gladys' mother Della had died in August 1927. Gladys' father, Otis, had also died in a mental hospital (near San Bernardino, California) as a result of syphilis.

However, it should be noted that My Story is not to be considered a trustworthy source, as it was ghost-written by the journalist Ben Hecht and designed to colour Monroe's image as a long-suffering orphan. Its factual claims have been considered suspicious.

Norma Jeane was declared a ward of state and Gladys' best friend, Grace McKee (later Goddard) became her guardian. After McKee married in 1935, Norma Jeane was sent to the Los Angeles orphanage and then to a long succession of foster homes where it is alleged she was subjected to abuse and neglect. There is little evidence, however, that she lived in as many foster homes as claimed. Moreover, Monroe herself is known to have given exaggerated information about her childhood during interviews.

In September 1941, Norma Jeane was reunited with her mother. The Goddard family, however, were moving to the East Coast and felt it would be best if 15-year old Norma Jeane were to marry, as otherwise she would have had to return to the orphanage. She had been introduced to a neighbor's son, James Dougherty, who she began to date for 6 months and later became her first husband, in 1942, after she turned 16.

Career

Early years

With her husband away fighting in World War II, Mrs. Norma Jeane Dougherty moved in with her mother-in-law, and began work in a factory spraying airplane parts with fire retardant and inspecting parachutes. Army photographer David Conover scouted local factories taking photos for a YANK magazine article about women contributing to the war effort. He immediately saw her potential as a model and she was soon signed by The Blue Book modelling agency (in his book "Finding Marilyn", Conover claimed the two had an affair that lasted years.) She became one of their most successful models, appearing on dozens of magazine covers. In 1946 she came to the attention of talent scout Ben Lyon. He arranged a screen test for her with 20th Century Fox. She passed and was offered a standard six-month contract with a starting salary of $75 per week, the high end of industry standard. Lyon suggested "Marilyn" after Marilyn Miller; she suggested her mother's maiden name "Monroe". Thus the twenty-year old Norma Jeane Baker became "Marilyn Monroe".

During her first six months at Fox, Monroe was given no acting work. Instead, she learned about hair, make-up, costumes, acting and lighting. After six months Fox decided to renew her contract and she was given very minor roles in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! and Dangerous Years, both released in 1947. In Scudda Hoo!, her face wasn't even visible. Both films failed at the box office and Fox decided not to renew her contract. Monroe returned to modelling and began to network and make contacts in Hollywood.

In 1948, a six-month stint at Columbia Pictures saw her star in Ladies of the Chorus, but the low-budget musical was not a success and Monroe was dropped yet again. She then met one of Hollywood's top agents, Johnny Hyde, who had Fox re-sign her after MGM had turned her down. Fox Vice-President Darryl F. Zanuck was not convinced of Monroe's potential. However, due to Hyde's persistence, she gained supporting parts in All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle. Even though these roles were minor, movie-goers took notice and Monroe began receiving more fan mail than some top-billed stars of the time.

Monroe played her first role as a leading lady (excluding Ladies of the Chorus) in 1952's Don't Bother To Knock, portraying a deranged babysitter who, in a rage, attacks the little girl in her care. Although it received mixed reviews, her performance has been acknowledged as one of the strongest of her career by many critics.

Stardom

Although critics were, at first, unwilling to admit Monroe's abilities as a dramatic actress, they were left in no doubt about her sex appeal. Monroe was now carrying a big-budget thriller, Niagara, in 1953. Movie critics focused on Monroe's connection with the camera as much as the sinister plot. Niagara helped Monroe become an overnight sensation. Her turn as the unbalanced easy virtue, Rose Loomis, who is planning to murder her equally neurotic husband, led some movie critics to claim Monroe would have been the perfect leading lady in an Alfred Hitchcock film.

It was around this time that nude photos of Monroe began to surface, taken by photographer Tom Kelley when she had been struggling for work. Prints were bought by Hugh Hefner and in December 1953 appeared in the first edition of Playboy. Even though Fox was worried that it might lead to a career-damaging controversy, Monroe decided to publicly admit it was indeed her posing in the pictures. To a journalist asking what she had on during the photoshoot, she replied: "The radio." When asked what she wore in bed, she said: "Chanel No. 5." Later on, both became iconic one-liners.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, both released in 1953, cemented Monroe's status as an A-list screen actress and she quickly became arguably the world's biggest movie star.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is regarded as one of the best comedies of all-time by many critics. Monroe's self-ironic turn as the gold-digging showgirl Lorelei Lee is generally considered to be one of her most alluring on-screen efforts, and her rendition of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is among the best-known scenes in movie history.

In How to Marry a Millionaire, Monroe was teamed up with two other major sex symbols, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable. She played a short-sighted dumb blonde named Pola Debevoise and managed to shine even among her charismatic co-stars. Even though the role was in many ways a stereotype, Monroe garnered favorable reviews, and critics took note of her comedic timing. In Europe, she was already getting recognition for her acting skills, up to the extent that she was compared to Charles Chaplin.

Her next two films, the western River of No Return and the musical There's No Business Like Show Business, were not successful, partly due to the fact that Monroe wasn't given much to work with. Monroe, ambitious as ever and striving to face challenges, got tired of the roles that Zanuck assigned her. After completing work on The Seven Year Itch in early 1955, she broke her contract and fled Hollywood to study acting at The Actors Studio in New York. Fox would not accede on her new contract demands and insisted she return to start work on productions she considered inappropriate, such as The Girl In Pink Tights (which was never filmed), The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, and How To Be Very, Very Popular.

Monroe refused to appear in these films and stayed in New York. As The Seven Year Itch raced to the top of the box office in the summer of 1955, with other Fox starlets Jayne Mansfield and Sheree North failing to click with audience, Zanuck admitted defeat and Monroe triumphantly returned to Hollywood. A new contract was drawn up, giving Monroe complete directorial approval as well as the option to act in other studios' projects.

The first film to be made under the contract was Bus Stop, directed by Joshua Logan. Critics immediately took note of Monroe's profound approach on the character she played. Generally praised for her performance as Cherie, a saloon bar singer who falls in love with a cowboy, Monroe deliberately appeared badly made-up and non-glamorous. A lot of people believe she should have been nominated for an Academy Award. She did, however, get a Golden Globe nod.

Monroe formed her own production company with friend and photographer Milton H. Greene. Marilyn Monroe Productions released its first film The Prince and the Showgirl in 1957 to mixed reviews. Along with executive-producing the film, she starred opposite the acclaimed British actor Laurence Olivier, who directed it. Unfortunately, the chemistry between the two was lacking, not surprising given Olivier's fury at her "unprofessional" behavior and Monroe's reputation in the film industry for being difficult only grew. Monroe's performance as songstress Elsie Marina, however, was hailed as a first-rate characterization by the critics of the time, especially in Europe, where she was handed the David di Donatello, the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award, as well as the French Crystal Star Award. Furthermore, Monroe got nominated for the much valued BAFTA award.

Later years

In 1959 she scored the biggest hit of her career starring alongside Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot. Her difficult behavior on the set is now legendary, as well as her numerous retakes. However, when the shooting was over with, Wilder stated that he would have been willing to go through the hard times with Monroe any time again, hailing her a first-rate comedienne. Some Like It Hot is now consistently rated as one of the best comedy films ever made. Monroe's performance as the promiscuous, constantly drinking but compassionate singer Sugar Kane was awarded with a Golden Globe for best actress in musical or comedy.

After Some Like It Hot, Monroe did a musical named Let's Make Love directed by George Cukor and co-starring Yves Montand. Monroe, Montand and Cukor all considered the script subpar, yet Monroe was forced to make the film because of her obligations to Twentieth Century Fox. While the film was not a commercial or critical success, it included one of Monroe's legendary musical numbers, Cole Porter's "My Heart Belongs to Daddy".

By 1961, Monroe's third husband, the playwright Arthur Miller, had written and worked on what became her and her co-star Clark Gable's last completed film, The Misfits. It was a long and exhausting shoot in the middle of the hot Nevada desert. Monroe's tardiness became chronic and the shoot was troublesome all the way through. Despite all this, Monroe, Gable and Montgomery Clift were able to deliver performances that are now considered excellent, even iconic. Monroe became friends with Clift, with whom she felt a deep connection. Gable died of a heart attack soon after, and some blamed this on Monroe, claiming she had given him a hard time on the set. Gable had, however, insisted on doing his own stunts and was a heavy smoker and drinker, and the general consensus was that he simply got physically exhausted. Monroe did attend his funeral.

Some of the most famous photographs of her were taken by Douglas Kirkland in 1961 as a feature for the 25th anniversary issue of LOOK magazine.

Monroe returned to Hollywood to resume filming on an already troubled picture, Something's Got to Give. In May 1962, Monroe made her last significant public appearance, singing Happy Birthday, Mr. President at a televised birthday party for President John F. Kennedy. After shooting what was claimed to have been the first ever nude scene by a major motion picture actress, Monroe's attendance became even more erratic due to illness.

Already in a financial strain due to production costs of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Fox used Monroe's absences as an excuse to drop Monroe from the film, sue her, and then replace her with Lee Remick. However, a clause in co-star Dean Martin's contract gave him approval over the film's leading lady. As he was unwilling to work with anyone else, Monroe was rehired for double her original salary.

Monroe conducted a lengthy interview with Life Magazine, in which she expressed how bitter she was about Hollywood labeling her as a dumb blonde and how much she loved her audience. She also did a photo shoot for Vogue, and began discussing a future film project with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. She was also planning to star in a biopic as Jean Harlow. Other projects being considered for her were What a Way to Go! and The Stripper.

Before the shooting of Something's Got to Give resumed, however, Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home, on the morning of August 5, 1962. Her death, officially ruled to be a probable suicide by drug overdose, has since been found to contain instances of unprofessional handling of the investigation. It has become the subject of conspiracy theories, but these have done little to dent her iconic status as the archetypal sex symbol and movie star.

Marriages

James Dougherty

At age sixteen, Monroe married James Dougherty on June 19, 1942. In his books "The Secret Happiness of Marilyn Monroe" and "To Norma Jeane With Love, Jimmie," Dougherty claimed he and Monroe were in love and would have lived happily ever after had dreams of stardom not lured her away. Monroe always maintained theirs was a marriage of convenience engineered by Grace Goddard. In an interview for A&E Network, he admitted that his mother, having been approached by Goddard, asked him if he'd be willing to marry Norma Jeane to prevent her from being sent to an orphanage. He sold signed copies of his books on his website .

In the 2004 documentary Marilyn's Man, Dougherty made three more claims: he was her Svengali, and invented "Marilyn Monroe"; Fox forced her to divorce him; he was her true love. Dougherty's own actions did not support his claims. Monroe was reportedly furious when he gave an interview to Photoplay in 1953, claiming that she threatened to jump off the Santa Monica Pier if he ever left her. He later appeared as a contestant on To Tell the Truth as "Marilyn Monroe's real first husband". When informed of her death, the New York Times reported he said "I'm sorry" and continued his patrol; he did not attend her funeral. More telling, the 1999 Christie's auction of Monroe's estate revealed that, while she had kept items from her marriages to Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, she kept none from Dougherty.

Dougherty remained married to his third wife until her death in 2003. He lived in Maine until his death from complications due to leukemia on August 15, 2005.

Joe DiMaggio

In 1951 baseball star Joe DiMaggio saw a picture of Monroe with two Chicago White Sox players, but waited until his retirement before asking the man who arranged the picture to set up a date. Monroe did not want to meet him, fearing a stereotypical jock, but after a two-year courtship they eloped and married at San Francisco's City Hall on January 14, 1954. During the honeymoon, she was asked to visit Korea to entertain the troops. She performed ten shows over four days in freezing temperatures. Her audience consisted of more than 100,000 soldiers and marines. Reportedly, Joe was not pleased with his wife's decision during what he wanted to be an intimate honeymoon. Monroe biographer Fred Guiles speculated that Joe, knowing first-hand the power and hollowness of fame, wanted desperately to head off what he was convinced was Marilyn's "collison-course with disaster."

DiMaggio biographer Maury Allen quoted New York Yankees PR man Arthur Richman that DiMaggio told him everything went wrong from the trip to Japan on. Although Marilyn said she wanted to settle down, she was intent on continuing her career. Friends claimed that DiMaggio became possessive and controlling as Monroe grew increasingly defiant of his wishes. After filming the notorious skirt-blowing scene in The Seven Year Itch, Billy Wilder recalled the "look of death" on DiMaggio's face as he watched with fans and extras. Co-star Tom Ewell told the Louisville Courier-Journal decades later that Wilder set the whole scenario up, and had a fan placed under the subway grate that would blow her dress over her head. DiMaggio biographer Richard Ben Cramer claims that Joe was so "disgusted" by Marilyn's "sloppiness" he began to abuse her. Her makeup man, Allan "Whitey" Snyder, recalled that Marilyn later appeared on set with bruises on her upper arms. On October 27, 274 days after the wedding, she filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty. DiMaggio was later linked with Monroe wanna-bes Mamie Van Doren and Cleo Moore.

Monroe and DiMaggio resumed their relationship after her divorce from Arthur Miller. She was returning to her self-destructive ways, falling in with people DiMaggio felt detrimental to her (including Frank Sinatra and his "Rat Pack"). The state of her physical and mental health became widely speculated upon by gossip columnists. Monroe's psychiatrist arranged for her to be admitted to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. Unable to voluntarily check herself out, she called DiMaggio. On February 10, 1961, he secured her release (she was reportedly placed in the ward for the most seriously disturbed). She later joined him in Florida. Their "just good friends" claims did not stop rumors of remarriage. At the 1960 Academy Awards telecast, Bob Hope jokingly dedicated Best Song nominee The Second Time Around to them. According to Maury Allen, on August 1, 1962 DiMaggio quit his job with a military post exchange (PX) to return to California and ask her to remarry him.

For twenty years, DiMaggio had a dozen red roses delivered to Monroe's crypt three times a week. Unlike her other two husbands, or the men who claimed to have known her intimately, he never talked about her publicly or "cashed in" on the relationship. He never remarried. He died on March 8, 1999, of lung cancer.

On January 23, 2006 it was announced that DiMaggio's granddaughters will have his personal items auctioned in May, among them a photo Monroe inscribed to him: "I love you Joe."

Arthur Miller

On June 29, 1956, Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller, whom she had first met in 1951, in a civil ceremony in White Plains, New York. A Jewish wedding followed two days later (she had converted to Judaism.) After she finished shooting The Prince and the Showgirl, the couple returned to the States from England and discovered she was pregnant. However, she suffered from endometriosis and the pregnancy was found to be ectopic; it was aborted to save her life. A subsequent pregnancy ended in miscarriage.

By 1958, she was the couple's main breadwinner. Not only did she pay alimony to Miller's first wife but he reportedly charged her production company for buying and shipping a Jaguar to the United States. His screenplay for The Misfits (film) was meant to be a Valentine gift for his wife, but by the time filming started in 1960 their marriage was broken beyond repair. A Mexican divorce was granted on January 24, 1961. On February 17, 1962, Miller married Inge Morath, one of the Magnum photographers recording the making of The Misfits.

In January 1964, Miller's After the Fall opened, featuring a beautiful, child-like, yet devouring shrew named Maggie. The similarities between Maggie and Monroe did not go unnoticed by audiences and critics (including Helen Hayes), many of whom sympathized with the fact that as she was no longer alive and could not defend herself. Simone Signoret noted in her autobiography the morbidity of Miller and Elia Kazan resuming their professional association "over a casket." Miller always insisted that Maggie was not based on his ex-wife. His last Broadway-bound work, Finishing the Picture, was based on the making of The Misfits. In interviews, he described her as "highly self-destructive." He told Vanity Fair what "killed" her was not some conspiracy, but the fact that she was Marilyn Monroe. In his 1987 autobiography Timebends, Miller elaborated on her and their marriage while defending his actions. He died on February 10, 2005, at the age of 89.

Communist connections

It is well-known that Marilyn Monroe was left-leaning in her political ideology and was a known socializer with communists; she once met with a communist organization in Mexico City, shortly after having a lunch with President Kennedy in which they discussed the morality of nuclear proliferation (Peter Van Sant, 48 Hours Documentarian, 4/21/2006, interview with Bill O'Reilly).

Death and aftermath

Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California home by her live-in housekeeper Mrs. Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was only 36 years old. Her death was apparently caused by an overdose of sleeping pills, though several conspiracy theories have sprung up around the circumstances.

Trivia

• Haugesund, Norway, birthplace of Martin Edward Mortenson, has a lifesize statue of Marilyn.
• Childhood pictures show that Marilyn was a blonde, but her hair turned "mousy" as she grew up. She dyed her hair several different shades of blonde as an adult.
• Monroe fans: Albert Einstein, Ayn Rand, Jean-Paul Sartre, Edith Sitwell,Gwen Stefani, and Vladimir Nabokov.
• Colin Farrell admitted that as a child he would put sweets under his pillow for Monroe in case she visited him from heaven.
• When Rainier III of Monaco was looking for a famous wife, Monroe was suggested. However, since she wasn't Catholic, she could not be considered.
• Marian McKnight won the 1957 Miss America crown with a Marilyn act
• The "subway grate" scene in The Seven Year Itch has been aped in countless shows, commercials, products, and ads, and by everyone from Anna Nicole Smith to Absolut vodka to Betty Boop and the Statue of Liberty.
• A computer-generated Monroe is featured in The Sims: Superstar
• Monroe's features are copyrighted to her estate and are not allowed to be reproduced exactly.
• Monroe had a mild stutter, which was most severe during her teens. She commented in an interview, "I stuttered... Later on, in my teens, when I was at Van Nuys High School, they elected me secretary of the English class and every time I had to read the minutes I'd say, 'Minutes of the last m-m-m-meeting.' It was terrible."
• Her first screen test was shot by cinematographer Leon Shamroy.
• Hugh Hefner bought a crypt next to Monroe's for $85,000. The other crypt next to hers was sold for $125,000. There are no empty spots available near Monroe.
• The myth that Monroe was born with eleven toes resulted from photos in The Birth of Marilyn by Joseph Jasgur in March 1946. The story is dismissed as an urban legend. Photos of her as a child and baby show only 5. This 6th toe in Jasgur's photograph is probably just a lump of sand on the beach.
• Monroe was Miss Artichoke of 1948.
• The "subway grate" scene in The Seven Year Itch was reshot at Fox, since the crowds proved too distracting.
• Billy Wilder said Monroe had breasts like granite and a brain like Swiss cheese. However, Wilder also said she was a genius.
• A roommate of Oscar-winning actress Shelley Winters.
• Talked a club owner into booking Ella Fitzgerald: "I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt. It was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular night-club in the 50’s. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard… After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again."
• Said to be quite intelligent, although it was hidden behind her image. She wrote poems, enjoyed literature and always regretted never continuing high school.
• George Barris claims he took the last pictures of Monroe. However, it was Allan Grant who took the last pictures of Monroe, during an interview for Life magazine on July 7, 1962.
• Among the men Monroe allegedly had affairs with were: President John F. Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, and Yves Montand. In 2005 it was claimed she had a one-night stand with Joan Crawford, who was very angry that Marilyn refused to repeat the experience and Crawford became, in Monroe's words, "spiteful".
• Frank Sinatra gave her a Maltese puppy that she named "Maf Honey". "Maf" was supposedly short for "Mafia".
• The beauty mark above her lip was genuine. It was a very pale mole that she darkened with makeup.
• Truman Capote wanted her to play Holly Golightly in the film adaptation of his Breakfast At Tiffany's.
• Voted "Sexiest Woman of the Century" by People magazine in 1999.
• Purportedly shaved a quarter of an inch off many of her right high-heeled shoes to accentuate the wiggle in her walk.
• The diamonds she wore as she performed Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend were rhinestones.
• The gown Monroe wore to sing happy birthday to John F. Kennedy sold in 1999 for over $1,500,000.
• Marilyn is the first stamp of the USPS's "Legends of Hollywood" series

Filmography

• Dangerous Years (1947)
• Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948)
• Ladies of the Chorus (1948)
• Love Happy (1949)
• A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
• The Fireball (1950)
• All About Eve (1950)
• Right Cross (1950)
• Home Town Story (1951)
• As Young as You Feel (1951)
• Love Nest (1951)
• Let's Make It Legal (1951)
• Clash by Night (1952)
• We're Not Married! (1952)
• Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
• Monkey Business (1952)
• O. Henry's Full House (1952)
• Niagara (1953)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
• How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
• River of No Return (1954)
• There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
• The Seven Year Itch (1955)
• Bus Stop (1956)
• The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Let's Make Love (1960)
• The Misfits (1961)
• Something's Got to Give (1962) (unfinished)

Awards and nominations

• 1952 Photoplay Award: Special Award
• 1953 Photoplay Award: Most Popular Female Star
• 1954 Golden Globe, World Film Favorite: Female
• 1956 BAFTA Film Award nomination: Best Foreign Actress (for The Seven Year Itch)
• 1956 Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress in Comedy or Musical (for Bus Stop)
• 1958 BAFTA Film Award nomination: Best Foreign Actress (for The Prince and the Showgirl)
• 1958 David di Donatello Award (Italian): Golden Plate (for The Prince and the Showgirl)
• 1959 Crystal Star Award (French): Best Foreign Actress (for The Prince and the Showgirl)
• 1960 Golden Globe, Best Motion Picture Actress in Comedy or Musical (for Some Like It Hot)
• 1962 Golden Globe, World Film Favorite: Female

Monroe has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Blvd.

In popular culture

Music

• "Photograph" from Pyromania by Def Leppard is an homage to Marilyn; she is "featured" in its 1983 video.
• Elton John's Candle in the Wind (lyrics by Bernie Taupin, music by Elton John) was written about Marilyn's death. In 1997, Taupin revised the lyrics for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. This version became and remains (as of 2006), the #1 best-selling single of all time.
• Sammi Smith released a single, about Monroe, entitled Norma Jean in 1978. The song made the Billboard country chart and originally appeared in the film Goodbye, Norma Jean as Norma Jean Wants to Be A Movie Star.
• In Kool and the Gang's video for "Fresh", Marilyn "plays" the Fairy Godmother.
• Mariah Carey bought Monroe's white baby grand piano at Christie's 1999 auction for $663,000. She also pays homage to her in the videos "I Still Believe" and "Don't Forget About Us".
• Monroe's likeness appears on The Beatles LP Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
• The video for Madonna's Material Girl is a copy of Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend. Marilyn and DiMaggio are referenced in her "Vogue".
• Michael Monroe of the Finnish glam rock band Hanoi Rocks, based his stage name on Monroe, and wanted to name his band's first album Some Like It Hot.
• The Misfits took their moniker from The Misfits.
• Glenn Danzig, singer and centerperson for The Misfits,wrote and recorded Who Killed Marilyn?. It was originally a poem, but he later recorded it as a song which claims her death was a murder.
• Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio are referenced in Tori Amos's "Father Lucifer"
• Mentioned in the Spice Girls' "Lady is a Vamp"
• Sonic Youth's "Sugar Kane" is named after her character in Some Like It Hot.
• Kerry Katona played Marilyn in the Stars in Their Eyes 2002 Christmas Special.
• Marilyn Manson took his first name as an homage to Monroe.
• Dan Bern's song "Marilyn" states that Marilyn Monroe should have married Henry Miller, rather than Arthur Miller.
• In the video Cool, Gwen Stefani is made-up as Monroe.
• In Nelly's Tilt Ya Head Back, Christina Aguilera is dressed like Monroe in Some Like It Hot.
• The 1985 single "Some Like It Hot" by The Power Station took its title from the film Some Like It Hot.
• Marilyn is referenced in Billy Joel's song, We Didn't Start the Fire.
• The song "Where do you go to my lovely?" is said to be written on Marilyn Monroe.
• Manic Street Preachers referenced Marilyn in their song "So Dead". A picture of Monroe appeared on the cover of their single You Love Us (Heavenly), and she is quoted in the liner notes of the same single.

Films

• In Knight-Mare Hare, Bugs Bunny squares off against wizard Merlin of Monroe
• In Wayne's World, Wayne Campbell impersonates her performance of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President".
• Pulp Fiction (Monroe look-a-like is a waitress in a 50's themed restaurant)
• Fade to Black (a disturbed young man with a Monroe obsession stalks a girl who looks like her)
• Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (Monroe drag queen steals a car)
• Holy Matrimony (Patricia Arquette's character impersonates Monroe in her act)
• Cool World (Kim Basinger's character is partially based on Monroe)
• Wonder Boys (Richard Thomas's character is obsessed by the Monroe/DiMaggio marriage)
• Bordello of Blood (Vampire seductress takes the form of Monroe)
• Finding Graceland (Monroe impersonator meets a man who believes he is Elvis Presley)
• Town and Country (Jenna Elfman dresses as Monroe)
• White Palace (Susan Sarandon's character is a Monroe fan)
• The Woman in Red (Kelly LeBrock apes the subway grate scene from Seven Year Itch)
• The Shawshank Redemption (Tim Robbins' character posts a poster of her in his jail cell.)
• Moulin Rouge! (Nicole Kidman's character performs "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend")
• Marilyn Times Five (Bruce Conner's 1973 homage constructed from supposed nude film of Marilyn Monroe)

Portrayed in:

• Death Becomes Her (1992)
• Goodbye, Norma Jean (1976)
• Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn (1989)
• Calendar Girl (1993)
• The Island (1998) (Sally Kirkland)
• Just a Dream (2002)
• L.A. Confidential (1997)
• Mister Lonely (2006) (Samantha Morton)

Based on her:

• Paddy Chayefsky's The Goddess (1958) played by Kim Stanley

Television

• I Love Lucy episode "Ricky's Movie Offer," Lucy glams up as Monroe.
• The November 19, 1952 and January 12, 1954 The Name's the Same had a contestant whose real name was Marilyn Monroe. June 22, 1954 guest Van Johnson's "secret wish" was for her to sit on his lap; August 31, 1954 guest Charles Coburn's "secret wish" was to dance the rumba with her again as he did in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
• Edie Adams regulary impersonated Monroe on The Ernie Kovacs Show
• Buddy Hackett signed in as Monroe on the August 21, 1960 What's My Line?
• The Beverly Hillbillies episode, "Jed Buys A Movie Studio," Elly May impersonates Monroe.
• Gilligan's Island episode "The Producer," Ginger impersonates Monroe.
• The M*A*S*H episode "Bombshells," Hawkeye and Charles unwittingly start a rumor that Monroe is coming to the 4077 to thank the staff for caring for her cousin.
• In an episode of Roseanne, Nancy (Sandra Bernhard) dresses as Marilyn from The Seven Year Itch for a Hallo'ween party.
• In the 1995 TV-movie The Price of Heaven, Grant Show plays a G.I. who returns home famous having been photographed with Monroe during her Korea trip.
• Lizzie McGuire and Miranda watch Some Like It Hot at their cinema club (season 2)
• Married... With Children episode "It's a Bundyful Life" Al asks his gaurdian angel (Sam Kinison) if Monroe is laughing at him because he gave in to Peg's demand he toss out his Playboys: "She doesn't even know you're alive!"
• Charlize Theron played Monroe in a November 4, 2000 Saturday Night Live spoof of the Seven Year Itch subway grate scene. Mary Gross also played Monroe as a recurring SNL character;
• In The Simpsons:
  • Beyond Blunderdome, Mel Gibson coos "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to a studio honcho;
  • A Fish Called Selma, Homer imagines Selma as Monroe;
  • Homer's Phobia, John Waters has a poster of Monroe;
  • Home Away From Homer, Ned emulates the Seven Year Itch subway grate scene;
  • The World's Greatest Jacket in The Homer They Fall has Monroe on it;
  • Rosebud, Smithers dreams of Burns cooing "Happy Birthday, Mr. Smithers," and a photo slide of Burns shows him emulating the subway grate scene;
  • Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo, Monroe is a robot in Americatown;
  • Professor Frink's father worked on the atom bomb by day, slept with Monroe by night, and sold secrets to the Russians at lunch.
  • Marvin Monroe's real first name was Marilyn.

Portrayed in:

• "This Year's Blonde" 1980 NBC miniseries Moviola (Constance Forslund)
• Marilyn: The Untold Story 1980 ABC (Catherine Hicks)
• Norma Jean & Marilyn 1996, HBO
• Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "The End"
• Dark Skies episode "The Warren Omission"
• Growing Pains episode "Happy Halloween: Part 2"
• Quantum Leap episode "Goodbye Norma Jean: April 4, 1960"
• Red Dwarf episodes "Better Than Life" and "Meltdown"
• The Rat Pack 1998 HBO
• Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot 2001 NBC miniseries
• A Woman Named Jackie 1991 NBC miniseries
• Hoover vs. the Kennedys: The Second Civil War 1987 (Heather Thomas)
• Introducing Dorothy Dandridge 1999 HBO
• Marilyn and Me 1991 ABC a man claimed he secretly married Monroe in 1952
• Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair 1993 USA imagines a tryst between Marilyn (Melody Anderson) and Robert F. Kennedy
• Richard Belzer: Another Lone Nut 1997
• Blonde 2001 CBS miniseries (Poppy Montgomery)

Based on her:

• The Sex Symbol 1974 ABC with Connie Stevens and Shelley Winters, based on The Symbol by Alvah Bessie
• Ghost Writer 1989 with Audrey Landers and Judy Landers

Art/Photography

• Willem de Kooning's Marilyn Monroe 1954
• Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych 1962; versions in pink, gold and blue released as Marilyn Monroe 1964
• James Rosenquist's Marilyn
• Faith Ringgold's Marilyn Monroe 1997
• Eve Arnold, Jock Carroll, Andre de Dienes, Milton Greene, Sam Shaw, and Bert Stern published books of their shoots. She also sat for Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Elliott Erwitt, Philippe Halsman, Harold Lloyd, Gordon Parks, and Weegee.
• Anna Nicole Smith rented the home Monroe died in, and has posed as her for various shoots, most notably for PETA.
• Marie Claire (September 2002) of Marilyn visiting the troops in Korea in a bomber jacket: she "made even military-issue jackets sexy."
• American Photo devoted its May/June 1996 issue to Marilyn

Further reference: Marilyn in Art by Roger Taylor (ISBN 1904957021), and Marilyn Monroe and the Camera by Georges Belmont (ISBN 0821217658)

Stage

Based on Monroe:

• Rita Marlowe in the 1955 Broadway play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter by George Axelrod
• Olive Ogilvie in the 1962 Broadway play Venus at Large by Henry Denker
• The Actress in the 1982 play Insignificance by Terry Johnson. Filmed by Nicolas Roeg
• Maggie in the 1964 play After the Fall, and Kay in the 2004 play Finishing the Picture by Arthur Miller

Monroe as a Character:

• A saintly icon in The Who's Tommy
• The 1983 Broadway musical Marilyn!
• The 1983 Operetta Marilyn by her friend, Norman Rosten
• The 1986 Norman Mailer off-Broadway play Strawhead starring his daughter, Kate
• The 1995 rock opera America The Beautiful by Rob Volpintesta

Books

According to amazon.com, there are nearly 300 biographies on Marilyn; the following are fiction:

• Marilyn "The Dream" about the colecction of Maite Minguez Ricart
• Candle in the Wind by George Bernau.
• The Symbol by Alvah Bessie.
• The possibility of dreaming on a night without stars by Michael Kaufman.
• Of Women and Their Elegance by Norman Mailer.
• Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates.
• Marilyn's Daughter by John Rechy.
• Queen of Desire by Sam Toperoff.

See also

• List of illegitimates

Further reading

• Victor, Adam (1999). The Complete Marilyn Monroe. Thames and Hudson Ltd. ISBN 0500019789. An exhaustive and thorough A–Z look at Monroe's life.
• Wolfe, Donald H. (1988). The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe. William Morrow & Company. ISBN 0688162886. Argues for Kennedy connection to Monroe's death.
• Smith, Matthew (2004). Marilyn's Last Words: Her Secret Tapes and Mysterious Death. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0786713801. Contains alleged transcripts of Monroe's therapy sessions.
• Giancana, Sam (1993). Double Cross: The Explosive Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America. Warner Books. ISBN 0446364126. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Mobster Sam Giancana's nephew and brother claim that Giancana had Monroe killed (pp.434–438).
• Mailer, Norman (1973). Marilyn, a Biography. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0448010291. Norman Mailer's biography of Marilyn is illustrated with hundreds of photographs.

External links

• The Maite Minguez Ricart Collections
• Official Marilyn Monroe website
• Marilyn Monroe at IMDb
• Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection
• Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection Volume II
• Google Images: Marilyn Monroe
• TIME 100: Marilyn Monroe
• Online community: Marilyn Monroe Forums
• Marilyn Monroe's biographic sketch at Find A Grave
• Coverage of Monroe's death and aftermath by the Los Angeles Times, with links to further archive material.
• Claims by former Los Angeles prosecutor John W. Miner regarding Monroe's death:
• The first Marilyn Monroe podcast : My Marilyn
• MarilynStyle.com Celebrating Marilyn's Magical Allure!
• An Evening with Marilyn Monroe - Photographs by Doug Kirkland
• Spotlight Marilyn Monroe
• Marilyn Monroe Scrapbook

Template:Persondata

• Chanel Models
• 1926 births
• 1962 deaths
• Adult models
• American film actors
• American female singers
• American models
• Cause of death disputed
• Converts to Judaism
• Drug-related deaths
• Entertainers who committed suicide in their 30s
• Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni
• People with bipolar disorder
• Norwegian-Americans
• Jewish American actors
• Gay icons
• People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
• Playboy Playmates
• American women