by Erika Cox
Marilyn Monroe was a huge icon, sex symbol and star, not only in
the 1950’s when her career was in full force, but ever since. She is
known for her beauty, femininity, fragileness and tragic death. She was
born Norma Jean Mortensen on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California in
a ward for unwanted babies. Marilyn’s life started out tragic and ended
tragic as well. Her birth name was Norma Jean Mortensen but her
grandmother baptized her as Norma Jean Baker after Marilyn’s mother’s
name, Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker Ely.
There had been some confusion as to who was Marilyn’s real
father. Some sources say it was Charles Gifford, a salesman at the
studio where Marilyn’s mother worked, and other sources say it was
Martin Mortensen. Marilyn’s grandmother was unable to persuade Gladys to
take care of her child, perhaps because Gladys could barely take care of
herself, prone to having mental problems Gladys was known to be a very
mentally unstable person.
Marilyn was put up for adoption and placed in a foster home with
foster parents, Albert and Ida Bolender. Marilyn believed the Bolenders
were her real parents until one day during one of her mother’s weekend
visits she was told they weren’t in a rather rude and abrupt manner by
Gladys. Gladys showed absolutely no affection toward Marilyn when she
visited her but at some point decided to take Marilyn back home with
her.
However that reunion was short-lived, shortly after Marilyn moved
in with her mother Gladys had a mental breakdown and had to be
forcefully removed from the house and taken to a state mental
institution. According to sources this seemed to run in the family,
Gladys’s mother also died in the same mental hospital and her father,
whose mental illness was due to syphilis, had died in another mental
hospital. It’s easy to see how mentally fragile Marilyn could and did
become with her mother and both maternal grandparents suffering from
mental illnesses.
After the incident, Marilyn became an orphan and her mother’s
best friend, Grace McKee Goddard, became her guardian. In 1941, she was
reunited with her mother (though she didn’t live with her) but continued
living with the Goddard family until they decided to move and felt
Marilyn would be better off getting married instead of going to another
foster home.
Marilyn was 15 years old at the time. After she turned 16 she
married a neighbor’s son, James Dougherty, who eventually joined the
Army and went off to fight in World War II. Her rise to stardom began
when Marilyn got the opportunity to model for a number of magazines for
an Army photographer who was searching for models on the army base where
Marilyn lived.
In 1946, a talent scout noticed her pictures and arranged
a screen test at 20th Century Fox she was accepted and given a contract
to start working as an actress. Her name was changed to Marilyn Monroe
and at 21 years old she began her career as an actress.
After learning all the ins and outs of the movie industry,
Marilyn’s career got off to a slow start she would star in a number of
unsuccessful movies until her role in the 1951 movie, Niagara that
helped her become an overnight success. However, most of the focus was
on Marilyn’s physical features. In due time, nude photos surfaced and
fearing that it may ruin her career, Marilyn decided to acknowledge that
the photos were photos of her.
The strategy worked and her stardom
increased significantly, she became one of the biggest sex symbols of
the 1950’s. Marilyn would eventually try to focus on more serious roles
instead of playing the dumb blonde roles.
However, the demands of being a famous actress, sex symbol (with
many focusing only on her looks and not her acting), along with her very
public marriages and divorces were taking a devastating toll on Marilyn.
Unable to find or keep a husband, although Joe DiMaggio probably was the
closet friend she had, Marilyn became overwhelmed with stardom and
lonely. She started showing up late or not at all for film rehearsals,
not to mention her public affairs with at least one of the Kennedy
brothers. Her fragility started to show and bear heavily on her.
On August 5, 1962 Marilyn was found dead in her home of an
apparent suicide by drug overdose, she was only 36 years old. Since then
there have been a number of conspiracy theories about her death with
some going as far as to implement John and Robert Kennedy in her
untimely death. Her legend has lasted longer than her life and she has
remained one of the most popular stars in history.
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