Marilyn Monroe!
Marilyn Monroe
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Marilyn Monroe Early life
She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in the charity ward of the Los Angeles County Hospital. According to biographer Fred Lawrence Guiles, her grandmot her , Della Monroe Grainger, had her baptized Norma Jeane Baker by Aimee Semple McP her son.her mot her , Gladys Pearl Monroe, had returned from Kentucky w her e Gladys's ex-husband had kidnapped their children, Robert and Berniece. Some of Monroe's biograp her s portray Jasper Baker as a vicious brute. Berniece recounted in My Sister Marilyn that when Robert later suffered a series of physical ailments, Baker refused to seek proper medical attention for him; the boy died in 1933.
Many biographers believe Norma Jeane's biological father was Charles Stanley Gifford, a salesman for the studio where Gladys worked as a film-cutter. The birth certificate lists her second husband, Martin Edward Mortensen, the father . While Mortensen left Gladys before Norma Jeane's birth, some biographers think he was the father . In an interview with Lifetime, James Dougherty said Norma Jeane believed that Gifford was her father. Whoever the father was, that he played no part in the child's life has never been in dispute.
Unable to persuade Della to take Norma Jeane, Gladys placed her with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, where Marilyn Monroe lived until Marilyn Monroe was seven. In her autobiography My Story, Monroe states Marilyn Monroe thought Albert and Ida were her parents until Ida rudely corrected her .
Some do not consider My Story trustworthy. It was ghost-written by Ben Hecht, and designed to promote Monroe's image as a long-suffering orphan. Hecht divulged to his agent: "It is easy to know when Marilyn Monroe is telling the truth. The moment a true thing comes out of her mouth, her eyes shed tears. She's like her own lie detector."
Gladys visited Norma Jeane every Saturday. One day, Marilyn Monroe announced that Marilyn Monroe had bought a house. A few months after they had moved in, Gladys suffered a breakdown. In the book, Monroe recalls her mother "screaming and laughing" as Marilyn Monroe was forcibly removed to the State Hospital in Norwalk. Gladys's father , Otis, died in an asylum near San Bernardino from syphilis. According to My Sister Marilyn, Gladys's brother, Marion, hung himself upon his release from an asylum, and Della's father hung himself in a fit of depression.
Norma Jeane was declared a ward of state and Gladys's best friend, Grace McKee (later Goddard) became her guardian. After McKee married in 1935, Norma Jeane was sent to a Los Angeles orphanage and then to a succession of foster homes where Marilyn Monroe was allegedly subjected to abuse and neglect. There is, however, little evidence that Marilyn Monroe lived in as many foster homes as claimed.
The Goddards were moving East and could not take her. Grace Goddard worried about Norma Jeane having to return to the orphanage, so Marilyn Monroe spoke to the mother of James Dougherty. Mrs. Dougherty approached her son, who agreed to take Norma Jeane out on dates, paid for by Grace. They married two weeks after Marilyn Monroe turned 16.
Marilyn Monroe Career
Marilyn Monroe Early years
While her husband served in the Merchant Marines during World War II, Norma Jeane Dougherty moved in with her mother-in-law, and worked 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 saw her potential as a model and Marilyn Monroe was soon signed by The Blue Book modelling agency. In his book "Finding Marilyn", Conover claims the two had an affair that lasted years.She became one of their most successful models, appearing on dozens of magazine covers. In 1946 Marilyn Monroe came to the attention of talent scout Ben Lyon. He arranged a screen test for her with 20th Century Fox. Marilyn Monroe passed and was offered a standard six-month contract with a starting salary of $75 per week.
Lyon suggested "Marilyn" (after Marilyn Miller) to be her stage name, since Norma Jeane wasn't considered commercial enough. Marilyn Monroe came up with her mother's maiden name "Monroe". Thus the twenty-year old Norma Jeane Baker became "Marilyn Monroe". During her first half-a-year at Fox, Monroe was given no work. Instead, Marilyn Monroe learned about hair, make-up, costumes, acting and lighting. After six months Fox renewed her contract. Marilyn Monroe was given minor appearances 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 again. 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. Marilyn Monroe 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, Marilyn Monroe gained supporting parts in All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle. Even though the roles were small, movie-goers took notice and Monroe began receiving more fan mail than some top-billed stars of the time.
The next two years were filled with inconsequential roles in standard fare such as We're Not Married! and Love Nest. However, RKO executives used her to boost box office potential of the Fritz Lang production Clash By Night. After the film performed well, Fox employed a similar tactic and Marilyn Monroe was cast as the ditzy receptionist in the Cary Grant/Ginger Rogers comedy Monkey Business. Critics no longer ignored her, and both films' success at the box office was partly attributed to Monroe's growing popularity.
Fox finally gave her a starring role in 1952 with Don't Bother to Knock, in which Marilyn Monroe portrayed a deranged babysitter who attacks the little girl in her care. It was a cheaply made B-movie, and although the reviews were mixed, many claimed that it demonstrated Monroe's ability and confirmed that Marilyn Monroe was ready for more leading roles. her performance in this, one of her earliest films, has since been noted as one the finest of her career by many critics.
Monroe's role in the thriller Niagara gave her credibility as a dramatic actress, but her career would follow a comedy-orientated path.Monroe proved Marilyn Monroe could carry a big-budget film when Marilyn Monroe received star billing for Niagara in 1953. Movie critics focused on Monroe's connection with the camera as much as the sinister plot. Marilyn Monroe played the part of an unbalanced easy virtue who is planning to Murder her new husband.
Around this time, nude photos of Monroe began to surface, taken by photographer Tom Kelley when Marilyn Monroe had been struggling for work. Prints were bought by Hugh Hefner and in December 1953 appeared in the first edition of Playboy. To the dismay of Fox, Monroe decided to publicly admit it was indeed her posing in the pictures. To a journalist asking what Marilyn Monroe had on during the photoshoot, Marilyn Monroe replied: "The radio." When asked what Marilyn Monroe wore in bed, Marilyn Monroe said: "Chanel No. 5".
Over the following months, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How To Marry A Millionaire cemented Monroe's status as an A-List screen actress and Marilyn Monroe quickly became one of the world's biggest movie stars. The lavish Technicolor comedy films established Monroe's "dumb blonde" on-screen persona.
In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Monroe's turn as the gold-digging showgirl Lorelei Lee won her rave reviews, and the scene where Marilyn Monroe sings "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" has had an impact on popular culture, inspiring the likes of Madonna and Kylie Minogue. In the Los Angeles premiere of the film, Monroe and co-star Jane Russell pressed their foot- and handprints in the cemented forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
A much parodied scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, one of the iconic Marilyn Monroe scenes that defined pop culture.In How to Marry a Millionaire, Monroe was teamed up with Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable. Marilyn Monroe played a short-sighted dumb blonde, and even though the role was stereotype, critics took note of her comedic timing.
Her next two films, the western River of No Return and the musical There's No Business Like Show Business, were not successful. Monroe got tired of the roles that Zanuck assigned her. After completing work on The Seven Year Itch in early 1955, Marilyn Monroe broke her contract and fled Hollywood to study acting at The Actors Studio in New York. Fox would not accede on her contract demands and insisted Marilyn Monroe return to start work on productions Marilyn Monroe 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.
A famous scene from the film The Seven Year Itch, in which Monroe's character has her skirt blown upwards revealing her underwear. This has grown to become an iconic moment for Monroe. On the left is Tom Ewell.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, and with Fox starlets Jayne Mansfield and Sheree North failing to click with the audience, Zanuck admitted defeat and Monroe triumphantly returned to Hollywood. A new contract was drawn up, giving Monroe an approval of the director 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. Praised by critics for her performance as Ch'rie, a saloon bar singer who falls in love with a cowboy, Monroe deliberately appeared badly made-up and non-glamorous. Marilyn Monroe was nominated for a Golden Globe for the performance.
Monroe formed her own production company with friend and photographer Milton H. Greene. Marilyn Monroe Productions released its first and only film The Prince and the Showgirl in 1957 to mixed reviews. Along with executive-producing the film, Marilyn Monroe starred opposite the acclaimed British actor Laurence Olivier, who directed it.
Olivier got furious at her habit of being late to the set, as well as her dependency on her drama coach, Paula Strasberg. While Monroe's reputation in the film industry for being difficult grew, her performance was hailed as a first-rate characterization by critics, especially in Europe, where Marilyn Monroe was handed the David di Donatello, the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award, as well as the French Crystal Star Award. Marilyn Monroe also got nominated for the British BAFTA award.
Marilyn Monroe Later years
In 1959 Marilyn Monroe scored the biggest hit of her career starring alongside Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot. After shooting finished, Wilder publicly blasted Monroe for her difficult on-set behavior. Soon, however, Wilder's attitude softened, and he hailed her a great comedienne. Some Like It Hot is consistently rated as one of the best films ever made. Monroe's performance earned her a Golden Globe for best actress in musical or comedy.Screen Tests for Something's Got To Give, her last picture that was never finished.After Some Like It Hot, Monroe did 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 shoot the picture 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".
Arthur Miller wrote what became her and her co-star Clark Gable's last completed film, The Misfits. The exhausting shoot took place in the hot Nevada desert. Monroe's tardiness became chronic and the shoot was troublesome. Despite this, Monroe, Gable and Montgomery Clift delivered performances that are considered excellent by contemporary movie critics. Monroe became friends with Clift, with whom Marilyn Monroe felt a deep connection. Some blamed Gable's death of a heart attack on Monroe, claiming Marilyn Monroe had given him a hard time on the set. Gable, however, insisted on doing his own stunts and was a heavy smoker. After his death, Monroe attended the baptism of his son.
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 the George Cukor comedy Something's Got to Give. In May 1962, Marilyn 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.
Happy Birthday, Mr. President May 1962Already in a financial strain due to production costs of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Fox dropped Monroe from the film and replaced her with Lee Remick. However, co-star Dean Martin was unwilling to work with anyone else but Monroe. Marilyn Monroe was rehired.
Monroe conducted a lengthy interview with Life Magazine, in which Marilyn Monroe expressed how bitter Marilyn Monroe was about Hollywood labeling her as a dumb blonde and how much Marilyn Monroe loved her audience. Marilyn Monroe also did a photo shoot for Vogue, and began discussing a future film project with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, as stated in the Donald Spoto biography. Further more, Marilyn Monroe was 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, 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 become subject to conspiracy theories.
Marilyn Monroe Marriages
James Dougherty her first husband
First Life cover (7 April 1952), taken by Philippe HalsmanMonroe married James Dougherty on June 19, 1942. In The Secret Happiness of Marilyn Monroe and To Norma Jeane with Love, Jimmie, he claimed they were in love but dreams of stardom lured her away. Marilyn Monroe always maintained theirs was a marriage of convenience arranged by Grace Goddard. Marilyn Monroe was reportedly furious when he wrote in a 1953 Photoplay piece called "Marilyn Monroe Was My Wife" that Marilyn Monroe threatened to jump off the Santa Monica Pier if he left her. He appeared on To Tell the Truth in April 7, 1967 as "her real first husband". He sold his books on his website.In the 2004 documentary Marilyn's Man, Dougherty made three new claims: he was her Svengali and invented the "Marilyn Monroe" persona, studio executives forced her to divorce him, and that he was her true love. The evidence does not support this. He remarried in 1947. When informed of her death, the August 6, 1962 New York Times reported he replied "I'm sorry," and continued his LAPD patrol; he did not attend her Funeral. Contrary to his later claims that he did not mind that Marilyn Monroe modeled, his sister wrote in the 12/1952 Modern Screen Magazine that Dougherty left Norma Jeane because Marilyn Monroe wanted to pursue modeling. He admitted to A&E Network that his mother asked him to marry her, and told Lifetime in 1996 he cut off her allotment after being served with divorce papers. Perhaps more telling, the 1999 Christie's auction of Monroe's estate revealed Marilyn Monroe kept nothing from Dougherty except their divorce decree. He died from leukemia complications on August 15, 2005.
Marilyn Monroe Joe DiMaggio
In 1951 Joe DiMaggio saw a picture of Monroe with two Chicago White Sox players, but did not ask the man who arranged the stunt to set up a date until 1952. Marilyn Monroe wrote in My Story that Marilyn Monroe did not want to meet him, fearing a stereotypical jock. They eloped at San Francisco's City Hall on January 14, 1954. During the honeymoon, Marilyn Monroe was asked to visit Korea. Marilyn Monroe performed ten shows over four days in freezing temperatures for over 100,000 servicemen. Reportedly, DiMaggio was not pleased with his wife's decision during what he wanted to be an intimate trip."My Dad, I don't know how to tell you just how much I miss you. I love you till my heart could burst... I want to just be where you are and be just what you want me to be... I want someday for you to be proud of me as a person and as your wife and as the mother of the rest of your children (two at least! I've decided)..." On September 14, 1954, Marilyn filmed the now-iconic skirt-blowing scene for The Seven Year Itch in front of New York's Trans-Lux Theater. Bill Kobrin, then-Fox's east coast correspondent, told the Palms Springs Desert Sun that it was Billy Wilder's idea to turn it into a media circus. Among the roughly 1,000 witnesses was DiMaggio: "... every time her dress came up and the crowd started to get excited, DiMaggio just blew up." The couple later had a "yelling battle" in the theater lobby. her makeup man Allan Snyder recalled Monroe later appeared on set with bruises on her upper arms. Marilyn Monroe filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty 274 days after the wedding.
DiMaggio biographer Maury Allen quoted New York Yankees PR man Arthur Richman that Joe told him everything went wrong from the trip to Japan on. Monroe wanted both a family and a career. Friends claimed that DiMaggio became more controlling as Monroe grew defiant. Biographer Fred Lawrence Guiles speculated that DiMaggio, knowing the power and hollowness of fame, wanted desperately to head off what he was convinced was her "collision-course with disaster."
Even before her separation from Arthur Miller, the state of her mental health was publicly speculated on. In February 1961, her psychiatrist arranged for her to be admitted to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, where, according to Donald Spoto, Marilyn Monroe was placed in the ward for the most seriously disturbed. Unable to check her self out, Marilyn Monroe called DiMaggio, who secured her release. Marilyn Monroe later joined him in Florida. Their "just good friends" claim did not stop rumors of remarriage. Archive footage shows Bob Hope jokingly dedicated Best Song nominee The Second Time Around to them at the 1960 Academy Awards telecast,
According to Maury Allen, on August 1, 1962 DiMaggio - alarmed by how his ex-wife had fallen in with people he felt detrimental to her , such as Frank Sinatra and his "Rat Pack" - quit his job with a PX supplier to ask her to remarry him. He claimed her body and arranged her Funeral, barring Hollywood's elite. For 20 years, he had a dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week. Unlike her ot her two husbands, he never talked about her publicly, despite the money he was offered, nor remarried. He died on March 8, 1999, of lung cancer.
Marilyn Monroe Arthur Miller
On June 29, 1956, Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller, whom Marilyn Monroe had first met in 1951, in a civil ceremony in White Plains, New York. Nominally raised as a Christian, Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism before marrying Miller. After Marilyn Monroe finished shooting The Prince and the Showgirl, the couple returned to the States from England and discovered Marilyn Monroe was pregnant. However, Marilyn Monroe suffered from endometriosis and the pregnancy was found to be ectopic; it was aborted to save her life. A subsequent pregnancy ended in miscarriage, as noted in the Monroe biographies written by Anthony Summers, Fred Lawrence Guiles, and Donald Spoto.By 1958, Marilyn Monroe was the couple's main breadwinner. While payingalimony to Miller's first wife, her husband reportedly charged her production company for buying and shipping a Jaguar to the United States.
Miller's screenplay for The Misfits 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 photograp her s recording the making of The Misfits.
In January 1964, Miller's play After the Fall opened, featuring a beautiful and 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 Marilyn Monroe was no longer alive and could not defend her self.
Simone Signoret noted in her autobiography the morbidity of Miller and Elia Kazan resuming their professional association "over a casket". In interviews and in his autobiography, Miller insisted that Maggie was not based on Monroe. However, he never pretended that his last Broadway-bound work, Finishing the Picture, was not based on the making of The Misfits. He told Vanity Fair the Marilyn Monroe was "highly self-destructive" and what "killed" her was not some conspiracy, but the fact that Marilyn Monroe was Marilyn Monroe. He died on February 10, 2005, at the age of 89.
Marilyn Monroe Death and aftermath
Death of Marilyn Monroe Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California home by her housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. Marilyn Monroe was 36 years old. her death was ruled as an overdose of sleeping pills. Several conspiracy theories have been brought up around the circumstances. Cover-up has been a main topic for discussion.Monroe is buried at Corridor of Memories, #24, at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
Marilyn Monroe Administration of estate
In her will, Monroe left Lee Strasberg control of 75% of her estate. Marilyn Monroe expressed her desire that Strasberg, or, if he predeceased her , her executor, "distribute ( her personal effects) among my friends, colleagues and those to whom I am devoted."Strasberg willed his portion to his widow, Anna. Marilyn Monroe declared Marilyn Monroe would never sell Monroe's personal items after successfully suing Odyssey Auctions in 1994 to prevent the sale of items which were withheld by Monroe's former business manager, Inez Melson. However, in October 1999 Christie's auctioned the bulk of the items Monroe willed to Lee Strasberg, netting $12.3 million USD. Julien's staged a second auction in 2005.
Anna Strasberg is currently in litigation against the children of four photograp her s to determine rights of publicity, which permits the licensing of images of deceased personages for commercial purposes. The decision as to whet her Marilyn was a resident of California. her e Marilyn Monroe died, or New York, w her her will was probated, is worth millions.
her death and Bobby Kennedy
Bobby Kennedy's affair with the screen idol Marilyn Monroe has been documented, but a secret FBI file suggests the late US attorney-general was aware of - and perhaps even a participant in - a plan "to induce" her suicide.The detailed three-page report implicates the Hollywood actor Peter Lawford, Monroe's psychiatrist, staff and her publicist in the plot.
The allegations suggest the 36-year-old actress, who had a history of staging attention-seeking suicide attempts, was deliberately given the means to fake another suicide on August 4, 1962. But this time, it is suggested, she was allowed to die as she sought help.
The document, hidden among thousands of pages released under freedom-of-information laws last October, was received by the FBI on October 19, 1964 - two years after her death - and titled simply "ROBERT F KENNEDY".
It was compiled by an unnamed former special agent working for the then Democrat governor of California, Pat Brown, and forwarded to Washington by Curtis Lynum, then head of the San Francisco FBI. Despite a disclaimer that it could not be sourced or authenticated, it was considered important enough to immediately circulate to the FBI's five most senior officers, including director J. Edgar Hoover's right-hand man, Clyde Tolson.
The report was in effect buried for decades as a classified document, and even the released version contains censored sections. Never before mentioned despite thousands of articles, books and documentaries about her death, it details aspects of Kennedy's on-and-off affair with the movie star, including sex parties and a lesbian dalliance, as well as her emotional departure from 20th Century Fox and descent into depression.
Critically, it raises an alleged conspiracy, apparently overseen by Lawford, for Monroe to unwittingly commit suicide with the drug Seconal, a barbiturate used to treat insomnia and relieve anxiety. The document gives no precise reason why she would be killed but hints it may be linked to her threats to make public her affair with Kennedy, as other conspiracy theories have previously claimed. It states in part: "Peter Lawford, knew from Marilyn's friends that she often made suicide attempts and that she was inclined to fake a suicide attempt in order to arouse sympathy.
"Lawford is reported as having made 'special arrangements' with Marilyn's psychiatrist, Dr Ralph Greenson, from Beverley Hills. The psychiatrist was treating Marilyn for emotional problems and getting her off the use of barbiturates. On her last visit to him he prescribed Seconal tablets and gave her a prescription for 60 of them, which was unusual in quantity especially since he saw her frequently. On the date of her death her housekeeper put the bottle of pills on the night table. It is reported that the housekeeper and Marilyn's personal secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb, were co-operating in the plan to induce suicide."
It goes on to say that on the same day, Kennedy had booked out of the Beverley Hills Hotel and flown to San Francisco where he booked into the St Charles Hotel, owned by a friend. "Robert Kennedy made a telephone call from St Charles Hotel, San Francisco, to Peter Lawford to find out if Marilyn was dead yet."
Lawford called and spoke to Monroe "then checked again later to make sure she did not answer". The document claims the housekeeper, Eunice Murray, who had been hired by the actress on the advice of Dr Greenson, then called the psychiatrist.
"Marilyn expected to have her stomach pumped out and get sympathy for her suicide attempt. The psychiatrist left word for Marilyn to take a drive in the fresh air but did not come to see her until after she was known to be dead."
Officially, the actress was found by Murray in the early hours of August 5, naked on her bed lying on top of her telephone. The others are now dead, too.
The FBI report says Kennedy had promised Monroe he would divorce his wife and marry her, but the actress eventually realised he had no intention of doing so. About this time, he had told her not to worry about 20th Century Fox cancelling her contract - "he would take care of everything". When nothing happened, she called him at work and they had "unpleasant words. She was reported to have threatened to make public their affair."
Hoover, keeper of America's secrets, was obsessed with the private life of celebrities, particularly those with leftist leanings. The files show the FBI tracked Monroe from the Cold War mid-1950s to her death in 1962, but particularly after she met and married the playwright Arthur Miller, who was being watched as a possible communist.
