Marilyn Monroe: Tragic Icon

Author: Jamie Wilson

Most people know Marilyn was originally Norma Jeane Baker, and that she went from the humblest of backgrounds to being the rumored mistress of one of America's favorite presidents. But Marilyn, the beautiful and tragic queen of the fifties, was not a fairy-tale heroine. Instead, her story is that of a damaged child who grows into a beautiful woman, a story tale icon covering a black hole of neediness and despair.

She was the illegitimate child of a dreamer. The name on her birth certificate was actually Norma Jean Mortensen, though her grandmother, Della Monroe Grainger, had her baptized Baker, her mother Gladys's last name. "Mortensen" came from her Norwegian natural father, who may never have known her as a child. Marilyn's mother, stuck with a child who had no father, desperately tried to convince grandmother Grainger to take Marilyn in, but ultimately placed her with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender.

The unwanted little girl was raised to the age of seven by her new foster parents, who had accepted her because of the income. Marilyn stated in her autobiography that she thought the Bolenders were her parents until they cruelly corrected her. Her mother Gladys visited her every Saturday, but according to Marilyn never hugged her, kissed her, or smiled at her.

One day, Gladys announced that she'd bought a house for them, and took Marilyn to live with her. Within only a few months, Gladys suffered a breakdown, and was taken to a state mental hospital in Norwalk, California. Gladys's parents had both died in mental institutions. Marilyn, still just a little girl, suddenly had no one at all.

She was declared a ward of the state, with Gladys's best friend Grace McKee appointed as her guardian. She lived with Grace for a little while, then was sent to Los Angeles Orphanage, then to about a dozen foster homes where she may have been abused. When Marilyn was fifteen, Grace took her in again long enough to introduce her to a neighbor's son, James Dougherty, who became her first husband. Hard though it is to imagine when you look at Marilyn's pictures today, Grace was said to have paid Dougherty to date Marilyn. When Grace gave her the choice of marriage to Dougherty (though she was underage) or going back to the orphanage, poor Marilyn had little choice.

Marilyn's Character:

With such a difficult childhood and so much insanity in the family, it would have been amazing had Marilyn turned out completely normal. And of course she was not. She had terrible self-esteem, yet she'd become a survivor, motivated to succeed, and a seeker for love wherever she could find it. Highly intelligent and aware of her physical beauty, it was an easy  decision to pose for photographer David Conover when he spotted her working in a factory. Almost immediately, Marilyn was a success, posing for hundreds of magazine covers. In 1946, 20th Century Fox discovered her, changed her name, and introduced her to show business.

Though her career at Fox did not work out, Marilyn had made important contacts, and networked herself into another contract at Columbia Pictures, then once more at Fox, where she had her first real motion picture success in All About Eve in 1950.

Marilyn's Career:

From here forward, Marilyn was headed up, especially when her amazing sex appeal and screen charisma, unmatched by anyone since, became apparent. Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Seven Year Itch, Bus Stop, Some Like It Hot, The Misfits -- Marilyn had success after success onscreen. Her life offscreen was a different story.

Between her screen persona and her personal life, she became an American obsession. Divorcing her husband-of-convenience, James Dougherty, in 1946, allowed her to finally seek the love she had lacked her entire life. First Joe DiMaggio, who won her heart after a two-year courtship, and then lost it through his jealousy and inability to deal with her infidelities, lasted less than a year. Arthur Miller became a millstone around her neck when, after less than two years of marriage and two failed pregnancies, she found herself supporting him. By 1961, she had divorced him as well.

And in 1962, she sang a breathy, sexy rendition of Happy Birthday to President Kennedy. Rumors flared, and Fox fired her while she was still working on Something's Got to Give (Dean Martin forced the studio to retain her through the rest of the filming). The question of whether she had a relationship with the President or not is still open, and may never be  answered fully.

Marilyn's Death:

On August 5, 1962, the news that beautiful, vibrant, sexy Marilyn had been found dead in her home from an overdose of barbiturates shocked America. It is entirely possible that more money has been made on speculative writings about how she died than Marilyn ever made during her lifetime.

How did it happen? Was it suicide? Murder? Or just an accident? If it was murder, was it the Kennedy's or the Mafia?

Regardless of how it came about, Marilyn's death resulted in one of the greatest American fairy tales: the beautiful, outcast young girl who captivates the hearts of everyone she meets. The princes of literature, sports, and the government who vie for her hand. A tragic death. An undying romance, in which DiMaggio claims her body, arranges her funeral, and sends a dozen red roses to her grave three times a week for twenty years, until his own death.

Marilyn's life spanned only thirty-six years. Her fans included Albert Einstein and Ayn Rand, Sartre and Nabokov. She wrote poetry, and was fascinated and deeply involved with literature.

Despite the fact that the world seemed to be in love with her, she never found the love she craved until the day she died. One of the most telling quotes about Marilyn came from her own lips:

"I knew I belonged to the public and to the world. Not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else."