Marilyn Monroe

Born

1926 · Los Angeles, California, US

Roots

White American

Family

Poverty

Her mother, a film-lab cutter, was institutionalized with schizophrenia; her father was absent. Norma Jeane passed through roughly eleven foster homes and an orphanage.

Education

Van Nuys High School (left at 16, marrying to avoid a return to the orphanage)

Started with

A factory photograph

Spotted by an army photographer on the Radioplane munitions line in 1944.

Affiliations & societies

None documented.

Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1. 1944 · age 18
   The munitions line

   Photographed for a morale story while spraying aircraft parts; modeling agencies follow.

2. 1946 · age 20
   Norma Jeane becomes Marilyn Monroe$75/week

   A $75-a-week Fox contract — dropped within a year, as is the next at Columbia.

3. 1953 · age 26
   Stardom

   Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire in a single year; she defuses a nude-calendar scandal with candor.

4. 1955 · age 28
   Marilyn Monroe Productions

   Walks out on her contract and forms her own company — among the first female stars to do so; Fox concedes director approval and a raise.

5. 1959 · age 32
   Some Like It Hot

   The Golden Globe for a performance shot through personal turmoil.

6. 1962 · age 36
   Dies in Brentwood

   A barbiturate overdose, ruled probable suicide; she remains among the most recognized faces ever filmed.