Norma Jeane Mortenson
Better known as : Marilyn Monroe.
Born in : Los Angeles , County Hospital
She was born on -27 may 1927
Parents
Her mother : Gladys Pearl Monroe Her father : Probably Charles Stanley Gifford , but they are not sure if it's true. Marilyn didnt believed it throughtout her whole life.
Both of them worked in a cutting studio called RKO.
Gladys was a drug addict and left Marilyn at her friends called : Albert and Ida Bolender.
Now Ida and Albert had custody over Norma Jean and she lived there till she was seven years old.
One day Gladys suffered from mental breakdowns and ran to Ida's house where she pulled Ida into the garden. She locked the doors so that Ida couldn't get in. Gladys stuffed Norma Jean (that time a baby) in Albert's millitary duffel bag and left the house trough the front door.
Ida chased Gladys because Norma wasnt safe and she managed to grab the bag from Gladys.
Norma Jean fell out the bag and started crying and Ida picked her up and got her inside.
Younger years
Norma Jean did not have a normal childhood.
She went to many foster homes , had a mother who was an addict and had mental breakdowns regularly.
Career / Modeling
During the time that she was married with James Dougherty which was in 1942, she was snapped by photographer David Conover. He encouraged her to apply to The Blue Book Modeling Agency.
She signed in and she was told that the agency was looking for a model with light hair so Norma Jeane dyed her hair blonde.
Norma Jeane became one of the most succesfull models from The Blue Book Modeling agency and she appeared in many magazines. James Dougherty ( who was then in the military ) told Norma Jeane to stop modeling out of jealousy I think. Norma Jeane wasn’t happy cause she saw a carreer in sight so she decided to divorce James.
Studio Contract and Beginnings
Ben Lyon was very interested in Norma Jean and arranged a screen test for her.
Lyon was very satisfied with what he saw and offered her a six month contract with a salary of 125 $ per week. Lyon wasn’t happy with the name Norma Jeane so he chose her stagename which was : Carole Lind. After a while he decided that he didn’t like that stagename aswell so they started searching for a stagename. There were variations like Norma Jeane Monroe and Norma Monroe and after a while they chose Jeane Monroe as stagename.
Several months later Lyon STILL wasn’t pleased with the name because there were to many girls with the name Jeane so Lyon suggested Marilyn. So eventually her stagename became : Marilyn Monroe.
First Roles
In her first role she played a telephone operator in the movie The Shocking Miss Pilgrim in 1947. She also played in the movie : Green grass of Wyoming and also the movie You were meant for me.
She also won a role as Betty in Scudda Hoo ! Scudda Hay ! .
She liked the acting so she started looking for oppurtunities for film work.
She was unemployed and she posed for nudepictures.
She was crowned Miss California Artichoke Queen at the festival in Castroville.
In 1948 she signed a contract for Columbia Pictures and was introduced to drama coach Natasha Lytess. She started a low budget musical which didn’t bring her any success.
In 1949 she had a small role in the movie Love Happy and was introduced to Johnny Hyde that time.
He introducec her to John Huston to arrange an audition.
He casted her for the drama movie : The Asphalt Jungle where she had to play a young mistress of a criminal. The movie brought strong reviews and Norma was seen by Joseph Mankiewicz.
He offered a role to Monroe in the movie All about Eve as Miss Caswell.
Then there was a period that she only had a few roles and Monroe enrolled at UCLA in 1051 where she studied literature and art appreciation.
She also appeared in several movies where she worked with : Mickey Rooney , Constance Bennett , June Allyson , Dick Powell and Claudette Colbert.
Career development
In March 1952 , Monroe faced a scandal when one of her nude pictures was viewed in a calendar.The press speculated about the identity of the anonymous model and commented that she closely resembled Monroe.
In the studio they discusses the problem and Monroe suggested to just admit that posed and that she had done so because she had simply no money at all to pay the rent.
She made her first appearance on the cover of Life magazine in 1952 and she was disscribed as “The talk of Hollywood. She also had a cover story in the magazine , showed smiling and wholesome Monroe beside a caption that said : Do I look happy ? I should – for I was a child nobody wated. A lonely girl with a dream – who awakened to find that dream come true. I am Marilyn Monroe. Read my Cinderella story. “.
That time she was dating Joe DiMaggio , a photograph was captured and printed in newspapers trough out the US.
Film success
Then when Marilyn became more known she acted in a few movies.Clash by night where she played with her co-player Keith Andes.
This movie was really good for Marilyn’s career cause the audience was really curious about Marilyn.
The movie Clash by night was followed by two other good movies called : We’re not married where Marilyn played a beauty contestant.
And the other movie is called “Don’t bother to knock where Marilyn played the rol of a babysitted who threatens to attack the child in her care.
A other movie was Monkey Business , this was a succesfull comedy where Marilyn appeared with bleach hair for the first time.
And another movie is Niagara where she played a woman who murdered her husband.
All these movies weren’t a GREAT success but did gave Marilyn some fame.
After these she had mainstream success with a few movies.
The most known movie is “Gentleman prefer blondes.
Where she played Lorelei Lee a golddigging showgirl , which you can see in the video Diamonds are a girls best friend.
Another great movie is How to marry a millionaire.
This movie was a comedy about three models that attract millionaires.
Marilyn had two co-actors/players called : Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall.
Director Jean Negulesco said that the audience finally liked Marilyn for who she was.
She said that it was the only picture she’d been in , in which she had measure of modesty about her own attractiveness. Many people established her a “dumb blonde “persona and contributed to her popularity because of her films that time.
And the last mainstream movie is The Seven Year Itch where she played with her co-actor Tom Ewell.
This movie brought up one of the most known images of Marilyn Monroe where the air is blowing up her skirt.
Acting Career Evolves.
Milton Greee had met Monroe in 1953 he was assigned to photograph her for Look Magazine.
A friendship developed between them and she confided him her frustration.
Her salary for Gentleman prefer blondes amounted 18.000 $ while freelancer Jane Russell was paid more than 100.000 $.
Milton agreed with Marilyn that she could earn more money by breaking away from 20th century fox.
Milton gave up his job in 1954 to finance Monroe and allowed her to move in with him and his family.
A few great movies followed after a while :
- Bus Stop where she played a saloon singer with talent and who falls in love with a cowboy
- The Prince and the Showgirl
- Some like it hot
- Lets make love and another movie called : the Misfits
Her final completed movie was The Misfits (1961After a horrible death of co-played Gable(died of a heartattack) the movie hadn’t been in a bright light by the press.
And the even asked Marilyn if she felt guilty.
The following months where horrible for Marilyn and she started drinking alcohol and medication started to take over her health.
After a long relationship with Arthur miller they divorced.She went to a medical center for three weeks. Ilness prevented her from working the remainder of the year :she went under surgery to correct a blockage in her Fallopian tubes in may and the next month she had a gall bladder surgery.
In 1962 , she started filming Something’s got to give. Later on she got ill with a virus and suffered from high temparetures and recurrent sinusitis.
On may 1962 she sang for President John F Kennedy at Madison Square Garden and performed the song Happy Birthday.
In the final weeks of her life , she engaged in discussions about future movie projects and firn arrangements were made to continue negotiations.
Her dispute with 20th century fx was resolved and her contract renewed in to 1 million $ two picture deal and filming Something’s got to give was scheduled in early fall 1962.
Allan “ Whitey “ Snyder who saw her during the last week of her life said that Monroe was very pleased by the opportunities that where available to her and she never looked better.
Marriages
Marilyn was married three times and they all ended in a divorce. First she married James Dougherty on June 19 , 1942.
Second marriage was with Joe DiMaggio .In 1954 they went to San Fransisco City Hall and during their honeymoon in Japan she was asked to visit Korea.
After Monroe's death, DiMaggio claimed her body and arranged her funeral. For 20 years, he had a half-dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week. Joe DiMaggio never remarried.
The last marriage was with Arthur Miller.
She had a secret wedding with a little group of people who joined them. Arthur ones said : She was a whirling light to me then, all paradox and enticing mystery, street-tough one moment, then lifted by a lyrical and poetic sensitivity that few retain past early adolescence."
Marilyn was raised as a Christian but she converted to Judaism before marrying Miller.
She visited England to shoot The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier.
After finishing the shooting they returned to the US.
On August 5, 1962 , LAPD police sergeants Jack Clemmons received a call from Dr. Ralph Greenson , Monroe’s psychiatrist, who said that Monroe was found dead in her house in Brentwood.
She was only 36 years old.
At the autopsy the doctors found eight milligram of Chloral Hydrate and 4,5 milligram of Nembutal in her system which led to acute poisoning.
The doctors said it was a probable suicide.
The last person that Monroe called was The President.
On August 8 . 1962 Monroe was interred in a crypt at corridor of memories 24# at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Lee Strasberg delivered the eulogy.
The crypt space immediately to the left of Monroe was bought and reserved by Hugh Hefner in 1992.
Some Pictures of this Beauty
A few videos
Well I really hope you liked this article.
I thought it was really nice to research her "lifestory" .
I absolutely love this person , she is inspirational and stunning.
Keep on following my blog please and have a good day.
With lots of love , x
Rianne
