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MARILYN MONROE BIOGRAPHY |
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Born as Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in
Los Angeles General Hospital, her mother, Gladys, listed the
fathers address as unknown. Marilyn would never know the true
identity of her father. Due to her mother's mental instability
and the fact that she was unmarried at the time, Norma Jeane was
placed in the foster home of Albert and Ida Bolender. It was
here she lived the first 7 years of her life. In 1937, when she
moved in with family friend Grace McKee Goddard. Unfortunately,
when Grace's husband was transferred to the East Coast in 1942,
the couple couldn't afford to take 16-year-old Norma Jeane with
them. So on June 19, 1942 she wed her 21-year-old neighbor Jimmy
Dougherty, whom she had been dating for six months. And they
were happy together until he joined the Merchant Marines and was
sent to the South Pacific in 1944.
After Jimmy left, Norma Jeane took a job on the assembly line at
the Radio Plane Munitions factory in Burbank, California.
Several months later, photographer David Conover saw her while
taking pictures of women contributing to the war effort for Yank
magazine. He used her for the shoot and then began sending
modeling jobs her way. Within two years she was a reputable
model with many popular magazine covers to her credit. She also
enrolled in drama classes with dreams of stardom and divorced
Jimmy in June of 1946, and signed her first studio contract with
Twentieth Century Fox on August 26, 1946. She earned $125 a week.
Soon after, Norma Jeane dyed her hair blonde and changed her
name to Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn's first movie role was a bit part in 1947's The Shocking
Miss Pilgrim. She played a series of inconsequential characters
until 1950, when John Huston's thriller The Asphalt Jungle
provided her with a small but influential role. Later that year,
Marilyn's performance as Claudia Caswell in All About Eve (starring
Bette Davis) earned her further praise. From then on Marilyn
worked steadily in movies such as: Let's Make It Legal, As Young
As You Feel, Monkey Business and Don't Bother to Knock. It was
her performance in 1953's Niagara, however, that delivered her
to stardom. Her success in Niagara was followed with lead roles
in the wildly popular Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (co-starring Jane
Russell) and How to Marry a Millionaire.
On January 14, 1954, Marilyn married baseball superstar Joe
DiMaggio at San Francisco's City Hall. Nine months later on
October 27, 1954, Marilyn and Joe divorced. They attributed the
split to a "conflict of careers," and remained close friends.
Marilyn was ready to shed her "shallow blonde" image by 1955 as
she wanted to pursue serious acting. She took a hiatus from
Hollywood and moved to New York City to study under Lee
Strasberg at his Actors' Studio. In 1956, Marilyn started her
own motion picture company, Marilyn Monroe Productions. The
company produced Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl (co-starring
Sir Laurence Olivier). These two films allowed her to
demonstrate her talent and versatility as an actress. Marilyn
received further recognition for 1959's Some Like It Hot,
winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy.
Sadly, in a shocking turn of events on the early morning of
August 5, 1962, 36-year-old Marilyn died in her sleep at her
Brentwood, California home. On August 8, 1962, Marilyn's body
was laid to rest in the Corridor of Memories, #24, at Westwood
Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California. During her career,
Marilyn made 30 films and left one, Something's Got to Give,
unfinished. She was more than just a movie star or glamour queen.
A global sensation in her lifetime, Marilyn's popularity has
extended beyond star status to icon. |
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