100 Years of Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962): Hollywood Icon and Sex Bomb

Have you read my blog 'Art Booklet: 'Pop Art''? Marilyn Monroe was mentioned there too. In the 1950s and 1960s, Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) was just about the most desired woman on earth. She made a career as a fashion model and later as an actress, and managed to secure a prominent position in American high society. She died at the age of only 36. Who was Marilyn Monroe? Do you have stamps of her in your album?

Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962)

On June 1, 1926, a girl named Norma Jeane was born in Los Angeles. The world would later come to know her by her stage name: Marilyn Monroe. Her mother's name was Gladys Pearl Mortenson, but she had previously been married to a man named John Baker and decided to have her daughter baptized under that name. It has never become entirely clear who the father of the budding artist was. Charles Stanley Gifford is often cited; he worked with Gladys in a studio for some time. The fact remains that Marilyn Monroe never knew her father.

Norma Jeane did not have an easy childhood. Her mother was a drug addict and barely involved herself in raising her child, who was consequently raised partly by her friends Albert and Ida Bolender. She stayed in an orphanage until she was two, after which she was placed in various foster families. She never built a good relationship with her mother. The actress herself once said about this:To me, she was just that red-haired woman. (To me, she was just that red-haired woman.) 

 

Wedding

At the age of sixteen, Norma Jeane married her neighbor, James Dougherty. Her foster parents, who had to move to the East Coast of the United States for work, had shortly before presented her with a choice: return to the orphanage or get married. Thus, the choice to marry was not so much made out of love. Shortly after the wedding (1942), Dougherty signed on to a merchant ship. The marriage was dissolved in 1946. Dougherty later recalled that his young wife had no ambitions to become an actress in the early 1940s. She wanted to become a housewife.

 

Fashion model and actress

But Norma Jeane did not become a housewife. During her husband's absence, like so many other women during the Second World War, she worked in a war factory. There she met a photographer, who was apparently charmed by her appearance, and she began posing. Soon, nude photos were also taken, and she made a name for herself as a pin-up girl.

Soon after the dissolution of her marriage, several contracts with film companies were also signed. From the early 1950s, Norma Jeane, naturally a brunette, developed her own style. Her hair was bleached, her teeth were fixed, and she took acting and singing lessons. She also adopted a stage name: Marilyn Monroe.

In the early 1950s, film audiences were introduced to the sexy actress through films such as As Young as You Feel, Monkey Business, and Don't Bother to Knock. The fact that she had also had nude photos taken early in her career was kept a closely guarded secret. When this eventually became known, it caused a major scandal. However, the actress did not suffer any real damage from it. In fact, the news actually made even more people interested in her films.

Her best-known films include Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, and The Seven Year Itch. The latter film features the world-famous scene with the billowing white dress.

 

Second and third marriage

In 1954, the actress married for the second time. This time to a baseball player. Joe DiMaggioThis marriage lasted only seven months. In 1956, a third and final marriage followed, to playwright Arthur Miller. He wrote the screenplay for the film The Misfits specifically for his wife. For Monroe, it was her last completed film.

 

Passing away

On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in Brentwood, California. At the time, she was filming Something's Gotta Give. There has been much speculation surrounding Monroe's death, and it remains unclear whether the actress committed suicide or died of natural causes. According to some rumors, she maintained a relationship with the American president for some time. John F. Kennedy and he allegedly later set her up with his brother Bobby. When Bobby grew tired of the actress, Monroe supposedly committed suicide. The fact that Monroe recorded a video in the year of her death in which she sang Happy Birthday to the president in a sultry and perhaps even somewhat teasing manner fueled these theories.

 

 

French Cinematheque Exhibition, July 26, 2026

The Cinémathèque Française in Paris is organizing a major retrospective on Marilyn Monroe through July 26, 2026, in honor of her hundredth birthday. The exhibition features rare photographs, iconic costumes, film clips, and archival materials that highlight her transformation from Norma Jeane to Hollywood icon. It is advisable to book tickets online in advance via:

https://www.cinematheque.fr/exposition.html