Marilyn Monroe
Biography
Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 – 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2021) by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, Monroe remains a major icon of pop culture. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her sixth on their list of the greatest female screen legends from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Multiple film critics and media outlets have cited Monroe as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in a total of 12 foster homes and an orphanage; she married at age sixteen. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in late 1950. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. She faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photographs prior to becoming a star, but the story did not damage her career and instead resulted in increased interest in her films. By 1953, Monroe was one of the most marketable Hollywood stars; she had leading roles in the film noir Niagara, which overtly relied on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde". The same year, her nude images were used as the centerfold and on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. She played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, but she was disappointed when she was typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project but returned to star in The Seven Year Itch (1955), one of the biggest box office successes of her career. When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe's contract, she founded her own film production company in 1954. She dedicated 1955 to building the company and began studying method acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Later that year, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and her first independent production in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Some Like It Hot (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).
Known For
Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
Some Like It Hot
Miss Caswell
All About Eve
Lorelei Lee
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Self (archive footage)
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Pola Debevoise
How to Marry a Millionaire
Kay Weston
River of No Return
Self (archive footage)
Arthur Miller: Writer
The Girl
The Seven Year Itch
Self (archive footage)
The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'
Self (archive footage)
The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'
Self (archive footage)
Love, Marilyn
Roslyn Taber
The Misfits
Vicky
There's No Business Like Show Business
Extra at Square Dance (uncredited)
Green Grass of Wyoming
Annabel Jones
We're Not Married!
Streetwalker (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
O. Henry's Full House
Joyce Mannering
Let's Make It Legal
Nell Forbes
Don't Bother to Knock
Peggy
Clash by Night
Lois Laurel
Monkey Business
Amanda Dell
Let's Make Love
Cherie
Bus Stop
Elsie
The Prince and the Showgirl
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Cher: In Her Own Words
Grunion's Client
Love Happy
Iris Martin
Home Town Story
Self (archive footage)
Jane Russell - Der Star aus dem Heu
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe - Tod einer Ikone
(archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe - Ich möchte geliebt werden
Roberta 'Bobbie' Stevens
Love Nest
Self (archive footage)
Fake Newsreal
Harriet
As Young as You Feel
Angela Phinlay
The Asphalt Jungle
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn and I
Peggy Martin
Ladies of the Chorus
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Uncensored
Rose Loomis
Niagara
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage)
Smash His Camera
Polly
The Fireball
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe, La Célébrité à tout prix
Evie
Dangerous Years
Self (archive footage)
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe: Beauty is Pain
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn in Manhattan
Self (archive footage)
I Am Jackie O
Self (archive footage)
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
Clara
A Ticket to Tomahawk
Self (archive footage)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Self (archive footage)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks
Dusky Ledoux (uncredited)
Right Cross
Self (archive footage)
Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
Self (archive footage)
Playboy: Celebrity Centerfolds
Self (archive footage)
Una foto de Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
Devenir Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
La Rabbia di Pasolini
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn, divine et fragile
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn: Something's Got to Give
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe for Sale
Self (archive footage)
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe Declassified
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn: Portrait of a Legend
Self (archive footage)
Rat Pack
Self (archive footage)
I due Kennedy
(archive footage)
Hollywood's Hidden Secrets
(archive footage)
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
Betty (uncredited)
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!
Self (archive footage)
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
Self (archive footage)
Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn
(archive footage)
Final Cut: Hölgyeim és uraim
Self (archive footage)
Always at The Carlyle
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn on Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
The Kennedy Detail
Ellen Wagstaff Arden
Something's Got to Give
Electric Blue Special: Nude Celebrity Special
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Volunteers
Self (archive footage)
Andy Warhol, Fluorescent
(archive footage)
That's Entertainment! III
Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
The Girl (archive footage)
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone
Self (archive footage)
We Remember Marilyn
Telephone Operator (voice) (uncredited)
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn, dernières séances
Self (archive footage)
Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful
Self (archive footage)
Mi Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
Bert Stern: Original Madman
Self - Miller's 2nd Wife (archive footage)
Arthur Miller – Ein ehrgeiziges Herz
Self (archive footage)
Making 'The Misfits'
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood, la vie rêvée de Lana Turner
Self (archive footage)
La rabbia
Self (archive footage)
Signoret et Montand, Monroe et Miller : Deux couples à Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage)
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Self
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute
Self - Actress (archive footage)
Grace face à son destin
Self (archive footage)
Batmania: From Comics to Screen
Self (archive footage)
The Marilyn Monroe Story
Miss Caswell (archive footage)
Footsteps on the Ceiling
Self (archive footage)
Tunnel der Freiheit
Self (archive photo)
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes
Self (archive)
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical
Self (archive footage)
Marilyn Monroe: Still Life
マリリン・マグダリーン
Self
Aliens Uncovered: Declassified
Self
Aliens Uncovered: Marilyn Monroe Exposed
Self (archive footage)
Året var 1962
Self (archive footage)
Nobody's Perfect - The Making of Some Like It Hot
Hollywood-Diven von ihrer erotischen Seite
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
116
Gender
Female
Birthday
1926-06-01
Place of Birth
Los Angeles, California, USA
Also Known As
Мерілін Монро