, Research Paper
Marilyn Monroe
Known as the Blond Bombshell and has the
raging sex icon, Monroe was the women who
personified Hollywood glamour. Born of the name
Norma Jean Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los
Angeles, California. Then soon baptized to Norma
Jeane Backer. Her mothers name was Gladys and
was practically dirt poor. Gladys spent most of her
life in mental hospitals, so Norma would have to live
with foster families. Norma would have stayed with
her father Edward Mortenson, but he was not the
right one to look after her, thought her mother.
Since her mother was always in and out of hospitals,
Norma would be in and out of foster homes. Her life
wouldn t seem to be the life of an upcoming movie
star. At age eight Norma was raped. In 1935 at age
nine she stayed in an orphanage until June of 1937,
the longest she had ever stayed anywhere.
Dying to have a better life, she thought that
marriage would help that. So on June 19, 1942 at 16
she wed Jimmy Dougherty. Norma dropped out of
high school, which wasn t uncommon at this time.
She began working at a aircraft production plant.
Within that next year she tried to commit suicide.
Jim entered the military so Norma decided to bleach
out her hair and begin to model. Unfortunately the
marriage was more of holding her down from what
she thought she could be in Hollywood, so the two
divorced in June of 1946. At the same time Norma
was named to a top agency. Her pictures caught the
eyes of famous Howard Hughes, he scheduled her to a
screen test at RKO, but 20th Century-Fox beat him
there, they had already got here on the payroll, for
$125 a week. Soon after legally changing her name
to Marilyn Monroe. Monroe came from her
Grandmother s last name and Marilyn was from the
famous actress Marilyn Miller, who Monroe adored.
Hollywood wasn t treating her like a movie star,
all she would be stuck with where these throw away
parts in nothing movies. Since she had gotten nude
pictures of her in 1948, no one could take their eyes
of her unbelievable body. The pictures, which some
people thought during that time were a bit riske,
acualky helped her. She got a famous picture up on a
billboard; which costs around $500,000. The pictures
also appeared in Playboy in December of 1953.
For the teenage girls and other women near
Monroes age, she was becoming a goddess quickly.
She was what all women wanted to look like, some
would say the ultimate beauty during this time.
Monroes history wasn t really known to the public,
fearing that shame would be brought down to her.
But women say that it would give her more power to
know how she had come so far and how she had
struggled. For so many women can relate to what
happened to Monroe when she was younger.
Monroes career just seemed to start to bomb.
Appearing in three major films, one called
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes also How To Marry a
Millionaire. The year after her first major movies was
the year she married again, to the famous baseball
player Joe Dimaggio. How had meet on a blind date
two years earlier. The marriage had only lasted a
short nine months, mainly because Monroe wasn t
the baby-making hausfra that Dimaggio wished
she was. The final straw in the marriage for
Dimaggio was the famous picture of Monroe in the
movie The Seven Year Itch, with her having her skirt
blow up, while she was straddling a subway grate.
In the majority of Monroes films she was al
portrayed as the voluptuary dumb-blonde archetype.
To move away from the sexual icon she was, Monroe
moved to New York where she wanted to start her own
company, Marilyn Monroe Productions. One person
who was part of this organization was Arthur MIller,
who soon enough in 1956 was MOnroes new
husband. Marilyn soon after marriage converted to
Judaism.
In 1955 Monroe was back with Fox and
maturing as an actress. One of her most famous
comedies was Bus Stop which some say was when she
was at the top of her game. Soon after that movie
Marilyn Monroe began to have emotional
difficulties, with her mental and physical health.
She would have constant narcissistic behavior,
Monroe would rely on pills and stimulants, such as
sleeping pills. Plus going for treatment at psychiatric
clinics for her cronic depression. Which some say they
knew it had to happen at one point because her past
would come back to haunt her at some point.
Again her marriage ended in the beginning of
1961, one week before her final movie The Misfits was
released. The film was written specifically for her by
Author Miller. The film showed probably Monroes best
dramatic work, plus it showed the world how she was
one the verge of a metal breakdown. After that
monroe was released, Monroe entered a hospital for
psychiatric care for many weeks. The monroe
companies could tell that she was just going down
hill. On the set of Something s Got To Give, there was
only 32 of actually shooting of it and Monroe had
only showed up twelve times. The studio fired her
and had a $750,000 lawsuit on her for
unprofessional conduct.
A month after the lawsuit, Marilyn Monroe was
found dead in her Los Angeles home, on August 5,
1962, of an overdose of barbiturates. The medical
examinations show that Monroe had comitted
suicide there are people that did and still do feel
that there was foul play that went on. Mostly because
of the rumors that she was having an affair with
both the President, John F. Kennedy and his brother
Attorney General Robbert Kennedy; in the months
right before of death.
Women during Marilyn Monroes time were
usually fond of her. For instance my Grandmother
was around Monroes age and looked at her as an
icon and role model. My Grandmother says that all
the girls in school and in real life wanted to be just
like her. In today s society there are so many
different women that are looked up to in Hollywood,
but Monroe is one women that I think will always be
known and loved. Even though she may have had an
affair or so, people like my Grandmother know her
from her experiences on the screen and how she was
portraying herself to other women. My Grandmother
feels that she is so important to how women got to
where they are now are from women like Marilyn
Monroe. She didn t come from some wealthy high
quality family, she survived by the skin on her back.
That shows how women can actually do what they
want if they want it bad enough and work for it. My
Grandmother also feels that girls today should be
looking at women role models who are the ones that
work hard and deserve to be where they are and not
the women who are just there because they look nice.
Marilyn Monroe will always be remembered for her
beautiful blond hair and her acting , plus the name
itself just recalls the word blond for some people. The
blond bombshell will always be in the Hollywood
history books.