ChronoFive
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Setting the scene
Norma Jeane Mortenson was born on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles General Hospital; her mother Gladys Baker struggled with mental illness, and Norma Jeane spent years in foster homes and an orphanage.
What happened
She married at sixteen, modeled while working in a munitions factory during World War II, and signed with 20th Century Fox as Marilyn Monroe. Films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Some Like It Hot (1959) made her Hollywood's top box-office draw.
Why it still matters
Monroe's marriages to Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, studio battles, and 1962 death from barbiturate overdose at age 36 fueled enduring myth. Memorable detail: her white dress blowing over a subway grate in The Seven Year Itch (1955) was filmed on a Manhattan street at 1 a.m. with crowds cheering from a hidden platform.
Background
Some Like It Hot and pop-art fame followed.