Norma2Marilyn - Marilyn's Biography

Marilyn:

A Biography by Kyla McCall

Female mourner views Valentino's body.

The skies looked bleak for fans of Hollywood during the summer of 1926. America was stunned and shocked by the sudden death of silent film star Rudolph Valentino. Tens of thousands of people mourned the passing of this thirty-one year old symbol of masculinity. No one took notice that just two months before this icon of the silver screen died, another icon was born.

Gladys Baker gave birth to her baby girl June 1, 1926 in Hollywood, California. Born an illegitimate child, she named her daughter Norma Jeane Mortensen. Financially and emotionally insecure, Gladys could not maintain full custody of her child and Norma Jeane was trucked from foster home to foster home. After a few years, believing she achieved financial stability, Gladys bought a small house and her daughter moved in with her. However, purchasing a house in the 1930’s was not a wise investment and the bills began to pile up. When Gladys discovered the bank foreclosed on her home, she suffered a mental breakdown and was whisked away to a institution. Norma Jeane never lived with her mother again. Once again shipped from one foster home to another, Norma Jeane suffered mental, physical and sexual abuse from her “caretakers”. At the age of nine, Norma Jeane was sent, kicking and screaming, to an orphanage where she stayed for two years.

Norma Jeane Mortenson
Born: June 1, 1926.

Norma Jeane in the dress she wore
as a 16 year old bride.

Her godmother, Grace Goddard took eleven year old Norma Jeane to live with her and Norma Jeane finally felt some sense of security, though the feeling did not last long. Shortly before Norma Jeane’s sixteenth birthday, Grace said that she and her husband were moving away and they were unable to take Norma Jeane with them. Grace gave the teenager two choices: either marry the boy next door, James Dougherty, or move back to the orphanage. Choosing the former option, she became Norma Jeane Dougherty just two weeks after her sixteenth birthday.

By all accounts, Norma Jeane’s marriage to Dougherty was a pleasant experience for the young bride. She enjoyed the time spent with her young husband and finally felt the stability she had longed for -- until the advent of World War II. Dougherty was shipped overseas and Norma Jeane felt abandoned once more.

For extra cash, Norma Jeane worked in a parachute factory when she was spotted by photographer David Conover. He approached her and explained to her that he had been sent to find pretty girls to photograph for the soldiers feeling lonely fighting across the ocean. He found her extremely attractive and asked to take her picture. Flattered, Norma Jeane agreed to a photo session where she discovered the camera adored her. It was not long before she quit the parachute factory and joined the Blue Book Modelling Agency. She became a favourite for many photographers and found herself on the cover of many men’s magazines.

Norma Jeane in her
early days as a model.

Newcomer on the FOX lot!

It did not take long before Norma Jeane set her sights on an acting career. She divorced her husband and signed a contract with Twentieth Century Fox. Changing her name to Marilyn Monroe, she was assigned extra work and bit parts, but Fox considered Marilyn not particularly photogenic and unmarketable. Marilyn felt downtrodden when she was dropped from her contract, but she persevered to fulfill her Hollywood dream.

1949 turned out to be a busy year for Marilyn Monroe. She starred in Columbia’s movie, Ladies of the Chorus. She began intense training with acting coach Natasha Lytess. 1949 saw a near destitute Marilyn posing nude for photographer Tom Kelley under the assumed name Mona Monroe. She also had a walk-on part in the movie Love Happy which garnered attention from a William Morris agent named Johnny Hyde.
Hyde worked diligently to promote Marilyn’s career. He paid for some minor cosmetic surgery on Marilyn’s nose; dyed and straightened her hair; got her small but significant parts in All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle. Sadly, Hyde would never see the fame achieved by his final protégé. Johnny Hyde died in 1950, leaving Marilyn alone in Hollywood.

Publicity still for the
Asphalt Jungle

Marilyn & Jane Russell
at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Twentieth Century Fox head chief, Daryl Zanuck never liked Marilyn. He found her untalented, unattractive and annoying. However, he was an excellent businessman and he realized when Marilyn walked onscreen, people in the audience watched no one else. He signed her to a seven year contract at $1500 per week and put her in a series of comedies before giving her the lead in the melodrama, Don’t Bother to Knock.

While filming Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1952, a couple of skeletons fell from Marilyn’s closet. Rumours spread that Marilyn’s mother was not really dead as the Fox publicity department previously stated. Gladys Baker was discovered alive in a mental institution. It was also revealed that a naked girl sprawled across a blanket of red velvet in the Golden Dreams calendar was Hollywood’s newest rising star. Marilyn Monroe.

In conservative 1950’s America, these rumours were potentially devastating to a woman’s career. Fox ordered Marilyn to deny these allegations and hoped the rumours would fade away. Instead, Marilyn did something unique -- she told the truth. Yes, her mother was ill and institutionalized. Yes, she posed nude for $50 in 1949. Her reasoning for the latter was simple -- she needed the money to pay her rent. Remarkably, the public forgave Marilyn for her “indiscretions and fibs”. Movie fans then fell in love with her character Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. After the enormous success of the film, Marilyn and her co-star, Jane Russell, placed their feet and hand prints in cement at Graumen’s Chinese Theater. Marilyn Monroe was a star.

After meeting on a blind date, Marilyn and baseball legend, Joe DiMaggio soon became inseparable and quickly fell in love with each other. While on suspension from Fox for refusing to star in a particular film, Marilyn and Joe married January, 1954.

For movie and baseball fans, this union sparked a frenzy of adoration toward the couple. A baseball legend marrying Hollywood’s sexiest star was the equivalent of a royal wedding. However, wedded bliss would not flourish in the DiMaggio home. Joe had retired from baseball and was prepared for a quiet home life while Marilyn’s star was nearing its peak and she had no intention of stopping her career. Marilyn claimed going to Korea to boost troop morale in 1954 was the highlight of her life, but Joe could not share in her joy. Instead, he grew increasingly jealous and resentful of the show business atmosphere.

Marilyn and Joe
in a quiet moment.

The scene that
ended a marriage.

While shooting the comedy, The Seven Year Itch, Marilyn performed in a scene that would forever cement her as a Hollywood icon. On a street in New York City, Marilyn did her famous skirt lifting scene where she stood over a grate and a gust of wind blew her skirt high above her head. Throngs of fans howled their approval as director Billy Wilder required numerous takes. Unfortunately, one of the audience members watching Marilyn’s skirt fly in the air was her husband. That scene, though unforgettable to the fans, proved to be the end of the fairy tale marriage. Marilyn and Joe were married for nine months.

Shortly after her divorce, Marilyn decided to exert some independence at Fox by refusing to perform in certain movies. She had grown tired of constantly portraying the dumb blonde onscreen. She craved meatier roles with more depth to their characters. Daryl Zanuck, who still did not like Marilyn, became infuriated that this woman demanded a say in her own career. He suspended her, without pay from Fox. Marilyn fled to New York to open her own production company with the aid of her friend, photographer Milton H. Greene.

While Greene was busy creating Marilyn Monroe Productions, Marilyn took time to further perfect her craft. She studied method acting at the Actor’s Studio; became a close family friend with the studio’s teacher, Lee Strasberg; started intense psychotherapy; began dating and eventually marrying playwright Arthur Miller. When Marilyn’s suspension was lifted, Marilyn Monroe Productions involved itself with two films: Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl. The company could not get off the ground. Marilyn and Milton Greene severed ties shortly afterward.

Photo by Milton H. Greene.

Marilyn with her third husband,
Arthur Miller.

Marilyn’s marriage to Arthur Miller lasted longer than her marriage to anyone else, but their four years together experienced a lot of turbulence. Marilyn’s chemical dependency became a serious problem. Low finances forced her to go to work in the movie Some Like it Hot while she was pregnant. She had a miscarriage during its filming. Feeling neglected, Marilyn had an affair with Let’s Make Love co-star, Yves Montand. By the time she starred in the movie Arthur had written for her, their marriage was over.

Arthur’s gift to Marilyn was called The Misfits; but shooting the movie was a gruelling experience for Marilyn. Her doctor gave her medication that she grew addicted to and she was unable to refill her prescription in the desert. The Nevada heat soared to unbearable temperatures. Miller constantly changed the script so she could not remember her lines. Sometimes showing up hours late, Marilyn finally collapsed on the set and had to be hospitalized for exhaustion. The worst news came shortly after the completion of filming. Clark Gable, Marilyn’s co-star and hero, died of a heart attack.

Cast and crew of
The Misfits.

Entering a pit of despair, Marilyn’s mental and emotional state grew increasingly fragile. Her psychiatrist suggested she stay temporarily at a hospital. Marilyn was thrown into a ward for the insane and she had finally reached the breaking point. She feared she was losing her sanity just as her mother had. Realizing none of the doctors listened to her need to leave, she called the only person she knew who would come to her aid: her ex-husband and close friend, Joe DiMaggio. After Joe threatened to tear the building down if they did not let her go, the doctors released Marilyn.

Marilyn with Christopher Morely
on the set of Something's Got to Give.

Going on hiatus with Joe in Florida, Marilyn soaked up the healing rays of the sun before returning to California to fulfill a film obligation for Fox. By April 1962, shooting for Something’s Got to Give commenced, but Marilyn did not show. A bronchial infection kept Marilyn bedridden for two weeks. When she showed for her first day at work, she had a temperature of 102F and suffered laryngitis, but she managed to complete the day. Marilyn never looked more radiant.

Unfortunately, Marilyn’s unreliable reputation began to catch up with her. Despite the fact that several doctors confirmed her illness, the studio heads at Fox had grown tired with her showing up hours, sometimes days late. Their exasperation reached its summit when a helicopter showed up on the Fox lot on May 17, 1962 and whisked Marilyn away to sing Happy Birthday at a gala party for President Kennedy. Though Fox originally gave her permission to go, they changed their minds after Marilyn missed so many days of work. Infuriated, the studio heads used the birthday gala as a reason for firing her on June 8, 1962.

What the studio heads neglected to remember was a stipulation in the movie’s other star’s contract. Dean Martin’s contract gave him approval of his co-star; and he refused to shoot the movie with anyone but his friend, Marilyn Monroe. When the studio heads refused to allow Marilyn to come back, Dean Martin walked off the set. With both stars gone, Fox realized they had just destroyed their own film. Quietly, they rehired Marilyn and shooting was to resume in September, 1962.

Grateful to her friend Dean Martin and elated to be rehired, Marilyn finally began to exude an independence she had never possessed before. She ordered furniture for her new house. She decided to relieve her housekeeper, Eunice Murray from her duties. Marilyn even contemplated ending her psychotherapy. She was standing tall and feeling proud. The future began to brighten for Marilyn Monroe.

Then suddenly, she was gone. A world awoke August 5, 1962 to hear the news that the Hollywood sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bedroom. The autopsy records declared that her death was a probable suicide, though many people refused to believe that this woman who was just beginning to find her independence would take her own life. Despite what anyone believed, the ghastly truth was that Marilyn Monroe was dead.

Distraught that he could not rescue her one last time, Joe DiMaggio made all the arrangements for her funeral. On August 8, 1962, he placed the love of his life in the wall of a crypt and wept openly as was driven away. Never losing his love for her, he did not remarry. As he laid dying in 1999, it had been said that his final words were, “Finally, I get to see Marilyn again.”

Marilyn died over forty years ago and yet her memory remains as fresh as it was in 1962. Her legend far eclipses that of her predecessors including Clara Bow, Jean Harlow and even Rudolph Valentino. Rumours abound about exactly how she died -- some people believe she was murdered by the Kennedy family. Others believe she was murdered by the Mafia. Some think she accidentally overdosed on her medication. Another theory has Eunice Murray, her last day on the job, accidentally killing Marilyn by giving her an enema incorrectly. Yet, some people believe that her death was indeed, an intentional suicide.

So much controversy arises over how she died, yet so few people look at how she lived. Marilyn Monroe was a sensitive human being who constantly swam upstream in her pursuit for happiness. Born into illegitimacy; unwanted in childhood, she grew into a sexual icon. She longed for a happy marriage and motherhood, but both eluded her. She demanded artistic freedom in her career at a time when it was rare for a woman to have a voice. Uneducated, but highly intelligent, she desired to be seen as more than just a “dumb blonde”. Then, just when her long sought after happiness was within her grasp, her life was ripped away from her at the tender age of thirty-six. These were the building blocks that made up Marilyn Monroe -- a complex, loving, emotional person. These are the characteristics that made the public fall in love with her -- and these are the characteristics that keep the love for Marilyn alive in the hearts of millions of people. Though physically gone, the spirit of Marilyn Monroe will never die.

Norma2Marilyn Website Designed By Connie Sele, 2003.