Marilyn Monroe: A Biography

[Melody Stacker]

In honor of Marilyn Monroe's 83rd birthday this month -

Marilyn Monroe



in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
Born Norma Jeane Baker
June 1, 1926(1926-06-01)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died August 5, 1962 (aged 36)
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other name(s) Norma Jean Baker
Occupation Actress, model, singer, comedian, film producer
Years active 1947–1962
Spouse(s) James Dougherty (1942–1946)
Joe DiMaggio (1954)
Arthur Miller (1956–1961)

[Melody Stacker]

Marilyn Monroe,[1][2] (1 June 1926 – 5 August 1962), born Norma Jeane Mortenson but baptized Norma Jeane Baker, was an American actress, singer, and model.

After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946. Her early roles were minor, but her performances in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve (both 1950) were well received. She was praised for her comedic ability in such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, and The Seven Year Itch, and became one of Hollywood's most popular and glamorous performers.

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The typecasting of Monroe's "dumb blonde" persona limited her career prospects, so she broadened her range. She studied at the Actors Studio and formed Marilyn Monroe Productions. Her dramatic performance in William Inge's Bus Stop was hailed by critics, and she won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Some Like it Hot.

The final years of Monroe's life were marked by illness, personal problems, and a reputation for being unreliable and difficult to work with. The circumstances of her death, from an overdose of barbiturates, have been the subject of conjecture. Though officially classified as a "probable suicide," the possibility of an accidental overdose has not been ruled out, while conspiracy theorists argue that she was murdered.

In 1999, Monroe was ranked as the sixth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

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Monroe was born in the Los Angeles County Hospital,[3] the third child born to Gladys Pearl Baker (1902–1984).[4]

Monroe's birth certificate names the father as Edward Mortenson, a Norwegian,[5] with his residence stated as "unknown."[6] Gladys Baker had married a Martin E. Mortenson in 1924, but they had separated before Gladys' pregnancy.[5] Several of Monroe's biographers suggest that Gladys Baker used his name to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy.[7] When Mortenson died, at the age of 85, Monroe's birth certificate together with her parents' marriage and divorce documents were discovered. These documents showed that Mortenson filed for divorce from Gladys on March 5, 1927, and the case was finalized on October 15, 1928, thus proving that Marilyn was born legitimate.[8][9]

Throughout her life, Marilyn Monroe denied that Mortenson was her father.[5] She said that when she was a child, she had been shown a photograph of a man that Gladys Baker identified as her father. She remembered that he had a thin moustache and somewhat resembled Clark Gable, and that she had amused herself by pretending that Gable was her father, but never determined her father's true identity.[5][10]

Mentally unstable and financially unable to care for Norma Jeane, Gladys placed her with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, California, where she lived until she was seven. In her autobiography My Story (co-authored with screenwriter and novelist Ben Hecht)[11] Monroe stated she believed that the Bolenders were her parents until Ida corrected her. After that Norma Jeane referred to them as Aunt & Uncle.

During one of her weekly visits, Gladys told Norma Jeane that she had bought a house for them, and Norma Jeane was allowed to move in with her mother. A few months after moving in, Gladys suffered a breakdown. In My Story, Monroe recalls her mother "screaming and laughing" as she was forcibly removed to the State Hospital in Norwalk. Monroe was declared a ward of the state, and Gladys' best friend, Grace McKee, became her guardian. It was Grace who had told Monroe that someday she would become "...an important woman... a movie star." Grace was captivated by Jean Harlow, and would let Norma Jeane wear makeup and take her out to get her hair curled. They would go to the movies together, forming the basis for Norma Jeane's fascination with the cinema and the stars on screen.

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After Grace McKee married Ervin Silliman Goddard in 1935, the 9 year-old Monroe was sent to the Los Angeles Orphans Home (later renamed Hollygrove), and then to a succession of foster homes. Two years later Grace took Norma Jeane back to live with her, Goddard and one of Goddard's daughters from a previous marriage. When Goddard tried to molest Norma Jeane, Grace sent her to live with her great aunt, Olive Brunings. Norma Jeane was assaulted by one of Olive's sons at the age of 12 and then went on to live with Grace's aunt, Ana Lower. When Ana developed health problems, Norma Jeane went back to live with Grace and Ervin Goddard, where she met a neighbor's son, Jim Dougherty, and soon began a relationship with him.

Grace and her husband were about to move East and could not take Norma Jeane. Another family wanted to adopt Norma Jeane, but Gladys would not allow it. Grace then approached a neighbor suggesting that her son, James Dougherty, could marry Norma Jeane so that she would not have to return to an orphanage or foster care, and in June 1942, they were married. Monroe would state in her autobiography that she did not feel like a wife; she enjoyed playing with the neighborhood children until her husband would call her home. The marriage lasted until 1946 when Monroe decided to pursue her career.

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Childhood of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson[1] on June 1, 1926, in the charity ward of the Los Angeles County Hospital.[2][3] According to biographer Fred Lawrence Guiles, her grandmother, Della Monroe Grainger, had her baptised Norma Jeane Baker by Aimee Semple McPherson.[2] She obtained an order from the City Court of the State of New York and legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe on February 23, 1956.[4]

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Her mother

Monroe's maternal grandparents were Otis Elmer Monroe and Della Mae Hogan. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Monroe, was born in Porfirio Diaz, Mexico, now known as Piedras Negras, on May 27, 1902[5] where the family had gone, so Otis could work on the railroad. The family returned to California where Gladys's brother Otis was born in 1905. Their father, suffering from syphilis that had invaded his brain, died in 1909 in Southern California State Hospital in San Bernardino County.[6] Gladys married Jasper Baker, a native of Kentucky, in May 1917 and had two children, Robert Kermit Baker (born January 24, 1918) and Berniece Baker (Miracle) (born July 30, 1919). They were both born in Los Angeles.[7][8] After Gladys and Jasper divorced, he kidnapped the children and moved to Kentucky, where he had been born, according to Miracle's book My Sister Marilyn. Gladys moved there to be near her children but later returned to Los Angeles. Her son died without her ever seeing him again, but she did reunite with her daughter many years later.

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Her father

Marilyn's birth father remains unclear. After Gladys returned to Los Angeles, she married Martin Edward Mortensen (1897-1981) on October 11, 1924. [9] They separated six months into their marriage, but the divorce wasn't finalized until over a year later, according to My Sister Marilyn. Martin's father, also named Martin, was born in Haugesund, Norway, and had immigrated to the United States about 1880 where he married Stella Higgins. Their son was born in Vallejo, California. [10]

Biographer Donald H. Wolfe in The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, writes his belief that Norma Jeane's biological father was Charles Stanley Gifford, a salesman for RKO Pictures where Gladys worked as a film-cutter. Monroe's birth certificate lists Gladys's second husband, Martin Edward Mortensen, as the father. Although Mortensen left Gladys before Norma Jeane's birth, some biographers think he may have been the father.[11] In an interview with Lifetime, James Dougherty, Monroe's first husband, said Norma Jeane believed that Gifford was her father. Whoever the father was, he played no part in Monroe's life.

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Foster parents

Unable to persuade Della to take Norma Jeane, Gladys placed her with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, California, where she lived until she was seven. In her autobiography My Story, Monroe states she thought Albert was a girl.

One day, Gladys announced that she had bought a house. A few months after they had moved in, Gladys suffered a breakdown. In My Story, Monroe recalls her mother "screaming and laughing" as she was forcibly removed to the State Hospital in Norwalk. According to My Sister Marilyn, Gladys's brother, Marion, hanged himself upon his release from an asylum, and Della's father did the same in a fit of depression.

Norma Jeane was declared a ward of state, and Gladys' best friend, Grace McKee (later Goddard) became her guardian. After McKee married in 1935, Norma Jeane was sent to the Los Angeles Orphans Home (later renamed Hollygrove), and then to a succession of foster homes.

The Goddards were about to move to the east coast and could not take her. Grace approached the mother of James Dougherty about the possibility of her son marrying the girl. They married weeks after she turned 16, so that Norma Jeane would not have to return to an orphanage or foster care.

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Birth Certificate

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Mrs. Norma Jeane Dougherty, Yank Magazine, 1945

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Career

Modeling and early film work

While Dougherty was in the Merchant Marine during World War II, Norma Jeane moved in with her mother-in-law, and found employment in the Radioplane Munitions Factory. She sprayed airplane parts with fire retardant and inspected parachutes. During this time, Army photographer David Conover snapped a photograph of her for a Yank magazine article. He encouraged her to apply to The Blue Book modeling agency. She signed with the agency and began researching the work of Jean Harlow and Lana Turner. She was told that they were looking for models with lighter hair, so Norma Jeane dyed her brunette hair to a golden blonde.

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Norma Jeane Dougherty became one of Blue Book's most successful models, appearing on dozens of magazine covers. In 1946, she came to the attention of Ben Lyon, a 20th Century Fox executive, who arranged a screen test for her. Lyon was impressed and commented, "It's Jean Harlow all over again."[12] She was offered a standard six-month contract with a starting salary of $125 per week.

It was agreed that she would change her name. Lyon told her that she reminded him of the actress Marilyn Miller and she took her grandmother's name of Monroe as her surname.[13] She appeared in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! and Dangerous Years (both 1947), but when her contract was not renewed, she returned to modeling. She attempted to find opportunities for film work, and while unemployed she posed for **** photographs.

In 1948 Monroe signed a six-month contract with Columbia Pictures, and was introduced to the studio's head drama coach, Natasha Lytess, who became her acting coach for several years.[14] She starred in the low-budget musical, Ladies of the Chorus, but the film was not a success, and her contract was not renewed.[15] She appeared in a small role in the Marx Brothers film Love Happy (1949) and impressed the producers, who sent her to New York to feature in the film's promotional campaign.[16]

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Love Happy brought Monroe to the attention of the agent, Johnny Hyde, who agreed to represent her. He arranged for her to audition for John Huston, who cast her in the drama The Asphalt Jungle, as the young mistress of an aging criminal. Her performance brought strong reviews,[16] and was seen by the writer and director, Herman Mankiewicz. He accepted Hyde's suggestion of Monroe for a small comedic role in All About Eve, as Miss Caswell, an aspiring actress, described by another character as a student of "The Copacabana School of Dramatic Art." Mankiewicz later commented that he had seen an innocence in her that he found appealing, and that this had confirmed his belief in her suitability for the role.[17] Following Monroe's success in these roles, Hyde negotiated a seven-year contract for her with 20th Century Fox, shortly before his death in December 1950.[18]

Monroe enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles studying literature and art appreciation,[19] and appeared in several minor films playing opposite such long-established performers as Mickey Rooney, Constance Bennett, June Allyson, **** Powell and Claudette Colbert.[20] In March 1951, she appeared as a presenter at the 23rd Academy Awards ceremony.[21]

In the early 1950s, Monroe and Gregg Palmer both unsuccessfully auditioned for roles as Daisy Mae and Abner in a proposed Li'l Abner television series based on the Al Capp cartoon, but the effort never materialized.[22]

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in The Asphalt Jungle (1950)