Norma Jean Mortensen

Mini Biography

Probably the most celebrated of all actresses, Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles General Hospital. Prior to her birth, Marilyn's father bought a motorcycle and headed north to San Francisco, abandoning the family in Los Angeles. Marilyn grew up not knowing for sure who her father really was. Her mother, Gladys, had entered into several relationships, further confusing her daughter as to who it was who fathered her. Afterward, Gladys gave Norma Jean (Marilyn) the name of Baker, a boyfriend she had before Mortenson. Poverty was a constant companion to Gladys and Norma. Gladys, who was extremely attractive and worked for RKO Studios as a film cutter, suffered from mental illness and was in and out of mental institutions for the rest of her life, and because of that Norma Jean spent time in foster homes. When she was nine she was placed in an orphanage where she was to stay for the next two years. Upon being released from the orphanage, she went to yet another foster home. In 1942, at the age of 16, Norma Jean married 21-year-old aircraft plant worker James Dougherty. The marriage only lasted four years, and they divorced in 1946. By this time Marilyn began to model swimsuits and bleached her hair blonde. Various shots made their way into the public eye, where some were eventually seen by RKO Pictures head Howard Hughes. He offered Marilyn a screen test, but an agent suggested that 20th Century-Fox would be the better choice for her, since it was a much bigger and more prestigious studio. She was signed to a contract at $125 per week for a six-month period and that was increased by $25 per week at the end of that time when her contract was lengthened.

Her first film was in 1947 with a bit part in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947). Her next production was not much better, a bit in the eminently forgettable Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948). Two of the three brief scenes she appeared wound up on the cutting room floor. Later that same year she was given a somewhat better role as Evie in Dangerous Years (1947). However, Fox declined to renew her contract, so she went back to modeling and acting school.

Columbia Pictures then picked her up to play Peggy Martin in Ladies of the Chorus (1948), where she sang two numbers. Notices from the critics were favorable for her, if not the film, but Columbia dropped her. Once again Marilyn returned to modeling. In 1949 she appeared in United Artists' Love Happy (1949). It was also that same year she posed nude for the now famous calendar shot which was later to appear in Playboy magazine in 1953 and further boost her career. She would be the first centerfold in that magazine's long and illustrious history. The next year proved to be a good year for Marilyn. She appeared in five films, but the good news was that she received very good notices for her roles in two of them, The Asphalt Jungle (1950) from MGM and All About Eve (1950) from Fox. Even though both roles were basically not much mor than bit parts, movie fans remembered her ditzy but very sexy blonde performance.

In 1951, Marilyn got a fairly sizable role in Love Nest (1951). The public was now getting to know her and liked what it saw. She had an intoxicating quality of volcanic sexuality wrapped in an aura of almost childlike innocence. In 1952, Marilyn appeared in Don't Bother to Knock (1952), in which she played a somewhat mentally unbalanced babysitter. Critics didn't particularly care for her work in this picture, but she made a much more favorable impression later in the year in Monkey Business (1952), where she was seen for the first time as a platinum blonde, a look that became her trademark. The next year she appeared in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) as Lorelei Lee. It was also the same year she began dating the baseball great Joe DiMaggio.

Marilyn was now a genuine box-office drawing card. Later, she appeared with Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall and Rory Calhoun in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). Although her co-stars got the rave reviews, it was the sight of Marilyn that really excited the audience, especially the male members. On January 14, 1954, Marilyn wed DiMaggio, then proceeded to film There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). That was quickly followed by The Seven Year Itch (1955), which showcased her considerable comedic talent and contained what is arguably one of the most memorable moments in cinema history: Marilyn standing above a subway grating and the wind from a passing subway blowing her white dress up.

By October of 1954, Marilyn announced her divorce from DiMaggio. The union lasted only eight months. In 1955 she was suspended by Fox for not reporting for work on How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955). It was her second suspension, the first being for not reporting for the production of The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955). Both roles went to others. Her work was slowing down, due to her habit of being continually late to the set, her illnesses (whether real or imagined) and generally being unwilling to cooperate with her producers, directors, and fellow actors.

In Bus Stop (1956), however, Marilyn finally showed critics that she could play a straight dramatic role. It was also the same year she married playwright, Arthur Miller (they divorced in 1960). In 1957 Marilyn flew to Britain to film The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) which proved less than impressive critically and financially. It made money, but many critics panned it for being slow-moving. After a year off in 1958, Marilyn returned to the screen the next year for the delightful comedy, Some Like It Hot (1959) with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The film was an absolute smash hit, with Curtis and Lemmon pretending to be females in an all-girl band, so they can get work. This was to be Marilyn's only film for the year.

In 1960 Marilyn appeared in George Cukor's Let's Make Love (1960), with Tony Randall and Yves Montand. Again, while it made money, it was critically panned as stodgy and slow-moving. The following year Marilyn made what was to be her final film. The Misfits (1961), which also proved to be the final film for the legendary Clark Gable, who died later that year of a heart attack. The film was popular with critics and the public alike.

In 1962 Marilyn was chosen to star in Fox's Something's Got to Give (1962). Again, her absenteeism caused delay after delay in production, resulting in her being fired from the production in June of that year. It looked as though her career was finished. Studios just didn't want to take a chance on her because it would cost them thousands of dollars in delays. She was only 36.

Marilyn made only 30 films in her lifetime, but her legendary status and mysticism will remain with film history forever.

Spouse
Arthur Miller (29 June 1956 - 20 January 1961) (divorced)
Joe DiMaggio (14 January 1954 - 27 October 1954) (divorced)
James Dougherty (19 June 1942 - 13 September 1946) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Lisp, breathless voice

Platinum blonde hair

Voluptuous figure.

Trivia

Voted 'Sexiest Woman of the Century' by People Magazine. [1999]

Was 1947's Miss California Artichoke Queen.

In her autobiography "My Story," she recounted her guardian told her she was a direct descendant of James Monroe. Her mother's maiden name was Monroe, but there is no evidence she was a descendant of the president.

Was roommates with Shelley Winters when they were both starting out in Hollywood.

Ranked #8 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Voted Empire's (UK) "sexiest female movie star of all time" in 1995.

Playboy "Sweetheart" of the Month, December 1953.

When she died in 1962 at age 36, she left an estate valued at $1.6 million. In her will, Monroe bequeathed 75% of that estate to Lee Strasberg, her acting coach, and 25% to Dr. Marianne Kris, her psychoanalyst. A trust fund provided her mother, Gladys Baker Eley, with $5,000 a year. When Dr. Kris died in 1980, she passed her 25% on to the Anna Freud Centre, a children's psychiatric institute in London. Since Strasberg's death in 1982, his 75% has been administered by his widow, Anna, and her lawyer, Irving Seidman.

The licensing of Marilyn's name and likeness, handled world-wide by Curtis Management Group, reportedly nets the Monroe estate about $2 million a year.

Was named the Number One Sex Star of the 20th Century by Playboy magazine in 1999.

Started using the name Marilyn Monroe in 1946, but did not legally change it until 1956.

Appeared on the first cover of Playboy in 1953.

Given a dog she named Tippy by foster father Albert Bolender. Her final, unfinished film, Something's Got to Give (1962), the dog was also named Tippy.

Interred at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Corridor of Memories, crypt #24.

Hundreds of items of memorabilia auctioned off in late October, 1999 by Christie's, with her infamous 'JFK' birthday-gown fetching over $1 million.

Childhood photos show she was born blonde, but her hair turned "mousy" as she grew older.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#2). [1995]

Hugh M. Hefner owns the burial vault next to hers.

Died with the phone in her hand.

Ex-husband Joe DiMaggio put fresh roses at her memorial site for years after her death

When putting her imprints at Grauman's she joked that Jane Russell was best known for her large front-side and she was known for her wiggly walk, so Jane could lean over, and she could sit in it. It was only a joke, but she dotted the "I" in her name with a rhinestone, which was stolen within days.

The character of Ginger from TV's "Gilligan's Island" (1964) was loosely based on her persona.

Her first modeling job paid only five dollars.

Frequently used Nivea moisturizer.

During the filming of Niagara (1953), she was still under contract as a stock actor, thus, she received less salary than her make-up man. This was also the only film in which her character died. The film was reworked to highlight her after Anne Bancroft withdrew.

Often carried around the book, "The Biography of Abraham Lincoln."

Was an outstanding player on the Hollygrove Orphanage softball team.

Because the bathing suit she wore in the movie Love Nest (1951) was so risque (for the time period) and caused such a commotion on the set, director Joseph M. Newman had to make it a closed set when she was filming.

Fearing blemishes, she washed her face fifteen times a day.

She was suggested as a possible wife for Prince Rainier of Monaco. He later married actress Grace Kelly.

Thought the right side of her face was her "best" side.

The first time she signed an autograph as Marilyn Monroe, she had to ask how to spell it. She didn't know where to put the "i" in "Marilyn".

Born at 9:30 am

Suffered from endometriosis, a condition in which tissues of the uterus lining (endometrium) leave the uterus, attach themselves to other areas of the body, and grow, causing pain, irregular bleeding, and, in severe cases, infertility.

Divorced first husband, James Dougherty, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Divorced last husband, Arthur Miller, in Juarez, Mexico.

Wore glasses.

Obtained order from the City Court of the State of New York to legally change her name from Norma Jeane Mortenson to Marilyn Monroe. [23 February 1956]

Married Arthur Miller twice: the 1st time in a civil ceremony, then in a Jewish (to which she had converted) ceremony 2 days later.

Won an interlocutory decree from Joe DiMaggio on 27 October 1954, but, under California law, the divorce was not finalized until exactly 1 year later.

Offered to convert to Catholism in order to marry Joe DiMaggio in a Church ceremony, but she was turned down because she was divorced. Subsequently, when the divorced DiMaggio married Marilyn in a civil ceremony at San Francisco City Hall, he was automatically excommunicated by the Church; this edict was struck down by Pope John XXIII's Ecumenical Council (Vatican II) in 1962.

Although it's believed that her mother, Gladys Baker, named her after Norma Talmadge, Gladys reportedly told her daughter, Bernice (Marilyn's half-sister), that she named Marilyn after Norma Jeane Cohen, a woman Gladys knew while she lived in Kentucky with Bernice's father.

The first stamp released in the USPS's Legends of Hollywood series, issued 1 June 1995.

Went to Van Nuys High School (Los Angeles) in the early 1940s but never graduated.

Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote a tribute to her entitled "Candle in the Wind". In 1997 it was re-recorded with updated lyrics in memory of Princess Diana.

Her behavior on the unfinished Something's Got to Give (1962) dimmed her reputation in the industry, but she was still big box office at the time of her death. What a Way to Go! (1964) and The Stripper (1963) were being developed for her.

When told she was not the star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Marilyn was quoted "Well whatever I am, I'm still the blonde."

The famous nude photo of her by Tom Kelley originally appeared as anonymous on a calendar entitled "Miss Golden Dreams." In 1952, a blackmailer threatened to identify the model as Marilyn, but she shrewdly thwarted the scheme by announcing the fact herself. Hugh M. Hefner then bought the rights to use the photo for $500. She became "The Sweetheart of the Month" in the first issue of Hefner's magazine, Playboy. Neither Kelley or Monroe ever saw a dime of the millions the calendar made for its publisher.

Formed her own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, with Milton H. Greene (31 December 1955).

Appears on sleeve of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.

Batman writer/artist Bob Kane used Marilyn's likeness as a reference when he drew Vicki Vale.

She is mentioned in the song "Lady Nina" by rock band Marillion.

Her USO Entertainer Identification Card listed her name as "Norma Jean DiMaggio".

She was "discovered" by press photographers during a WWII photo shoot at the Radioplane plant in California owned by actor Reginald Denny. She was one of the plant's employees. She left her job and signed with Emmeline Snively's modeling agency.

Was referenced in the dialogue of Dolce vita, La (1960), in the context of dieting.

Measurements: 37C-24-35 (definitive measurements for the majority of her career) / (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

The Emily Ann Faulkner/Rita Shawn character (played by Kim Stanley) in the John Cromwell film The Goddess (1958) was based on her.

The first Playboy magazine cover, featuring her, is pictured on one of six stamps issued in a souvenir sheet, issued by Grenada & the Grenadines on 1 December 2003 to celebrate Playboy's 50th anniversary.

When she wasn't working she preferred wearing nothing but a bathrobe.

Def Leppard's 1983 #1 hit single "Photograph" from their Pyromania album was written about her.

"Candle In The Wind", the Elton John song written about her, was lyrically changed to fit Princess Diana upon her death. Coincidentally, both legends died at age 36.

Named 2nd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premier Magazine, behind #1 Cary Grant and after #3 Tom Cruise.

The punk band 'The Misfits' got their name from her last movie, The Misfits (1961).

The punk band 'The Misfits' recorded a song called "Who Killed Marilyn?" inspired by lead singer Glenn Danzig's belief that she had been murdered.

Featured on a 1.11 euro postage stamp issued by French Post Office on 8 November 2003

The very popular version of "Santa Baby" (also found in the film, Party Monster (2003)) thought to be sung by her was instead recorded by Cynthia Basinet for Jack Nicholson as a Christmas gift.

On May 19, 1962 she performed for president John F. Kennedy at his 45th birthday tribute in his honor at Madison Square Garden. She sang "Happy Birthday".

Discovering her dress was torn at the 1950 Academy Awards, she burst into tears

Was named #6 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends

Is portrayed by Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd in Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996) (TV)

Portrayed by: Barbara Niven in The Rat Pack (1998) (TV); Holly Beavon in James Dean (2001) (TV); Constance Forslund in This Year's Blonde (1980) (TV); Susan Griffiths in Marilyn and Me (1991) (TV); Catherine Hicks in Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980) (TV); Sophie Monk in _Mystery of Natalie Wood, The (2004) (TV)_; Poppy Montgomery in Blonde (2001) (TV); Kerri Randles in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV); Heather Thomas in Hoover vs. the Kennedys: The Second Civil War (1987) (TV); Melody Anderson in Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair (1993) (TV); Eve Gordon (I)' in "A Woman Named Jackie" (1991); Samantha Morton in _Mister Lonely (2006)_; Mary Gross on "Saturday Night Live" (1

Personal Quotes

I love a natural look in pictures. I like people with a feeling one way or another - it shows an inner life. I like to see that there's something going on inside them.

My problem is that I drive myself... I'm trying to become an artist, and to be true, and sometimes I feel I'm on the verge of craziness, I'm just trying to get the truest part of myself out, and it's very hard. There are times when I think, 'All I have to be is true'. But sometimes it doesn't come out so easily. I always have this secret feeling that I'm really a fake or something, a phony.

[on living with the Bolenders when she was a little girl] They were terribly strict. They didn't mean any harm . . . it was their religion. They brought me up harshly.

[on meeting Joe DiMaggio for the first time] I was surprised to be so crazy about Joe. I expected a flashy New York sports type, and instead I met this reserved guy who didn't make a pass at me right away! He treated me like something special. Joe is a very decent man, and he makes other people feel decent too."

[on why Joe DiMaggio didn't accompany her on one of her USO tours] Joe hates crowds and glamor.

[on why she divorced James Dougherty] My marriage didn't make me sad, but it didn't make me happy either. My husband and I hardly spoke to each other. This wasn't because we were angry. We had nothing to say. I was dying of boredom.

[on why her marriage to Joe DiMaggio didn't work] I didn't want to give up my career, and that's what Joe wanted me to do most of all.

I want to be a big star more than anything. It's something precious.

[on her favorite actress] Jean Harlow was my idol.

[on drifting in and out of orphanages when she was little] The world around me then was kind of grim. I had to learn to pretend in order to - I don't know - block the grimness. The whole world seemed sort of closed to me . . . [I felt] on the outside of everything, and all I could do was to dream up any kind of pretend game.

[on her early marriage to James Dougherty] Grace McKee arranged the marriage for me, I never had a choice. There's not much to say about it. They couldn't support me, and they had to work out something. And so I got married.

I'm not interested in money, I just want to be wonderful.

A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die, young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know yourself...

A dollar for your thoughts...

I've been on a calendar, but never on time.

No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't.

In Hollywood a girl's virtue is much less important than her hairdo. You're judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty.

Dogs never bite me. Just humans.

Sex is a part of nature. I go along with nature.

Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, Fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle.

I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I never had belonged to anything or anyone else.

People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn't see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.

A sex-symbol becomes a thing, I just hate being a thing. But if I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it sex than some other things we've got symbols of.

The truth is I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't. When they found this out, they would blame me for disillusioning them---and fooling them.

To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation. But I'm working on the foundation.

If I had observed all the rules, I'd never have gotten anywhere.

I want to grow old without face-lifts... I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face that I have made.

It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone.

I'm a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they've made of me and that I've made of myself, as a sex symbol. Men expect so much, and I can't live up to it.

It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe? They feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, you know, of any kind of nature - and it won't hurt your feelings.

Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has it's compensations but it also has it's drawbacks, and I've experienced them both.

My illusions didn't have anything to do with being a fine actress. I knew how third rate I was. I could actually feel my lack of talent, as if it were cheap clothes I was wearing inside. But my God, how I wanted to learn, to change, to improve!

If I play a stupid girl, and ask a stupid question, I've got to follow it through. What am I supposed to do, look intelligent?

[on her famous nude calendar pose in 1949] My sin has been no more than I have written, posing for the nude because I desperately needed 50 dollars to get my car out of hock.

An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument. Isaac Stern takes good care of his violin. What if everyone jumped on his violin?

There was my name up in lights. I said, "God, somebody's made a mistake!" But there it was in lights. And I sat there and said, "Remember, you're not a star". Yet there it was up in lights.

Some people have been unkind. If I say I want to grow as an actress, they look at my figure. If I say I want to develop, to learn my craft, they laugh. Somehow they don't expect me to be serious about my work.

I was never used to being happy, so that wasn't something I ever took for granted. I did sort of think, you know, marriage did that. You see, I was brought up differently from the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy - that's it, successful, happy, and on time.

You know, when you grow up you can get kind of sour, I mean, that's the way it can go.

Wouldn't it be nice to be like men and get notches in your belt and sleep with most attractive men and not get emotionally involved?

I used to think as I looked at the Hollywood night, "There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I'm not going to worry about them. I'm dreaming the hardest."

The trouble with censors is they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn't any.

I used to say to myself, "What the devil have you got to be proud about, Marilyn Monroe?" And I'd answer, "Everything, everything".

[on stardom] It scares me. All those people I don't know, sometimes they're so emotional. I mean, if they love you that much without knowing you, they can also hate you the same way.

[Johann Wolfgang Goethe] said, "Talent is developed in privacy", you know? And it's really true. There is a need for aloneness which I don't think most people realize for an actor. It's almost having certain kinds of secrets for yourself that you'll let the whole world in on only for a moment, when you're acting.

Please don't make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe... I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity.

I've never dropped anyone I believed in.

[on John F. Kennedy] It would be so nice to have a president who looks so young and good-looking.

I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public -- talent in private.

Talent is developed in privacy... but everybody is always tugging at you. They'd all like sort of a chunk at you. They'd kind of like to take pieces out of you.

I want to be an artist... not an erotic freak. I don't want to be sold to the public as a celluloid aphrodisiacal.

[about Montgomery Clift] He's the only person I know that is in worse shape than I am.

I've never liked the name Marilyn. I've often wished that I had held out that day for Jean Monroe. But I guess it's too late to do anything about it now.

If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.

A smart girl leaves before she is left.

[on Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift] Marlon's kinda hard to tie down, they say. He's never sure what he wants to do. He and Monty Clift have a lot in common, though they're totally different people, but they don't plan their careers too well and they're not ambitious enough for their talents.

Personally, I react to Marlon Brando. He's a favorite of mine.

[on Frank Sinatra] He is a man at the top of his profession and is a fine actor as well. You know, he got an Oscar for From Here to Eternity (1953). He has helped more people anonymously than anybody else. And the miserable press smears him with lies about his being involved with the Mafia and gangsters. And Frank just takes it.

[on Mae West] A nice lady even though she turned down making a picture with me. That just shows how smart she is.

Speaking of Oscars, I would win overwhelmingly if the Academy gave an Oscar for faking orgasms. I have done some of my best acting convincing my partners I was in the throes of ecstasy.

[on Laurence Olivier on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)] Olivier came into my dressing room to give me hell for screwing up. I soothed him by telling him I thought his Hamlet (1948) was one of the greatest films ever made. You know he won an Oscar for it.

When Clark Gable died, I cried for 2 days straight. I couldn't eat or sleep.

[on Sigmund Freud] I read his "Introductory