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Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), was an American actress of the 20th century. Her sizzling screen presence, stunning good looks and mysterious death at the age of 36 would make her a perennial sex symbol, and later a pop icon.
Although she would eventually become one of the most celebrated actresses in film history, Marilyn's beginnings were humble to say the least.
A Los Angeles native, she was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in the charity ward of Los Angeles County Hospital. Her grandmother, Della Monroe Grainger, later had her baptized Norma Jeane Baker. Biographers used to differ on whether the man listed on her birth certificate, Norwegian-born Martin Edward Mortenson, was not her true biological father. The most likely candidate for a while seemed to be Charles Stanley Gifford, a salesman for the studio where Marilyn's mother, the late Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker Eley, worked as a film-cutter. However in later years, more and more have gone for the theory that Mortenson was in fact her true father.
Unable to persuade Della to take the baby, an overwhelmed Gladys placed Norma Jeane with Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, where she lived until she was seven. The Bolenders were a religious couple who supplemented their meager income by being foster parents. In her autobiography, My Story, ghostwritten by Ben Hecht, Marilyn said she thought Wayne and Ida were her parents until Ida, rather cruelly, corrected her. After Marilyn's death, Ida claimed that she and Wayne had seriously considered adopting her, which they could not have done without Gladys's consent.
According to My Story (not always a reputable source because it was largely a publicity vehicle), Gladys visited Norma Jeane every Saturday, but never hugged or kissed her, or even smiled. One day, Gladys announced that she had bought a house for them. A few months after moving in, she suffered a breakdown. Marilyn recalled Gladys "screaming and laughing" as she was forcibly removed to the State Mental Hospital in Norwalk, where Della had died; Gladys's father, Otis, died in a mental hospital near San Bernardino.
Norma Jeane was declared a ward of the state. Gladys's best friend, Grace McKee, later Goddard, became her guardian. After Grace married in 1935, Norma Jeane was sent to Los Angeles Orphanage, then to as many as twelve foster homes, in which she was subjected to abuse and neglect. However, there is no evidence that Marilyn had actually lived in so many foster homes and that she really had been abused. In her interviews Marilyn often gave exaggerated information about her childhood. Then in September 1941, Grace took her in again. She was then introduced to a neighbor's son, James Dougherty, who would become her first husband. The Goddard family was moving to the East Coast and felt marriage would be the best solution for the then-teenaged Norma Jeane. Since Marilyn was underage at the time, she had to get married or otherwise she would have had to return the orphanage. Norma Jeane had come to think little of herself, yet also developed a gritty, opportunistic side and a super-human drive. She was very intelligent and more unhappy than her screen image suggested.
Marilyn Monroe Filmography
Actor
• Hollywood Couples Collection (2005)
• Marilyn's Man (2004)
• The Misfits (1961)
• Let's Make Love (1960)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
• Bus Stop (1956)
• The Seven Year Itch (1955)
• River of No Return (1954)
• There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
• How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
• Niagara (1953)
• Clash by Night (1952)
• Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
• Monkey Business (1952)
• We're Not Married (1952)
• As Young As You Feel (1951)
• Hometown Story (1951)
• Let's Make It Legal (1951)
• Love Nest (1951)
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
• All About Eve (1950)
• Ladies of the Chorus (1949)
• Love Happy (1949)
Subject
• Marilyn Monroe: A Life in Pictures (2005)
• Marilyn's Man (2004)
• Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (2001)
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