Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926 in Los Angeles. She died in the same city in 1962 in mysterious circumstances which are still disputed to this day.
She became a major sex symbol and starred in a number of commercially successful movies during the 1950s and early 1960s. Her “dumb blonde” image was used to comic effect in films such as “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, “How to Marry a Millionaire”, and “The Seven Year Itch”.
She only ever won one serious award which was a Golden Globe Award for her performance in “Some Like It Hot”. However, in 1999, Monroe was ranked as the sixth-greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute and in 2009, TV Guide Network named her No. 1 in film’s Sexiest Women of All Time.
It is over 50 years since Marilyn Monroe died, and yet she still remains a cultural icon.
Her alleged relationship with President John F. Kennedy – and his brother, Bobby – is part of the Marilyn legend.
Here are a some other interesting facts about her life which our LifeDaily team has selected for your information:
- She was married three times. Her first marriage to James Dougherty in 1942 when she was 16, lasted 4 years. Her second in 1954 to baseball star Joe DiMaggio lasted less than a year. In 1956 she married renowned playwright Arthur Miller but they divorced in 1961.
- Her first film role in 1947 featured only her voice when she played a telephone operator in “The Shocking Miss Pilgrim”.
- In 1951, a poll of servicemen voted her the Present All GIs Would Like to Find in Their Christmas Stocking.
- Monroe was not as dumb as her on-screen image. When not working she used to take literature classes at UCLA.
- Monroe became Playboy magazine’s first monthly Playmate in 1953 after the magazine published a nude calendar photo she had posed for six years earlier.
- Monroe persuaded the Hollywood Mocambo Club to book Ella Fitzgerald for a week, promising in return to sit in the front row for each night of the singer’s run. This was to persuade the club to change its policy of not hiring Black artists.
- The famous subway grate/billowing skirt scene from “The Seven Year Itch” never ended up in the firm and was actually shot on a Hollywood sound-stage designed to look like Manhattan.
- The headline in Variety when intellectual playwright Arthur Miller married Monroe in 1956 read, “EGGHEAD WEDS HOURGLASS.”
- Tony Curtis always denied the remark attributed to him that smooching Monroe in “Some Like It Hot” was like “kissing Hitler.” However, in his 2008 memoir, he finally admitted uttering the insult but said he had meant it as a joke.
- Truman Capote wanted Marilyn to star as party girl Holly Golightly in the 1961 adaptation of his novel “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” However, the role became a huge success for Audrey Hepburn instead.
- Sculptor Seward Johnson’s enormous painted statue of Monroe’s iconic pose in that scene is called “Forever Marilyn.” It is 26 feet tall and is made of 34,000 pounds of stainless steel and aluminum.
- Last year, Monroe came in third (behind Michael Jackson and Elvis) on Forbes’ annual list of Top-Earning Dead Celebrities. According to Forbes, she earned $27 million last year.
- “Niagara” is the only movie Monroe made in which her character dies.
- Her death also hasn’t stopped Marilyn Monroe from being a presence on social media. Her Facebook page claims 3.3 million friends. On Twitter there is a promotional account, @marilynmonroe, with announcements of approved Monroe products and events, Then, there’s the unauthorized @TheMsMonroe, whose author tweets what Marilyn might have tweeted, had Twitter existed in 1962.
- The pleated dress Monroe wore in the scene was obtained by Debbie Reynolds. Last year she auctioned off the costume for $5.6 million.
While it is true that Marilyn Monroe lived a troubled life, her iconic influence is amazing.
Do you think her death was an accident, or was there a more sinister cause? How to you rate her talent and acting ability?
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