Why marilyn monroe famous

For others - like myself - it is a mixture of everything that makes her so appealing, and the reasons continue to evolve as time passes by. She was a luminous figure on the screen and a colourful character in a book. The way she lived her life was very appealing to me. She was a rebel, and someone who went against the grain in an era where women were supposed to know their place and not have an opinion.

Knowing how she fought so hard to better her life was both encouraging and inspiring. That brings me to my next point. Raised as an orphan though her parents were still alive , she did not let her upbringing put a stop to any dreams she may have had. In fact if anything it made her all the more determined. I had a wonderful childhood with a very loving family, but when I left school and went into a full-time office job, I found myself stifled by the atmosphere around me.

I wanted to live my dreams and to create a career for myself that embraced what I actually wanted to do. I never did, and after a long time I was able to leave that office and never look back.

Thirty years after first becoming a Marilyn fan, my life has changed dramatically and I am now nine years older than she was when she passed away.

Yes this actress, who died eight years before I was born, still inspires and informs my life. So why does Marilyn appeal to me now?

True to form, she had no veil to match her beige wedding dress so she dyed one in coffee; he wore one of the two suits he owned. They went to England that fall where she made The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier , fighting with him and falling further prey to alcohol and pills. Two miscarriages and gynecological surgery followed. So did an affair with Yves Montand. Work on her last picture The Misfits , written for her by departing husband Miller was interrupted by exhaustion.

She was dropped from the unfinished Something's Got to Give due to chronic lateness and drug dependency. On August 4, , Marilyn Monroe's day began with threatening phone calls.

Ralph Greenson, Marilyn's physician, came over the following day and quoted later in a document "felt it was possible that Marilyn Monroe had felt rejected by some of the people she had been close to".

Apart from being upset that her publicist slept too long, she seemed fine. Pat Newcombe, who had stayed the previous night at Marilyn's house, left in the early evening as did Greenson who had a dinner date.

Marilyn was upset he couldn't stay, and around pm she telephoned him while she was to tell him that her second husband's son had called him. Peter Lawford also called Marilyn, inviting her to dinner, but she declined.

Lawford later said her speech was slurred. As the dark and depressing evening for Marilyn wore on there were other phone calls, including one from Jose Belanos, who said he thought she sounded fine. According to the funeral directors, Marilyn died sometime between pm and pm. Her maid unable to raise her but seeing a light under her locked door, called the police shortly after midnight. She also phoned Ralph Greenson who, on arrival, could not break down the bedroom door.

He eventually broke in through French windows and found Marilyn dead in bed. The coroner stated she had died from acute barbiturate poisoning, and it was a 'probable suicide'. 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. Poverty was a constant companion to Gladys and Norma. Gladys, who was extremely attractive and worked for R. 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 Jeane 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 , at sixteen years old, Norma Jeane married twenty-one-year-old aircraft plant worker James Dougherty.

The marriage lasted only four years, and they divorced in 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 R. 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.

Her first film was in with a bit part in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim Her next production was not much better, a bit in the forgettable Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! Two of the three brief scenes in which 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 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 , where she sang three numbers. Notices from the critics were favorable for her, if not the film, but Columbia dropped her. Once again Marilyn returned to modeling. In , she appeared in United Artists' Love Happy It was also that same year she posed nude for the now famous calendar shot which was later to appear in Playboy magazine in 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. Even though both roles were basically not much more than bit parts, movie fans remembered her dizzy but very sexy blonde performance. In , Marilyn got a fairly sizable role in Love Nest 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 , Marilyn appeared in Don't Bother to Knock , 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 , where she was seen for the first time as a platinum blonde, a look that became her trademark.

It was also the same year she began dating the baseball great Joe DiMaggio. Marilyn was now a genuine box-office drawing card. Although her co-stars got the rave reviews, it was the sight of Marilyn that really excited the audience, especially the male members. That was quickly followed by The Seven Year Itch , 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 , Marilyn announced her divorce from DiMaggio though the divorce was not finalized until October 31, It was her second suspension, the first being for not reporting for the production of The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing 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.

However in Bus Stop , 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 January 20, In , Marilyn flew to Britain to film The Prince and the Showgirl , which proved less than impressive critically and financially. It made money, but many critics panned it for being slow-moving. 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. 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 , 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. 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 years old. Marilyn acted in only thirty films, but her legendary status and mysticism will remain with film history for ever.

Sign In. Edit Marilyn Monroe. Showing all items. Was roommates with Shelley Winters when they were both starting out in Hollywood. Voted Empire's UK "sexiest female movie star of all time" in She was Playboy's first "Sweetheart of the Month" in December Marianne Kris, her psychoanalyst.

When Dr. Started using the name Marilyn Monroe in , but did not legally change it until Given a dog she named Tippy by foster father Albert Bolender. In her final, unfinished film Something's Got to Give , the dog was also named Tippy. Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the Sexiest Stars in film history 2. Hugh Hefner owned the closest burial vault next to hers. She had a phone in one of her hands, her body was completely nude and face down, on her bed.

Ex-husband Joe DiMaggio put fresh roses at her memorial site, for numerous 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. Redheaded actress Tina Louise played the character role of Ginger Grant on the television series Gilligan's Island , was loosely based on her personality, but a different hair color.

During the filming of Niagara , 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 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 and sweat, she washed her face fifteen times a day. She was suggested as a possible wife for Prince Rainier of Monaco. But he picked actress, Grace Kelly , to be his wife.

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". 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 last husband, Arthur Miller , in Juarez, Mexico. Married Arthur Miller twice: the 1st time in a civil ceremony, then in a Jewish to which she had converted ceremony two days later. Won an interlocutory decree from Joe DiMaggio on Wednesday, October 27th, , but, under California law, the divorce was not finalized until exactly one 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.

The boy died, and Gladys returned to California. In , Elton John released a single in tribute to her entitled "Candle in the Wind".

In , it was re-recorded with updated lyrics in memory of Princess Diana , becoming the UK's best-selling single of all time. Def Leppard 's single "Photograph" from their "Pyromania" album was also written about Monroe.

Her behavior on the unfinished Something's Got to Give dimmed her reputation in the industry, but she was still big box office at the time of her death. What a Way to Go! When she was told that she was not the star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes she verbally said "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. Neither Kelley or Monroe ever saw a dime of the millions the calendar made for its publisher. Greene , on December 31, Appears on sleeve of The Beatles ' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. 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 The Sweet Life , in the context of dieting. When she wasn't acting, she preferred to wear nothing but a bathrobe and occasionally a bikini. The punk band The Misfits created or picked their name from the last movie title she acted in, The Misfits Featured on a 1.

The very popular version of "Santa Baby" also found in the film, Party Monster thought to be sung by her was instead recorded by Cynthia Basinet for Jack Nicholson as a Christmas gift. Ten days in advance, on Saturday, May 19th, , she performed for U. President John F. Kennedy at his 45th birthday tribute in his honor at Madison Square Garden.

She sang "Happy Birthday". Kennedy's real birthday was May 29th. After discovering her dress was torn, at the Academy Awards, she burst into tears. The dress Marilyn Monroe wore to serenade John F. Kennedy , on May 19, at his birthday celebration was so tight, that it had to be sewn onto her. She had to sit still for approximately an hour. One of the first Los Angeles natives to become a major movie star. Aside from her birth name of Norma Jeane Mortenson, she was baptized and mainly known throughout her life as Norma Jeane Baker.

During her modeling days she was also known as Norma Jeane Dougherty her first marriage name , and also as Jean Norman. When she signed with 20th Century-Fox, studio casting executive Ben Lyon had first chosen the name Carol Lind as her stage name, although she disliked that. Eventually she chose her mother's maiden name of Monroe. Three names were drawn up as possible stage names. The first was Norma Jeane Monroe, although that sounded awkward; the second was Jean Monroe, and the third was Marilyn Monroe, the latter first name being chosen by Lyon who thought Norma Jeane resembled famed stage actress Marilyn Miller.

Norma Jeane liked Jean Monroe, for it preserved some of her name, but Lyon convinced her that Marilyn Monroe sounded more alliterative and so it was chosen. She took acting lessons from Michael Chekhov. A review into the original inquest of Marilyn's death, conducted on its year anniversary, concluded that the actress committed suicide or accidentally overdosed, and was not murdered--rumors that were fueled by the sloppy handling of evidence, the delay in securing the scene and the disappearance of tissue samples.

In , actress Veronica Hamel and her husband became the new owners of Marilyn's Brentwood home. They hired a contractor to replace the roof and remodel the house, and the contractor discovered a sophisticated eavesdropping and telephone tapping system that covered every room in the house.

The components were not commercially available in , but were in the words of a retired Justice Department official, "standard FBI issue. Edgar Hoover believed that President Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy who was Hoover's boss were threats to national security because of their dalliances with Monroe and with Judith Exner, who was also a girlfriend of a Mafia boss.

This bugging equipment led to Hoover's rumored blackmailing of the Kennedy brothers. Was good friends with Dorothy Dandridge and Ava Gardner when they were all young, struggling actresses in Hollywood. When budding actresses Shelley Winters and Marilyn were roommates in the late s in Hollywood, Shelley said that one day she had to step out and asked Marilyn to "wash the lettuce" for a salad they were to share for dinner. When Shelley got back to the apartment, Marilyn was apparently new to the art of cooking had the leaves of lettuce in a small tub of soapy water and was scrubbing them clean.

She had not heard of the phrase before either, or did not know it's true meaning. Her real father was Charles Stanley Gifford. Coincidentally, this is how her character was murdered in Niagara Don't Bother to Knock her 18th film was an attempt to prove to critics that she could act successfully. Because some earlier films took numerous takes and much longer time to complete. Especially, The Seven Year Itch which took numerous extra takes, for her character role, alone.

In Italy, her films were dubbed at the beginning of her career by Miranda Bonansea. As she matured she was dubbed by the marvellous and prolific Rosetta Calavetta with immense success, particularly in Some Like It Hot Her lifelong bouts with depression and self-destruction took their toll during filming The Seven Year Itch She frequently muffed scenes and forgot her lines, leading to sometimes as many as 40 takes of a scene before a satisfactory result was produced.

The film still managed to make a nice profit. The classic shot of her dress blowing up around her legs as she stands over a subway grating in this film was originally shot on Manhattan's Lexington Avenue at 52nd St. Five thousand onlookers whistled and cheered through take after take as Marilyn repeatedly missed her lines. This occurred in presence of an increasingly embarrassed and angry Joe DiMaggio her husband at the time; the nine-month-old marriage officially ended during the shooting of this film.

The original footage shot on that night in New York never made it to the screen; the noise of the crowd had made it unusable. Director Billy Wilder re-shot the scene on the 20th Century-Fox lot, on a set replicating Lexington Avenue, and got a more satisfactory result.

However, it took another 40 takes for Marilyn to achieve the famous scene. Amazingly, her very narrow spike heels don't get stuck or break in the subway grating, although this was a universal problem at the time for the countless women wearing that very popular style heel in New York City in that era.

An important promotional campaign was released for this mainstream motion picture, including a foot-high cutout of Marilyn from the blowing dress scene erected in front of Loews State Theater, in New York City's Times Square. The movie premiere was on June 1, , which was also her 29th birthday. Was originally set to play Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's , but Audrey Hepburn played the role instead.

Producer Arthur P. Jacobs was her publicist and J. Lee Thompson was on her list of approved directors. She resided at the Hollywood Roosevelt while she was breaking into the acting business. Her "Happy Birthday Mr. Although none of her pictures were used, Monroe quit her factory job to become a full-time model. She had appeared on the covers of 33 magazines by the start of She applied to an acting agency and got small roles in Dangerous Years and Scudda Hoo!

Scudda Hay! In , Marilyn secured a seven-year acting contract with Fox. The contract boosted her recognition and popularity almost instantly and she appeared in dozens of films, mostly garnering critical acclaim. Marilyn was already dead. She had overdosed on prescription medication for her anxiety and depression.

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