Marilyn Monroe, a star in life and even in the death. Marilyn was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, in the Los Angeles County Hospital. At birth Marilyn Monroe was know as Norma Jeane Mortenson. Marilyn was born to a Gladys Pearl Baker, who was mentally unstable and who was not in a position to cater for her daughter’s needs as she had financial difficulties. Immediately after her birth, Marilyn Monroe’s names were changed in her birth certificate so that she could use the name of her mother’s first husband. Thus she had her surname as Baker.
Although details of Marilyn’s paternal father are scanty, during her life she insisted that Martin Mortenson was not her paternal father. Rather throughout her life Marilyn Monroe claimed that her father was a Mr. Charles Stanley Gifford. Apart from the controversies surrounding her life and birth, and spending her childhood life in foster homes Marilyn had a full life. She rose from a simple girl to become a great model of her time, an eminent sex symbol in America and a star on the big screen. She was among the people who got to define pop culture in America then.
Marilyn Monroe’s career started in the mid 1940s where she started as a model after a troubled childhood. Marilyn Monroe signed for The Blue Book Modeling Agency in the mid 1940s and immediately started conducting research work on Lana Turner and Jean Harlow. During this same time she bleached her brunette hair to give herself a golden blonde look. This is because the modeling agency needed someone with lighter hair. Monroe became an instant success at Blue Book’s modeling agency, appearing in several magazine covers whilst at the same time becoming a world-wide fashion icon.
The success in modeling attracted several other organizations to seek for her, however Ben Lyon, an executive with 20th Century Fox was able to get her first and arrange a screen test for her. The screen test went very well for Marilyn Monroe who was able to impress Ben Lyon. After the test Monroe was given a stand six month contract which saw her earn a weekly salary of 125 dollars.
Between 1948 and 1951 Monroe got more prominent appearances in major films like “all about eve” and she was able to distinguish her self as a talented individual. The final years of Marilyn Monroe were marked with lots of controversies, she died of an overdose of barbiturates on August 5, 1962. Marilyn Monroe was 36, at the time of her death.
