Marilyn Monroe facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marilyn Monroe
Monroe in 1953
Born	Norma Jeane Mortenson (1926-06-01)June 1, 1926 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	August 4, 1962(1962-08-04) (aged 36) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Burial place	Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Norma Jeane Baker
Occupation	Actress model singer
Years active	1945–1962
Spouse(s)	James Dougherty ​ ​ (m. 1942; div. 1946)​ Joe DiMaggio ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1955)​ Arthur Miller ​ ​ (m. 1956; div. 1961)​
Parent(s)	Gladys Pearl Baker (mother)
Relatives	Berniece Baker Miracle (half-sister)
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Marilyn Monroe ( born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962) was an American actress, model, and singer. She was one of the most popular celebrities of the 1950s and early 1960s. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million ($1,935 million in 2025 dollars ) by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, Monroe remains a major icon of pop culture.

Early life

Monroe as an infant, c. 1927

Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, at the Los Angeles General Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker (née Monroe; 1902–1984), was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico to a poor Midwestern family who migrated to California at the turn of the century. In 2022, DNA testing indicated that Monroe's father was Charles Stanley Gifford (1898–1965), a co-worker of Gladys.

Gladys was not mentally or financially ready for a child, so she placed her daughter with evangelical Christian foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender in the rural town of Hawthorne, California, where she was happy for a few years. In the summer of 1933, Gladys bought a small house in Hollywood and moved seven-year-old Monroe in with her. In January 1934, Gladys had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. After several months in a rest home, she was committed to the Metropolitan State Hospital. She spent the rest of her life in and out of hospitals. Marilyn spent much of her later childhood in a total of 12 foster homes and an orphanage.

Education

In September 1938, she began living with a family friend's aunt Ana Lower in the west-side district of Sawtelle. She was enrolled at Emerson Junior High School and went to weekly Christian Science services with Lower.

In 1941, she began attending Van Nuys High School. She dropped out of school at the age of 16 when she got married for the first time.

Personal life

1945 YANK magazine photo (colorized version) of Marilyn Monroe as Norma Jeane Dougherty

Monroe was married three times. She married 21-year-old James Dougherty on June 19, 1942, just after her 16th birthday. She dropped out of high school and became a housewife. She found herself and Dougherty mismatched and later said she was "dying of boredom" during the marriage. In September 1946, she divorced Dougherty.

Monroe and Joe DiMaggio after getting married at San Francisco City Hall in January 1954

She began dating retired New York Yankees baseball star Joe DiMaggio in 1952. He was one of the most famous sports personalities of the era. They got married in 1954, but divorced a year later.

Her final husband was playwright Arthur Miller, whom she married on June 29, 1956, at the Westchester County Court in White Plains, New York. Two days later they had a Jewish ceremony in Waccabuc, New York. They divorced in January 1961.

Monroe and Arthur Miller at their wedding in June 1956

Monroe had no children.

Modeling and acting career

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. She got short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. After several 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.

By 1953, Monroe was one of the most famous Hollywood stars. She had leading roles in the film noir Niagara and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde."

Monroe worked hard at managing of her public image throughout her career, but felt disappointed when 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 did not want 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 following 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), which critics and audiences loved. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).

Death

Monroe (third from left) with actors on the filming set of The Exterminating Angel during her visit to Mexico in 1962, one of her last media appearances

During her final months, Monroe lived at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. She died there on August 4, 1962, at age 36.

Filmography

Marilyn Monroe quotes

• “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
• “This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up.”
• “I don't mind living in a man's world, as long as I can be a woman in it.”
• “Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”

Interesting facts about Marilyn Monroe

• At school, she excelled in writing and contributed to the school newspaper, but was otherwise an average student.
• She was shy as a child.
• As a model, Monroe occasionally used the pseudonym Jean Norman.
• She had dark curly hair. To make producers want to hire her, she straightened her hair and dyed it blonde.
• In August 1946, she and Ben Lyon, a 20th Century-Fox executive, selected the stage name "Marilyn Monroe." The first name was picked by Lyon, who was reminded of Broadway star Marilyn Miller; the surname was Monroe's mother's maiden name.
• She legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe in 1956.
• With the marriage to Arthur Miller, Monroe converted to Judaism. Egypt then banned all of her films.
• Monroe had two siblings from her mother's first marriage, Robert (1918–1933) and Berniece (1919–2014), and two other half-siblings from Gifford's marriage with his first wife, a sister, Doris (1920–1933), and a brother, Charles (1922–2015).
• She struggled with mood disorders.
• Hundreds of books have been written about Monroe. She has been the subject of many films, plays, operas, and songs, and has influenced artists and entertainers such as Andy Warhol and Madonna.
• She has been featured in advertising for brands such as Max Factor, Chanel, and Mercedes-Benz.
• Monroe remains a cultural icon, but some critics do not value her much as an actress.

Images for kids

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  A photo of Monroe taken by David Conover in mid-1944 at the Radioplane Company

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  Monroe in a 1948 publicity photo

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  Monroe in The Asphalt Jungle (1950), one of her earliest performances to gain attention from film critics

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  Monroe with Keith Andes in Clash by Night (1952). The film allowed Monroe to display more of her acting range in a dramatic role.

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  Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock (1952)

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  Monroe's dramatic performance in Bus Stop (1956) marked a departure from her earlier comedies.

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  Monroe with Laurence Olivier in a publicity photo for The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)

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  Monroe with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot (1959), for which she won a Golden Globe

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  Monroe, Estelle Winwood, Eli Wallach, Montgomery Clift, and Clark Gable in The Misfits (1961). It was the last completed film for Monroe and Gable, who both died within two years.

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  Monroe on the set of Something's Got to Give. She was absent for most of the production due to illness and was fired by Fox in June 1962, two months before her death.

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  Front page of the New York Mirror on August 6, 1962

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  Monroe's crypt at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood Village

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  Actress Jean Harlow in 1934; Monroe took inspiration from her to develop her star image.

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  Monroe arriving at a party celebrating Louella Parsons at Ciro's nightclub in 1953

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  Monroe in a Lustre-Creme shampoo advertisement of 1953

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  Left panel from pop artist James Gill's painting Marilyn Triptych (1962)

See also

In Spanish: Marilyn Monroe para niños