...Marilyn Monroe was a legend. In her own lifetime she created a myth of what a poor girl from a deprived background could attain. For the entire world she became a symbol of the eternal feminine. But I have no words to describe the myth and legend. Nor would she want us to do so." Those were the words delivered at her Eulogy by Lee Stratsberg (Lefkowitz 114). The Eulogy summed up her impact then and it does now as well. Marilyn Monroe impacted music, movies, society and culture, in her time ,and still does today. Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson, as it said on her birth certificate, although she was also known as Norma Jeane Baker because she never knew the true identity of her father. She was born on June 1 st, 1926 in Los Angeles (Lefkowitz 21). Norma Jeane's childhood and life was anything but perfect. Shortly after she was born, her mother, Gladys Baker, was admitted into a rehabilitation center. Looking back on it she remembered her mother only as the "woman with red hair", who on occasions, would stop in and visit her (Wilson Biography II). From that point on she went from foster home to foster home. She also spent time in an orphanage in Los Angeles (Wilson Biography1). When her final set of foster parents was to move to California she decided to get married. At the age of sixteen she married 23 year old, Jim Dougherty. (McKittnick 1) The marriage lasted until 1943 when Dougherty joined the Merchant Marines during World War I. (Biography.com article 2) During...
Words: 1254 - Pages: 6
...Stephanie Robinson November 17, 2015 Project Part 1 I chose to do my paper on Marilyn Monroe who overcame a difficult childhood and became one of the biggest and most enduring sex symbols. She born June 1st, 1926 in Los Angeles, never met her father and has one half-sister who she only met a couple times. Her father was not a part of her life and her mother was mentally ill making Monroe an orphan and in foster care. She was in and out of homes until family friends were paid $25 a week to take care of Monroe. While living with them she was not allowed to go to movies or have much of a social life. The home was short-lived due to the couple having to relocate for a job. Returning to the life of foster care at age 7 caused Monroe to be sexually assaulted on multiple occasions until getting married at age 16. Having no high school diploma Monroe started work in a factory until being discovered as a model which later caused her get a divorce. Her career took off as she changed her image to be the model she always dreamt of being. Starting out as a small part in The Asphalt Jungle jumped started her acting career as well. She then stared in many musicals, plays and movies such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire with Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall and The Seven Year Itch (Bibliography, n.d.). After many failed marriages her personal life was still a mess and sadly at age 36 Monroe was found dead at her Los Angeles home with an empty bottle of sleeping pills found...
Words: 453 - Pages: 2
...Marilyn Monroe was more than a 1950’s sex goddess, her apparent vulnerability and innocence in combination with her sexuality has endeared her to make it to number 91 on the top most influential women ever. Unlike any other woman she had her insecurities about her physical appearance, which unfortunately led to her death. Whether she knew it or not Marilyn Monroe was a very influential actress, fashionista during her life and even more today almost 48 years after her death. “There was my name up in lights. I said, 'God, somebody's made a mistake.' But there it was, in lights. And I sat there and said, 'Remember, you're not a star.' Yet there it was up in lights." –Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortensen on June 1, 1926 to Gladys Baker. “Norma” was separated from her mom because of her psychological condition and spent most of her childhood in foster homes and orphanages. In 1937 she moved in with a family friend who took custody of her, unfortunately in 1942 she was forced to make the decision to be married at 16 or go back into the orphanage because of the family friends’ financial situation. She made the decision to get married to Jimmy Dougherty whom she remained married to for 4 years but then divorced him because she wanted to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an actor. Also in 1946 she dyed her hair that unforgettable platinum blonde and changed her name legally to Marilyn Monroe. "I'm going to be a great movie star someday”, is a quote that she...
Words: 1889 - Pages: 8
... English November 8th, 2015 Research Paper When you hear the name Marilyn Monroe you think of beauty and sensuality.Monroe dominated the age of movie stars and was one of the most famous women of the 20th century. Monroe's popularity made her much more than a star but also an American icon. She was an exceptionally underrated person. Although Marilyn suffered a tragic end she had survived a traumatic childhood to become one of the most well-known actresses of all time. Marilyn Monroe was born June 1st, 1926 in Los Angeles, California as Norma Jeane Mortenson. Her mothers name is Gladys Baker and there is a debate to whom the father is. Later Monroe was baptized by her grandmother Della Monroe as Norma Jeane Baker. Monroe was the youngest of three children. She spent most of her childhood in foster homes and orphanages because her mother went into a mental institution. In 1937 Monroe moved in with a family friend Grace Mckee Goddard. in 1942 Grace could no longer take care of 16 year old Marilyn because her husband was transferred to the east coast. Monroe had two options, either go back to the orphanage or get married. June 19th 1942 Marilyn married 21 year old Jimmy Dougherty whom she's been dating for a couple months, sadly two years later her husband joined the Marines and was sent to the south Pacific. Since her husband was sent off to the South Pacific, Marilyn got a job at Radio Plane Munitions Factory in Burbank, California. Months later a magazine...
Words: 1435 - Pages: 6
...Her mother was a filmcutter at RKO Studios who, widowed and mentally ill, abandoned her to sequence of foster homes. She was almost smothered to death at two, nearly raped at six. At nine, the LA Orphans' Home paid her a nickel a month for kitchen work while taking back a penny every Sunday for church. At sixteen, she worked in an aircraft plant and married a man she called Daddy; he went into the military, she modeled, they divorced in 1946. She owned 200 books (including Tolstoy, Whitman, Milton), listened to Beethoven records, studied acting at the Actors' lab in Hollywood, and took literature courses at UCLA downtown. 20th Century Fox gave her a contract but let it lapse a year later. In 1948, Columbia gave her a six-month contract, turned her over to coach Natasha Lytess and featured her in the B movie Ladies of the Chorus (1948) in which she sang two numbers. Joseph L. Mankiewicz saw her in a small part in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and put her in All About Eve (1950), resulting in 20th Century re-signing her to a seven-year contract. Niagara (1953) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) launched her as a sex symbol superstar. When she went to a supper honoring her in the The Seven Year Itch (1955), she arrived in a red chiffon gown borrowed from the studio (she had never owned a gown). That same year, she married and divorced baseball great Joe DiMaggio (their wedding night was spent in Paso Robles, CA). After The Seven Year Itch (1955), she wanted serious acting to replace...
Words: 658 - Pages: 3
...Monroe, Marilyn (1 June 1926-5 Aug. 1962), film actress and sex symbol, was born Norma Jeane Mortensen (and was also known as Norma Jeane Baker in her youth) in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Gladys Monroe Baker Mortensen, a film cutter, who was unmarried when she gave birth to Monroe (her father has never been positively identified). Gladys Mortensen was an avid movie fan, but Monroe spent very little time with her often unstable mother. Within two weeks of her birth, Monroe was placed in the first of what would be a succession of foster homes, guardianships, and orphanages. This experience convinced her that she was a "mistake," a person easily abandoned. Given an insecure childhood that included the trauma of sexual molestation and an early marriage (to James Dougherty in 1942; they were divorced in 1946) arranged in part to prevent her return to an orphanage, it is a testament to Monroe's tenacity, personal strength, and resilience that she managed to achieve the heights in her career that she did. Her marriage to Dougherty compelled Monroe to quit high school, and her lack of formal education furthered her sense of inadequacy. While her husband served in the merchant marine during World War II, Monroe found a job inspecting parachutes at the Radioplane Company (1944-1945). Army photographers who had arrived at the plant to take commercial and military pictures of female war workers discovered her. From this first successful posing arose Monroe's fabled "love affair"...
Words: 1853 - Pages: 8
...On the night of August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of Nembutal, a Barbiturate. She was found lying naked in her bed, face down, clutching the phone tightly in her hand. There were several empty bottles of sleeping pills on the table next to her bed. Her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, had been there all night. Around 3:30 a.m., August 5th, she became alarmed that Marilyn's light was still on and that the door was locked. She called Marilyn's psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, and he immediately rushed over. When he arrived they looked in Marilyn's window and saw her lying on the bed. They then proceeded to break into her room, and when they found out she was dead they called the police. The coroner pronounced it probable suicide. This is the official version of what happened. But one must also take into consideration the cover-up, the conflicting stories of what happened, and the inefficiency with which the investigation was carried out. Marilyn Monroe did not die by her own hand, it was someone else's. Who killed her? Was it the Kennedy’s or the Mafia? What reasons did anyone have for killing Marilyn Monroe? Did she know too much? Was she a security risk? Was her death used to blackmail the Kennedys? Whoever the person, whatever the motive, Marilyn was dead, and it was due to foul play. The man who performed the autopsy on Marilyn was Dr. Noguchi. His report stated that her blood contained 8 milligrams percent chloral hydrate, and her liver contained 13 milligrams...
Words: 2352 - Pages: 10
...Marilyn Monroe is an iconic actress. She was the inspiration of many which explains why her sudden death on August 5 1962 shocked. Her naked corpse was also found in a weird state with much contradiction for the cause of death. It was officially settled as suicide: she overdosed. Unsatisfied, conspiracy theories were born ranging from drug mixture to murder to keep secret about the JF Kennedy relationship (which is a rumor, theory). The death of this sex icon and its conspiracy theories made a huge mark on today’s pop culture. . This paper is going to show that Marilyn Monroe’s death wasn’t a suicide. The descriptions of the official theory will explain what this paper is trying to deny. Her days before her death provide context. The weird...
Words: 1180 - Pages: 5
...Marilyn Monroe was a troubled woman who wanted to understand herself, her institutionalized mother, and her chaotic childhood. She wanted to understand her pain and be released from it. Her whole family had seemed to yield to madness, so the threat of “insanity” stalked her at every turn. She sought to educate and get cutting edge treatment to strip off what she feared was inevitable. Most of her life she wasn’t the glamourous starlet we envision her to be. Under the glitter was a regular girl trying to get a grip on things and constantly trying to learn and improve. She read at length, and treated everyone she encountered as a teacher. Poetry was her favorite. She would delight in words, seeking to frame and define her twisting and glorious emotions. Gloria Steinem was one of the first biographers to look for Marilyn the person. After she wrote a relatable article about Marilyn in Ms. Magazine, tons of letters poured in from women who identified with Marilyn in some way. They, too, had suffered miscarriages, domestic violence, childhood molestation that no one believed. They had been overprescribed painkillers, sleeping pills and tranquilizers for common problems, they, too, struggled with the difference between their internal identity and the way others perceived them. Marilyn represented something so big on the screen, something so inaccessible and fantastic, that her vulnerability could seem aggressive. “How dare she be just as vulnerable and unconfident as I felt?” Gloria...
Words: 1828 - Pages: 8
...Marilyn Monroe, arguably the most famous woman of the 20th century, was hidden behind her typecasting as a provocative, dumb blonde. Emerging as America’s first sex symbol in the late 1950’s, Monroe was different and immediately attracted attention, while her well-being was disregarded. Although her career was prosperous, it was cut short by her death in 1962: a death that is still debated heavily today. Her photos hanging in teen girl’s rooms, her movies still glorified, Marilyn Monroe lives on. Her life was nowhere near perfect and the other side of Marilyn, the madness, is what will be divulged here today. In the summer of 1926, Marilyn, formerly Norma Jeane Mortenson, was born into a fatherless home and forced to live out her early life...
Words: 1125 - Pages: 5
...Marilyn Monroe, a famous actor, singer, and model. We all know the famous skirt flying act, leading to her unpredictable death. In this essay I’m going to be talking about who she was and what her favorite things were. Marilyn Monroe was a orphan. Before she was born, Marilyn’s mother, Gladys Pearl, was really young when she had her first 2 kids. The father of those kids took them when they had there divorce. Gladys wasn’t alone for long after the divorce she met a another guy in 1924 she met and married Edward Mortenson. This marriage also failed, and Mortenson had long vanished from the scene before Glady’s became pregnant with her third child. She never stated who the father was, but perhaps she didn’t know, but one of the most likely candidates...
Words: 323 - Pages: 2
...QUEEN ELIZABETH II THE nation that leads by the queen, full of blessings and mysterious dream. The life inside in monarchy full of glamorous and prestigious day. My life is very old but full of memories i’m always fainting and sometimes i cant walk ,in this situation i spend all my wealth, since i’m lonely i enjoy my life for everyday. Being the leader of the palace the guard always secured and protect me like a mother’s hand that always care us no matter what happen. For me life is not easy to handle ones especially when you are very young, as being a mother and mother of my nation, i will do all my best to prove to all that i can be a great leaderqueen or ruler because i have a great experience to became a leader, because for me, every second is important, when i was a little girl, my mother teach me how to became a great leader and ruler in the country and she said one day you will be a queen and you will handle this trone and lead the world i don’t expect to became a great leader but to became a mother its easy for me after 30 when my mother said me that word my father , the prince died , i became the second ruler of the nation the tandem of my mother and i is not easy to handled because of issue that pushing us down but i still strong and i do what is right for me. After 20 years that my father died, my mother died to and she said to me. Lead the world no matter what happen you will became famous and strongest human in this planet . i look...
Words: 404 - Pages: 2
...from dark childhoods of abuse, foster homes and unloved backgrounds. Marilyn Monroe is only one out of millions of stars where people do not know about their troubled personal lives. Although she was very adored by the public eye, behind the lights Monroe struggled with depression and anxiety. She could never find the person that would appreciate her and love her for her personality. From her very first month of life, Marilyn learned quick that the world was going to be hard. Monroe wrestled with hardship through her childhood, early life and sadly her quick ending life. Little did Marilyn Monroe know, she was going to have an insane future ahead of her. Monroe was born with no father...
Words: 1068 - Pages: 5
...Strong beautiful women have long been admired by American society. While standards have changed as to what is considered beautiful, nothing has changed in the way that people idolize celebrities. Back in the mid-1900s, women were most beautiful when they were curvy and had fuller bodies. During the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe, an actress, singer, and model, was the ideal image of the perfect woman. She had beautiful blonde hair, a curvy figure, and was successful. She was the woman that every man wanted to be with and that every woman wanted to be. However, there was much more to her than what met the eye. Monroe had a rocky upbringing and because of this she suffered from many psychological issues including attachment disorder, depression, insomnia,...
Words: 1014 - Pages: 5
...The True Light of Marilyn When we here the name Marilyn Monroe many thoughts come to mind. Was she that big time Hollywood star that overdosed on drugs? Was she Hollywood’s angel with hidden secrets? Internally she was stuck in darkness and externally it seemed as if she was always in the light. All of these thoughts circulate in our heads about who Marilyn Monroe really was when in reality, she was just a person who wanted to be loved and feel wanted. Marilyn Monroe was born as Norma Jean on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Her issues started as a child. Her mother was a single parent and was not around due to work and later being placed in a rest home due to her mental illness of schizophrenia. Consequently, Norma was moved around between family members and eventually ended up in several orphanages. By the age of 15, one of Norma Jean’s family members thought it would be good for her to marry their next door neighbor so she could have some stability in her life. The union between them only lasted several weeks because shortly after the marriage he went to the merchant marines and was shipped away. Feeling alone and needing extra money, Norma Jean began to work at a factory where she was discovered and got her first break as a model. She was featured in over 33 magazine covers and later began getting in to film. As her imaged changed so did her name. Formally known as Norma Jean she was now Marilyn Monroe. She had platinum blonde hair and a...
Words: 1736 - Pages: 7
