Marilyn Monroe
"If I'm a star, then the people made me a star."-Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn Monroe is hailed as one of the most beautiful, self-confident, most popular actresses of all time. Her scandalous life only added to the allure that many people felt, and still feel, toward the famous Hollywood star.
Growing up in America, it's almost impossible not to know at least a little bit about Marilyn, but I have to admit, I never knew very much about her other than that she was praised for her beauty and bashed for her affair with the president.
Marilyn Monroe was born on June 1, 1926 and given the name Norma Jean Mortenson, although her last name would very quickly change to Baker. She was given the last name Mortenson after her (possible) father, Martin Edward Mortenson.
Martin's residence was not given on Norma Jean's birth certificate, and his last name was misspelled, leading to a lot of confusion and doubt as to who her father really was.
Martin and Gladys (Norma Jean's mother) filed for a divorce the year after Norma Jean was born, and the separation was finalized on October 15, 1928.
Throughout her whole life, Norma Jean denied that Martin was her father, and instead claimed that her mother had identified another man, Charles Stanley Gifford, as her dad.
Norma Jean's mother, Gladys, was mentally unstable, and so Norma Jean was placed into foster care, living with Albert and Ida Bolender until she was 7.
During her stay at the Bolender's house, Gladys decided that she wanted her daughter back, so she went to their house and demanded that Ida return Norma Jean to her.
Ida, knowing the state that Gladys's health was in, refused. Gladys ended up shoving Ida out of the house, locking herself in with Norma Jean, and then a little while later, exiting the house carrying one of the Bolender's military duffel bags.
Ida grabbed the bag, and the two women ended up fighting and ripping the bag in half. Norma Jean then tumbled out of the bag onto the ground, crying and screaming.
In 1933, Gladys bought a house for her and Norma Jean to live in, and so she brought her daughter home. Later in life, Norma Jean recalled that her mother went through a lot of mental problems, and she remembered one time that they dragged her mother laughing and crying from the hospital.
Not exactly a normal childhood.
Norma Jean was declared a 'ward of the state', because her mother was unable to care for her, and so Gladys's best friend, Grace McKee, became her new guardian.
Grace spoiled Norma Jean a little bit. She was still very young (under 10), but Grace let her wear makeup and would take her to get her hair done. She also took her to the cinemas often, which was probably the beginning of Norma Jean's fascination with the silver screen. Grace told her that one day, she knew that Norma Jean would be a movie star.
In 1935, when Norma Jean was 9 years old, Grace married Ervin Silliman "Doc" Goddard. Because of the marriage, Norma Jean was sent to live in Los Angeles Orphans Home, after which she spent time at various foster homes.
While she was at the orphanage, there were several families interested in adopting her, but because of Gladys's reluctance to sign any adoption papers, they all fell through, leaving Norma Jean basically without any family and alone, moving from one foster home to the next.
In 1937, Grace and her husband brought Norma Jean back to live with them and Doc Goddard's daughter, but the arrangement didn't last long. Doc frequently attempted to sexually assault Norma Jean, forcing her to seek refuge someplace else.
Grace decided to send Norma Jean to live with her great aunt Olive Brunings, but this was also short lived due to assault. Apparently, one of Olive's sons had attacked her. By this time, she was only in middle school
Then, in 1938, she was sent to live with another aunt, Ana Lowyer, who Norma Jean affectionately referred to as Aunt Ana. It was one of the only times in Norma Jean's life that she ever was truly in a stable home environment. As she aged, however, Ana began to develop serious health issues.
In 1942, Norma Jean moved back in with Grace and Doc and attended Van Nuys Highschool. While there, she met and began dating her neighbors son, James Dougherty, who is most commonly called Jim. Jim was 20 when they started dating, Norma Jean was only 15.
A few months later, Doc received a job offer in West Virginia, so he and Grace made plans to move away from California, although they decided not to take Norma Jean with them. It's still unknown as to what made them make that decision, although I suspect there were several reasons, one being that Norma Jean's whole life was in California.
Although she was highschool age, Norma Jean wasn't old enough to stay alone, being two years under the age limit in California. So one of the neighbors offered to adopt her, but that, like all the other offers of adoption, was turned down by Norma Jean's mother.
Having no options left open to them, Grace asked Jim's mother if Norma Jean and Jim could marry, then Norma Jean could legally stay with them and not have to return to the orphanage or foster care.
At first Jim objected, saying that he thought she was too young for marriage, but eventually he warmed up to the idea and the two were married. Norma Jean had only just turned 16.
Occasionally, during their marriage, Norma Jean said she heard strange voices and suspected someone of following her. She was always afraid of going crazy like her mother.
In 1943 Jim enlisted in the Merchant Marine to help fight during World War 2. At first, he was stationed on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of California, and so his new bride was able to live there with him for a while, but soon he was shipped out to the Pacific. Norma Jean was afraid that he might never come back, and so she begged that they would try for a baby. Jim wasn't too pleased with that idea, as he thought that she was too young to be a mother, but he promised that they could talk about it when he returned home.
After he left, Norma Jean moved in with Jim's mother.
While Jim was away, Norma Jean joined the other American women in the work force, going to factories to help make the machinery that would bring their husbands and sons home.
Norma Jean worked at the Radioplane Munitions factory, where she spent her days spraying airplane parts with fire retardant and inspecting parachutes.
The factory that Norma Jean worked at was owned by Reginald Denney, a Hollywood star. During the time that Norma Jean was employed there, David Conover was sent to the factory by Captain Ronald Reagan (not president yet) to do a photoshoot of the women hard at work. The thought was that it would boost morale, and the pictures would go in Yank, the army weekly magazine, to show that even the younger women were helping in the war effort.
While he was snapping photos for the magazine, David Conover noticed Norma Jean and allegedly took a few pictures of her that never ended up in the magazine. He encouraged her to apply to the Blue Book Modeling Agency, because he thought that she had to look of a model to her.
Norma Jean took his advice and began researching other models, mainly looking at the work of Jean Harlow and Lana Turner. She signed on with the modeling agency, and was told that they were looking for models with lighter hair. So, for the first time, Norma Jean dyed her beautiful brunette hair a golden blonde.
Norma Jean catapulted herself into the spotlight at Blue Book Modeling Agency and became one of their most successful models, appearing on dozens of magazine covers. Her extreme success caught the attention of a 20th Century Fox executive, Ben Lyon.
Mr. Lyon approached Norma Jean and offered her a screen test, which she accepted and excelled at. Mr. Lyon was so impressed that he asked her to sign on for a standard 6 month contract, where her salary would be $125 a week. Of course, she accepted.
Mr. Lyon didn't like Norma Jean's name though, and instead gave her the stage name of Carole Lind, but very quickly he decided against that name as well.
Norma Jean went to stay with Mr. Lyon and his wife, Bebe, and while she was there, thy decided to come up with a good stage name.
Noma Jean decided to follow in her idol's foosteps (Jean Harrow), and use her mother's maiden name as her last name, and so Monroe was decided on.
They tried out several different names and variations on Norma Jean's name, and eventually thought about using 'Jeane Monroe', but Mr. Lyon decided that the name 'Jean' and any variation of it were too boring and common.
So Mr. Lyon suggested the name 'Marilyn', because he said that Norma Jean reminded him of Marilyn Miller.
At first, Norma Jean really disliked the name 'Marilyn', because she thought it was too close to 'Mary Lynn', which was a name that she really didn't like. Mr. Lyon convinced her to go with it anyway, because he said the name was sexy, had a nice flow, and would be a lucky name because of the double 'M'.
So Norma Jean dropped her real name and Marilyn Monroe was born.
With the birth of Marilyn Monroe came the death of Norma Jean, including Norma Jean's adoration of her absent husband Jim. In 1946, Marilyn chose her career over her life with Jim, and sent him divorce papers while he was on a ship in the Yantze River.
Of course, when Jim got home, he begged his beloved wife to forget about the divorce, but she wanted to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox instead, and the contract said she couldn't be married because they didn't want a pregnant starlet.
Marilyn wanted to keep seeing Jim, and keep up a relationship, she just didn't want anyone to know about it, but Jim wouldn't have it.
Jim's heart was broken into pieces, and Marilyn rose from the ashes of her destroyed marriage to join the ranks of Hollywood Stars.
One of the things that Marilyn wanted so desperately from 20th Century Fox was the drugs they offered her to make the voices in her head go away, and, for quite a long time, they did.
During her first several months at 20th Century Fox, Marilyn had no speaking parts at all. She, and some other newbies, took singing and dancing classes, preparing for bigger parts in later movies.
Marilyn's first credited role in a movie was as a waitress in the movie Dangerous Years, released in December of 1947. In this movie, she had 9 very short lines, but to her, it was no doubt significant, being the first time they had given her any lines in a movie at all.
In 1947, after Marilyn's contract with 20th Century Fox had expired, she met with Bruno Bernard, a Hollywood pin-up photographer. He photographed Marilyn at the Racquet Club of Palm Springs. It was during this photoshoot that Marilyn met Johnny Hyde, a Hollywood talent agent.
In 1948, Marilyn signed on with Columbia Pictures. During her 6 months contract with them, Marilyn was introduced to Natasha Lytess, who would become Marilyn's acting coach for several years.
Marilyn was very quickly cast in a major role in the only moderately successful musical, Ladies of the Chorus. Marilyn was hailed as one of the movie's 'bright spots', despite the fact that the movie never became very popular.
During her time at Columbia pictures, the studio head, Harry Cohn, decided that Marilyn's slight overbite needed a correction, and so he had it fixed, which softened her appearance.
Because of the poor reviews of Ladies of the Chorus, after Columbia Pictures dropped her, Marilyn struggled to find any work. While she wanted to keep acting, she discovered that it would be impossible for the time being, so she resigned herself to returning to the modeling business.
In 1949, photographer Tom Kelley began to notice Marilyn. He approached her and persuaded her to do a nude photoshoot for him. Marilyn couldn't refuse the offer, because, struggling as she was, she needed the money.
So Marilyn did as she was asked, she posed for several pictures. After the countless shots, she was only paid $50 and signed the model release form as 'Mona Monroe' instead of Marilyn, not wanting people to know that it was her, or to associate her name with the nude shots.
Not long after this, Marilyn played a minor role in the movie, Love Happy. The producers of the movie were so impressed with her that they sent her to New York for the film's promotional campaign.
In 1950, while she was signed on with Johnny Hyde, three films were released in which Marilyn played brief roles, but nothing that really drew much attention to her. Shortly after these movies came out, Marilyn auditioned for John Huston, who cast her in The Asphalt Jungle. Her performance in this movie got her many favorable reviews. When Joseph Mankiewicz (don't ask me how to pronounce his last name, I have no idea) saw Marilyn in the movie, he took the advice of John Huston and cast Marilyn in a minor comedic role in All About Eve. Joseph Mankiewicz had seen a sort of innocence in Marilyn that he found appealing, and thought she would be perfect for the role.
Following the success from these roles, Marilyn signed on to a seven year contract with 20th Century Fox.
Around this time (1949-1950) Johnny Hyde persuaded Marilyn to have some cartilage removed from her nose, which he thought was slightly too big. It was because of this that her appearance became even more altered from her sweet childhood face.
In 1951, Marilyn enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied literature and art appreciation. While she was at school, she only played small parts in a few films and appeared on the cover of Look magazine.
In March of 1952, Marilyn's nude photoshoot came back to haunt her. Two of the photos were featured on a calender, and the press began to speculate about the anonymous model, saying often how much she looked like Marilyn Monroe.
The studio held a discussion on how to deal with the new scandal, and Marilyn suggested that they just come clean about the situations, saying that, while she had posed for the photos, they could put the emphasis on the fact that she was desperate to pay her rent.
So Marilyn gave an interview to the press, stating that she had been the model in the shots, but spent more time on the events leading up to the photos.
Because of the story, Marilyn ended up with a lot of public sympathy, as many people felt sorry for the sad, struggling actress. In the end, Marilyn ended up getting put in a much better light because of the photos than she expected.
Stories of her childhood began to be published, and public sympathy continued to grow for her. People began seeing her as a 'Cinderella', due to the caption on the cover of True Experiences magazine, next to a photo of a smiling Marilyn.
"Do I look happy? I should-for I was a child nobody wanted. A lonely girl with a dream-who awakened to find that dream come true. I am Marilyn Monroe. Read my Cinderella story."
About this time, in 1952, Marilyn started dating the famous baseball player, Joe DiMaggio. A photo of Joe visiting Marilyn at the 20th Century Fox studio leaked into the papers, and soon a new interest in Marilyn sparked as people watched the romance develop with interest.
Over the next several years, Marilyn's acting career really took off, and she began taking on bigger roles until eventually she was staring in movies.
The movie Monkey Business, released in September 1952, debuts Marilyn's iconic platinum, bleach blonde hair for the first time.
Darryl Zanuch watched Marilyn and thought her acting skills were worth developing, as she wasn't an extremely strong actor, and cast her as Rose in Niagara. The reviews for the movie focused mainly on her sexuality and less on her ability as an actress.
It was during this time that Marilyn began to get close to Whitey Snyder, who was Marilyn's makeup artist. Whitey would comfort Marilyn before she went to film her scenes, as Marilyn had extreme stage fright.
Whitey and Marilyn would work together throughout her career, bringing us the iconic Marilyn Monroe look we know today.
As her career took off, Marilyn became more and more famous all the time. But with each success that grew Marilyn's image, it slowly killed what little bit was left of Norma Jean.
The film star was so changed as life went on that her first husband, Jim Dougherty, when asked to talk about Marilyn Monroe said "I never knew Marilyn Monroe, and I don't claim to have any insights to her to this day. I knew and loved Norma Jean."
In the eyes of those who knew her, Norma Jean was gone, Marilyn Monroe was someone entirely new.
While Marilyn was rising in popularity, she often got negative feedback for her conduct which was described as 'unbecoming [to] an actress and a lady'. She often wore revealing clothes, showing up to the Miss America Parade in 1952 wearing a dress that had a neckline cut almost to her navel.
During the filming of the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, co-star Jane Russel noted that Marilyn was much sweeter, shyer, and intelligent than people gave her credit for. Marilyn would often stay later than anyone else to practice her dance routines, but was consistently late in the mornings to practice, because she was hiding in her dressing room due to her stage fright.
As Jim Doughtery said of her "She was too gentle to be an actress". And that seemed to be the case. While the majority of the world saw a loud, proactive, and highly desirable starlet, those closest to her, like Jane Russel, saw that she was much gentler, softer, and less able to handle being in the spotlight than people realized.
During this time, around 1953-54, the movies Marilyn played in established her as the 'dumb blonde' stereotype, which only added to her rising popularity. While Marilyn wanted to be able to play deep, soulful roles, nobody was interested in even trying to cast her as anything other than a blonde.
In 1953, Marilyn was supposed to start filming The Girl in Pink Tights, but when she failed to show up on the first day, 20th Century Fox suspended her.
On January 14, 1954, Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio were in San Francisco, tying the knot of their marriage. They combined their honeymoon with a business trip that Joe already had arranged and headed to Japan.
For two weeks, Marilyn followed alongside of Joe, taking a backseat to him for a while as he finished up some business he had.
After that time, Marilyn went to Korea to perform, without Joe. She performed for 13,000 American Marines over 3 days, an experience which she later said helped her get over her fear of performing in front of large crowds.
Afterwards, Marilyn and Joe went back to California, where Marilyn settled her dispute with 20th Century Fox and was back into acting.
She was first cast in a highly unsuccessful movie where her acting, singing, and dancing were poorly reviewed. Marilyn didn't really enjoy the movie herself, and had only agreed to do it on the promise that she would be given the lead role in The Seven Year Itch afterwards.
The Seven Year Itch is the film that gave us the iconic picture of Marilyn standing over an air vent and her skirt blowing up. During the filming of the scene in which this happened, a large crowd watches as the director of the film ordered the scene to be redone over and over again. Joe watched in anger as a spectacle was made of his wife. Joe and Marilyn got into a very public argument after this, and went home to avoid the press for a while.
When Marilyn emerged from hiding, she announced that the couple had separated, and the divorce was finalized in November 1954, only 10 months after the couple had first married.
When the filming for The Seven Year Itch was completed, Marilyn refused two other job offers, considering them to be inferior to her potential.
When The Seven Year Itch was released, it made approximately $8 million. By this time, Marilyn had left Hollywood on the advice of Milton Greene.
Because the movie was so successful, 20th Century Fox wanted Marilyn back, knowing that she was now becoming an icon, and that she could make them a lot of money. Unlike before however, Marilyn now had a bargaining tool; she was somebody and didn't have to just take every job she was offered.
During her time away, Marilyn started her own production company, with the help of Milton Greene, Marilyn Monroe Productions, so she would never have to depend on anyone else's production company to make a living again.
On New Years of 1955, Marilyn and 20th Century Fox signed into a newly negotiated deal. Marilyn would be required to make 4 movies over 7 years for them. But this time, Marilyn's own production company would be $100,000 plus part of the profits from each film. Not only was Marilyn able to work for any other production companies she wanted during this time, she also had the right to reject any script, cinematographer, or director that she didn't want to work with.
Marilyn owed a lot of her new independence to her close friend, Milton Greene. Milton was a photographer, who had asked to take Marilyn's picture in 1953. He set her up in several more modest poses, instead of the flamboyant and highly sexualized poses that she was used to, and for that, Marilyn was extremely grateful.
A friendship began between the two, and Marilyn confided in Milton that she was frustrated with trying to work with 20th Century Fox. She felt like she was often looked over or typecast, which she was, and she never got paid as much as freelancers. Milton agreed that she could make more money if she was able to work on her own terms, and so he quit his job and mortgaged his home so he could have the money to help Marilyn start her own production company. He even went so far as to let Marilyn live with him and his family while they worked through what needed to be done to further her career.
As time went on, Marilyn was introduced to Constance Collier, who became Marilyn's acting instructor. Constance was quoted to have said of Marilyn's acting that she had a 'lovely talent' but she was 'so fragile and subtle, it can only be caught on camera'. Constance did not believe that Marilyn was meant for stage acting, and really, she probably didn't think that she was meant for acting at all, as a lot of people said, throughout Marilyn's career that, while her performance was 'sexy', nobody ever really complimented her on her acting skills, and often actually said that it needed a lot of work.
When Marilyn's teacher decided she was ready to perform on stage in front of her peers, he gave her the opening scene in Anna Christie. Marilyn hesitated and fumbled through every rehearsal, but when it came time for the actual performance, Marilyn shone brightly. While the other students had been told not to applaud during the performance, after Marilyn was finished, the whole room erupted into loud applause. Lee Strasberg commented that, out of all the hundred of actors he worked with, Marilyn shone brighter than almost any of them.
When Marilyn played in Bus Stop, it was her first chance to prove herself as a good actor. She replaced her previous acting coach with Paula Strasberg, and brought her A-game.
It was Marilyn's first attempt at a new type of character, up until this point she had been typecast as the typical comedic dumb blonde.
When the New York Times reviewed the movie, they said "Hold on to your chairs everybody, and get set for a rattling surprise. Marilyn Monroe has finally proved herself an actress."
The director of the movie had been pleasantly surprised by Marilyn, thinking that she was one of the most talented actors he had ever seen. He also discovered that Marilyn was much smarter than people gave her credit for. In the public eye, she was seen as the dumb blonde she usually portrayed, but when people actually got close to her, they were always surprised at her intelligence.
In May of 1955, Marilyn started dating playwright Arthur Miller. Arthur and Marilyn had met in Hollywood five years before, and when she heard he was in New York, where she was, they arranged to meet up. Arthur was in the process of trying to divorce his wife.
On June 1, for Marilyn's birthday, Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn's ex-husband but not ex-friend, went with Marilyn to the premier of The Seven Year Itch, which was why Marilyn was in New York at that time. Later, Joe threw Marilyn a birthday party, but the two got into a fight and Marilyn ended up storming angrily out of the party alone. She didn't talk to Joe for quite some time after this incident.
Later in life, after Marilyn's death, Joe would be seen often visiting Marilyn's grave and bringing her flowers. Many speculate that Joe never stopped loving Marilyn, not through all his life. Marilyn had been the one who wanted a divorce on the grounds of 'mental cruelty', but Joe had fought to stay by her side, and kept up a friendship with her for as long as he could. I'm sure the argument at Marilyn's party had a lot to do with the fact that Marilyn had a new boyfriend and Joe was no doubt jealous.
On June 29, 1956, Marilyn and Arthur were married as quietly as possible. It wasn't easy, and in their attempt to escape paparazzi about it, a young reporter had crashed his car into a tree and died, while in pursuit of Marilyn and Arthur's car.
Despite the disturbing and sad fatality, two days later, they had an official ceremony, in traditional Jewish form. Marilyn took to married life again quite well, according to Arthur, who said that Marilyn immediately drew close to her in-laws, calling them mom and dad.
On August 1, 1957, Marilyn suffered a miscarriage.
With her husband's encouragement, Marilyn returned to acting, after having taken a break for a while. In August 1958, Marilyn began filming in the movie Some Like it Hot as the star. The movie was directed by Billy Wilder, who had directed The Seven Year Itch, and had worked with Marilyn before. He already knew that Marilyn was almost always late, had severe stage fright, and could never remember her lines, and so that is what he was expecting when she came on set. What he was not expecting was Marilyn's new hostility. She refused to participate in filming sometimes, and had frequent outburst of profanity.
Marilyn refused to take orders from Mr. Wilder, and often demanded that scenes be reshot over and over until she was personally satisfied with her own performance. This lashing out towards Mr. Wilder was possibly because of the scene in The Seven Year Itch where her skirt was blowing up, and Mr. Wilder made her film in again and again and again. While she didn't seem to be bothered by it at the time, this defiance towards him would suggest otherwise. She might even have blamed Mr. Wilder for her divorce from Joe.
During the filming of Some Like it Hot, Marilyn became pregnant, but as they completed the movie in December of 1958, she had another miscarriage.
The movie became a huge successes, and because of it, Marilyn won a Golden Globe award and it was the biggest movie that Mr. Wilder had ever been a part of. While, yes, Mr. Wilder still was very irritated with Marilyn because of her wild mood swings during shooting, her owed her a lot because of that, and even went so far as to praise her acting. Of course, one must excuse Marilyn a little bit, she may have been raging at Mr. Wilder from a previous disdain for him, or it may have been simply because she was a moody, hormonal, pregnant woman that whole time.
Marilyn had only completed one out of 4 movies that she was supposed to do under her contract with 20th Century Fox, so she agreed to play in the movie Let's Make Love, although she refused to play in it until the script was revised.
Arthur Miller ended up having to rewrite the whole script, and because of that, they had a bit of difficulty finding someone to play the leading male role.
Eventually, they got Yves Montand to play the role. Marilyn and Arthur befriended Yves and his wife, Simone Signoret. The filming of the movie was going very well until Arthur was called away on business to Europe.
While her husband was away, Marilyn began to slip back into her habit of appearing late on set, and filming was starting to struggle. Yves confronted Marilyn about her attitude towards the movie and the people who she was having to work with (this was probably the first time anyone came straight out and confronted her about it), and her attitude improved so filming was able to run smoothly again.
Simone, Yves's wife, took an acting job in Europe, and so she left, leaving Marilyn and Yves alone.
I guess Simone and Arthur thought that Yves and Marilyn could be trusted, but they proved they couldn't. An affair broke out between them, but it was short lived, as Yves didn't want to leave his wife.
About this time, Marilyn began to suffer serious health issues. She frequently visited a psychiatrist, where she complained of insomnia. Her psychiatrist also noted that she went to several different doctors and got a lot of different prescriptions, and thought that it was bordering addiction, but Marilyn would give up on the medicines for extended periods of time and not seem to be suffering from withdrawal or addiction.
The psychiatrist also noticed that the relationship between Marilyn and Arthur was becoming more and more strained. Arthur seemed like he really did genuinely love and care for Marilyn, and wanted to help her through everything, but Marilyn would push him away, and then complain that he seemed distant.
By July of 1960, Arthur had written a new screenplay that he wanted Marilyn to play in, and shooting began.
The movie, The Misfits, took place mostly in the scorching Nevada desert. Marilyn was unable to film often, due to frequent illness, and without the constant care and influence of her psychiatrist, she returned to sleeping pills and alcohol.
One visitor to the set believed that Marilyn seemed to be 'mortally injured in some way.'
In August, Marilyn was rushed to the hospital in LA where she stayed for ten days. While the newspapers didn't know exactly what was wrong with her, they reported that she had been near death when she was rushed in.
Marilyn ended up returning to Nevada to finish filming the movie, but her and Arthur were hostile to each other after her trip to LA, and fights broke out frequently between them.
Apparently, The Misfits wasn't just hard on Marilyn, the other actors suffered as well. Montgomery Clift was also frequently unable to film due to illness. Thelma Ritter was in the hospital suffering from extreme fatigue by the last day of filming. Clark Gable never even attended the Wrap Party, stating that he didn't feel good, and instead he went home, and ended up dying from a heart attack within a few days.
Gable's widow commented that he had died from the 'eternal waiting' on the set of the movie. Even though she didn't specifically mention Marilyn, everyone knew that's what she was thinking. While Marilyn refused to comment about it to the press, privately she had told someone that she did feel some regret as to her treatment of Gable.
When Marilyn and Arthur returned to New York, they went on separate flights. Ten days later, Marilyn announced her separation from Arthur.
Even though The Misfits was not a huge success, Marilyn, Clark Gable, and Montgomery Clift received tons of praise on their acting in the film. The director of the movie later said that Marilyn had not been acting, but drawing on her own personal experience, and that the character wasn't just played by Marilyn, it was Marilyn.
The Misfits would be Marilyn's last film.
In January of 1961, Marilyn's divorce from Arthur was finalized, and her dependence on drugs and alcohol strengthened. Only one month later, Marilyn's psychiatrist suggested that Marilyn go to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic.
While reluctant, Marilyn consented to be taken to the clinic, but very quickly changed her mind when she was threatened by the nurses to keep quiet, or else be put in a straight jacket. Marilyn broke the window in one of the bathrooms, and when the nurses and doctors came in, she threatened to kill herself with a shard of glass unless they release her from the clinic.
She was able to make a phone call later, and she immediately called Joe DiMaggio, her ex-husband.
Joe said that at first he had thought that she was playing a prank on him, the way she was crying and carrying on about being in an asylum, but when she said that she needed him, he dropped everything and rushed from Florida to New York and demanded Marilyn be released into his custody.
Once Joe had Marilyn in his care, he convinced her to go to the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, to which she agreed, but also demanded that nobody would be able to send her to an asylum or anything ever again, not unless Joe allowed it.
While at this hospital, Marilyn underwent two surgeries, one to unblock her Fallopian Tubes, and one for her gallbladder.
After three weeks at the hospital, she returned to California and rented an apartment, where she slipped further and further into her drug induced paranoia.
In 1962, Marilyn was required to film the third of her four-movie contract with 20th Century Fox. While filming, Marilyn had high temperatures and was frequently ill. She refused to work once because one of her co-stars had a cold that she was afraid of catching it. The production company refused to relent and kept trying to force her to work.
On May 19, 1962, Marilyn was invited to attend the birthday party of President JFK. She sang a breathless rendition of 'Happy Birthday' to him.
Rumors spread of a blossoming romance between Marilyn and JFK, but JFK denied there was ever actually an affair. Marilyn had spent some time with the president earlier in the year, once in February, where she attended a dinner party. While at the party, JFK had asked for Marilyn's number and invited her to Palm Springs in March. He also made sure to point out that his often-cheated-on wife wouldn't be there.
Marilyn was swept away by the flirtatious president, and agreed to see him at Palm Springs. To other people who met them at a party while at Palm Springs said it was obvious that they had been spending the night together.
Marilyn believed that something special was going on between her and JFK, but to him, Marilyn was just another bragging right.
Marilyn became obsessed with the president, but by the time she sang 'Happy Birthday' to him, he had moved on and had stopped returning her calls. JFK was a man who didn't care about any woman for any longer than a night, not really even his wife, but Marilyn had fallen for him.
After the birthday party, Marilyn returned to the set of the movie she was supposed to be filming for 20th Century Fox and did a nude scene by a swimming pool. She even went so far as to let Life magazine publish some partially nude shots of her from the scene on the cover of the magazine.
Because Marilyn only came in to work for 12 out of 35 days, 20th Century Fox dismissed her, then sued her for half a million dollars for not completing her contract.
During the time that she wasn't working for 20th Century Fox, Marilyn went on her own path for publicity and did several more photo shoots, including another nude shoot, although these photos weren't published until after her death, and they became known as the Last Sitting.
After a while, Marilyn settled her dispute with 20th Century Fox and they planned to resume filming the movie in the fall of 1962, but she never got that chance.
During the last week of her life, Marilyn's makeup artist saw her and said that she claimed to be in high spirits and thought she had never looked better.
On August 5, 1962, Marilyn was found dead in her home from a drug overdose that was ruled as a probable suicide. She was only 36 years old.
Of course, murder conspiracies began to circulate almost immediately. Some people believed that JFK or his brother had killed her, and it was reported that JFK was the last person she called.
More likely than a murder, Marilyn was probably depressed that JFK wouldn't pay any more attention to her, and decided that life wasn't worth living. She had access to a lot of medication, given the fact that she was a junkie by the end of her life, and an OD wasn't that far of a stretch for her.
Joe DiMaggio took control of arranging her funeral, and Marilyn was buried in a crypt in the Corridor of Memories in LA.
Allan 'Whitey' Snider, Marilyn's loyal makeup artist, kept his promise that he had made to her years earlier, that if she died before him, only he would be allowed to do the makeup for her funeral.
For the next 20 years, Joe DiMaggio would bring red roses to her grave and place them in a vase for her.
Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine, bought the crypt directly to left of Marilyn's, because he was proud that she had been in the first issue of his magazine. While he never met Marilyn directly, he owed his magazine's popularity to her.
Marilyn Monroe is hailed around the world as a beautiful woman, and many teenagers and young girls admire her because she was never photoshopped, and many people believe that she was really and genuinely beautiful. I myself believed until a few days ago that Marilyn was a wonderful woman, but the more I've learned, the less respect I've had for her.
Throughout her life, Marilyn always chose her own selfish ambitions over those who loved her. Her first husband, Jim, always said that he didn't know Marilyn Monroe, but that he had loved and adored Norma Jean, the young woman he had married. Her second husband, Joe, came to Marilyn's rescue more than anyone else, and spent 2 decades after her death still visiting her grave. Her third husband, Arthur, just wanted to help her through her insanity and drug addiction, but she pushed him away, and then angrily wondered why he was never there for her.
In the beginning of Marilyn's life, she went through more struggles than any little girl should ever have to, but she persisted through it all. Then, later, when her head was turned by a rich producer, she was told that she was beautiful and should make something of herself, instead of waiting around for her husband to return home and working in a factory.
Marilyn believed the sparkly lies that Hollywood told her, she let herself be dragged through the mud for a chance at what she thought was glamour and fame. She let her selfish desire to be known as beautiful ruin and ultimately end her life.
People who knew her before she became famous said that fame was killing her, and perhaps it was.
Norma Jean died long before Marilyn Monroe did though.
Hollywood is a death trap, the entire industry is centered around pornography and sex and they don't care about the individual; this was made clear by how much the used Marilyn, who really was very naive and trusting. She was very young and very alone when they swooped in on her, promised her riches, promised her love, and promised to help her get to the top.
While I do feel sorry for Marilyn, for falling into that trap, at the same time, I don't like her very much at all. She was selfish and manipulative, and acted as if the whole world revolved around her. She went through men like there was no tomorrow and threw aside anyone who really loved her for something that she thought was better. She was difficult to work with, refusing to show up on time for anything and expecting everyone to still be waiting on her, and she threw tantrums often.
Marilyn Monroe will go down in history as an icon; she was indeed beautiful, and a sex symbol for the ages. She is quoted and loved by women all over the world, but one has to wonder if she's really a woman worth emulating.
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