Marilyn Monroe: 11 Facts You Probably Don't Know

11 Facts You Probably Don't Know About Marilyn Monroe

These Marilyn Monroe Facts just may surprise you

• Marilyn Monroe was brought up by foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender until the age of seven. Marilyn Monroe wrote in her biography that she believed that Albert, her foster father was actually a woman. In total she had 12 sets of foster parents.
• Marilyn spent two years at the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society, also known as Hollygrove, currently known as EMQ located at 815 North El Centro Avenue, Hollywood, California. Hollygrove was closed as an orphanage in 2005, but still functions to help abused children. According to this article in the L.A. Times. "A hallway museum depicts Monroe's stay as well as the long history of the orphanage." While you can read the History Of Hollygrove, strangely no mention is made of Marilyn's stay there. Instead Marilyn is mentioned in this corporate site about EMQ milestones.
  
  See the location of Marilyn's Orphanage On Google Maps.
• Marilyn Monroe's family had a long history of depression. Marilyn's uncle and great-grandfather both committed suicide by hanging. Marilyn Monroe's mother was also forcibly institutionalized due to a breakdown.
• When she was 16, Marilyn Monroe married 21 year old James Dougherty in order to avoid being sent to an orphanage or to yet another foster home. She divorced him when she was 20.
• Marilyn did her famous nude photoshoot in 1947 nearly SIX YEARS BEFORE the photos were used for Playboy's 1953 first edition. the rights to the photos were purchased for $500 by Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe became the first 'Sweetheart of the Month'. Later the name was changed to Playmate of the Month. In 2007 Playboy published 20,000 EXACT replicas of this first edition. Some copies of this republication are still available for purchase for approximately $50.
• Marilyn's great love was probably baseball giant Joe Dimaggio. When they were married, Joe was intensely jealous of the attention showered on Marilyn Monroe by men everywhere. When the "The Seven Year Itch", was filmed in New York, now famous promotional photos were taken on a subway ventilator outside the Trans-Lux Theater on 52nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Joe watched Marilyn's skirt fly up again and again, revealing her white panties before thousands of enthusiastic photographers and fans. Jealous Joe angrily stormed off. Later the couple had a huge fight in the hotel. Two weeks later they separated and eventually divorced.
• After their divorce, Joe Dimaggio rescued Marilyn Monroe from forced institutionalization at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic (67th Street and York Avenue, NY City). For 20 years after her death he had a dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week. He never remarried. It is claimed that Joe's last words were: "I'll finally get to see Marilyn"
• The FBI compiled a 34 page file on Marilyn Monroe, much of which hints that she was a communist sympathizer. Included are a visa application to visit the USSR as well as her relationships with people that the FBI believed were communist sympathizers. You can review:
  
  * Marilyn's FBI files part 1
  
  * Marilyn's FBI files part 2
• Marilyn Monroe was a NOT a dumb blond bimbo. She was a savvy business woman. Fox, the movie studio she had a contract with was forcing her to do stupid, low level films that she hated. Marilyn Monroe broke her contract and fled Hollywood to study acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York. She set up her own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions. She was such a huge box office draw, Fox agreed to her terms, giving Marilyn Monroe approval of the director as well as the option to act in other studios' projects. The first film under the new contract was Bus Stop, for which she received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Golden Globe.
• Over 40 years after her death Forbes.com compiled a survey titled "Highest-Earning Dead Celebrities," which compared the money the celebrities' estates earn annually from sales.
  
  See the article showing that Marilyn Monroe ranked 9th as the only woman on the list.
• Hugh Hefner owns the burial vault next to Marilyn Monroe at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California and intends to be buried there. Click to see the location of this cemetery in Google Maps
• Marilyn only owned one home and it was located in Brentwood, California. This is the place where Marilyn died on August 4, 1962. Click to see the location of Marylin's House in Google Maps.