Marilyn Monroe
Born
June 1, 1926
Died
August 5, 1962 (36 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Los Angeles, California, USA
Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 – 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2021) by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, Monroe remains a major icon of pop culture. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her sixth on their list of the greatest female screen legends from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Multiple film critics and media outlets have cited Monroe as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in a total of 12 foster homes and an orphanage; she married at age sixteen. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in late 1950. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. She faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photographs prior to becoming a star, but the story did not damage her career and instead resulted in increased interest in her films.
By 1953, Monroe was one of the most marketable Hollywood stars; she had leading roles in the film noir Niagara, which overtly relied on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde". The same year, her nude images were used as the centerfold and on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. She played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, but she was disappointed when she was typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project but returned to star in The Seven Year Itch (1955), one of the biggest box office successes of her career.
When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe's contract, she founded her own film production company in 1954. She dedicated 1955 to building the company and began studying method acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Later that year, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and her first independent production in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Some Like It Hot (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).
Known For
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes
Self (archive photo)
2024
Aliens Uncovered: Marilyn Monroe Exposed
Self
2024
Aliens Uncovered: Declassified
Self
2024
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2023
The Century of Icons
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2022
Dream Girl: The making of Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage)
2022
Becoming Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
2022
Una foto de Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
2022
Reframed: Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage) · (4 episodes)
2022
Rat Pack
Self (archive footage)
2022
Tunnel to Freedom
Self (archive footage)
2021
Marilyn Monroe: Beauty is Pain
Self (archive footage)
2021
Cher: In Her Own Words
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2021
Signoret et Montand, Monroe et Miller : Deux couples à Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
2020
I Am Jackie O
Self (archive footage)
2020
First Ladies
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2020
Hollywood, The Dream Life of Lana Turner
Self (archive footage)
2019
Marilyn and I
Self (archive footage)
2019
Marilyn Monroe for Sale
Self (archive footage)
2018
Always at The Carlyle
Self (archive footage)
2018
Arthur Miller: Writer
Self (archive footage)
2017
Hollywood-Diven von ihrer erotischen Seite
Self (archive footage)
2017
Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime
Self (archive footage)
2017
Andy Warhol, Fluorescent
Self (archive footage)
2016
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone
The Girl (archive footage)
2016
Arthur Miller: A Man of His Century
Self - Miller's 2nd Wife (archive footage)
2015
Marilyn Monroe Declassified
Self (archive footage)
2015
Love, Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
2013
Footsteps on the Ceiling
Miss Caswell (archive footage)
2013
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage)
2012
Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
2012
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
(archive footage)
2012
Året var 1962
Self (archive footage)
2012
Mentiras verdaderas
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2011
Bert Stern - Original Madman
Self (archive footage)
2011
The Kennedy Detail
Self (archive footage)
2010
Smash His Camera
Self (archive footage)
2010
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Self (archive footage)
2010
Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon
Self (archive footage)
2010
Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved
(archive footage)
2010
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical
Self (archive)
2009
La Rabbia di Pasolini
Self (archive footage)
2008
Marilyn, dernières séances
Self (archive footage)
2008
Grace Kelly: Destiny of a Princess
Self - Actress (archive footage)
2006
Marilyn Monroe: Still Life
Self (archive footage)
2006
The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'
Self (archive footage)
2006
The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'
Self (archive footage)
2006
Jane Russell - Der Star aus dem Heu
Self (archive footage)
2006
Playboy: Celebrity Centerfolds
Self (archive footage)
2006
Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates
Self (archive footage)
2004
Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
Self (archive footage)
2003
Un film et son époque
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2003
Making 'The Misfits'
Self (archive footage)
2002
Marilyn: Portrait of a Legend
Self (archive footage)
2002
Nobody's Perfect - The Making of Some Like It Hot
Self (archive footage)
2001
Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days
Self (archive footage)
2001
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
2001
Marilyn on Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
2001
Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl
Self (archive footage)
1999
Marilyn in Manhattan
Self (archive footage)
1998
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults
Self (Archival Footage)
1997
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
Self (archive footage)
1997
Marilyn, divine et fragile
Self (archive footage)
1996
The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful
Self (archive footage)
1996
We Remember Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
1996
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie
Self (archive footage)
1995
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess
Self (archive footage)
1994
That's Entertainment! III
(archive footage)
1994
Intimate Portrait
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
1993
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
Self (archive footage)
1991
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Self (archive footage)
1991
Marilyn: Something's Got to Give
Self (archive footage)
1990
Death In Hollywood
(archive footage)
1990
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
(archive footage)
1990
Batmania: From Comics to Screen
Self (archive footage)
1989
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Self (archive footage)
1988
Hollywood Uncensored
Self (archive footage)
1987
Hollywood's Hidden Secrets
(archive footage)
1987
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
Self (archive footage)
1986
Marilyn Monroe
Self (archive footage)
1986
Electric Blue Special: Nude Celebrity Special
1984
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Self (archive footage)
1982
Mi Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
1975
Spécial cinéma
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
1974
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks
Self (archive footage)
1973
Marilyn Magdalena
1972
Fake Newsreal
Self (archive footage)
1970
The Two Kennedys
Self (archive footage)
1969
ABC Stage 67
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
1966
The Marilyn Monroe Story
Self (archive footage)
1963
Marilyn
Self (archive footage)
1963
La Rabbia
Self (archive footage)
1963
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute
Self
1962
Something's Got to Give
Ellen Wagstaff Arden
1962
The Misfits
Roslyn Taber
1961
Let's Make Love
Amanda Dell
1960
Startime
(1 episode)
1959
Some Like It Hot
Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
1959
Zwischen Glück und Krone
Self (archive footage)
1959
The Prince and the Showgirl
Elsie
1957
Bus Stop
Cherie
1956
The Seven Year Itch
The Girl
1955
There's No Business Like Show Business
Vicky
1954
River of No Return
Kay Weston
1954
How to Marry a Millionaire
Pola Debevoise
1953
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Lorelei Lee
1953
Niagara
Rose Loomis
1953
Monkey Business
Lois Laurel
1952
O. Henry's Full House
Streetwalker (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
1952
Don't Bother to Knock
Nell Forbes
1952
We're Not Married!
Annabel Jones
1952
Clash by Night
Peggy
1952
Let's Make It Legal
Joyce Mannering
1951
Love Nest
Roberta 'Bobbie' Stevens
1951
As Young as You Feel
Harriet
1951
Home Town Story
Iris Martin
1951
All About Eve
Miss Caswell
1950
The Fireball
Polly
1950
The Jack Benny Program
Marilyn Monroe · (1 episode)
1950
The Jack Benny Program
Self · (1 episode)
1950
Right Cross
Dusky Ledoux (uncredited)
1950
A Ticket to Tomahawk
Clara
1950
The Asphalt Jungle
Angela Phinlay
1950
The Bob Hope Show
Self · (1 episode)
1950
Love Happy
Grunion's Client
1949
Ladies of the Chorus
Peggy Martin
1948
Green Grass of Wyoming
Extra at Square Dance (uncredited)
1948
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!
Betty (uncredited)
1948
Dangerous Years
Evie
1947
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim
Telephone Operator (voice) (uncredited)
1947
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Winner · (2 episodes)
1944