Cast

Marilyn Monroe

Acting

Cast

Marilyn Monroe

Known for

Acting

Born

1926-06-01

From

Los Angeles, California, USA

Died

1962-08-05

Also known as Norma Jeane Baker, Norma Jeane Mortenson

Biography

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 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).

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Biography

Some Like It Hot

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Niagara

The Misfits

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

All About Eve

The Seven Year Itch

Bus Stop

How to Marry a Millionaire

River of No Return

Monkey Business

That's Entertainment! III

The Asphalt Jungle

Rat Pack

Let's Make Love

Right Cross

John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick

The Prince and the Showgirl

Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire

Hollywood Uncensored

Love, Marilyn

Love Nest

Don't Bother to Knock

The Fabulous Allan Carr

There's No Business Like Show Business

All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone

Marilyn, Her Final Secret

O. Henry's Full House

Dream Girl: The Making of Marilyn Monroe

Clash by Night

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

Something's Got to Give

The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks

Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie

Mansfield 66/67

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

Playboy: Celebrity Centerfolds

We're Not Married!

Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood

Ladies of the Chorus

Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star

Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!

Home Town Story

As Young as You Feel

Love Happy

Marilyn

Death In Hollywood

Voyage to Nowhere

The Casting Couch

Zwischen Glück und Krone

Making 'The Misfits'

Becoming Marilyn

Arthur Miller: Writer

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical

Grace Kelly: Destiny of a Princess

The Fireball

Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths

Dangerous Years

Let's Make It Legal

A Ticket to Tomahawk

Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved

La Rabbia

Lykke og krone

Marilyn at the Movies

Norma Jean Alias Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

Mi Marilyn

Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days

Arthur Miller on Home Ground

Remembering Marilyn

Portrait of Norma Jeane

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim

Hollywood Invasion

Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl

Nobody's Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot

Green Grass of Wyoming