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The sad Start to a Sad Story
born as Norma Jeane Mortensen, whom later changed her name to Marilyn Monroe -
Moved in With Family Friends
At the age of 12 weeks old Marilyn's mother was unable to continue to take care of her, therefore her mother paied five dollars a week for her close personal friend to keep Marilyn -
Los Angeles Orphans Home Society
On September 13, 1935 Marilyn was taken to the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society -
Foster Care
During the Depression, couples who took in foster children got money from the state, the arrangement did not encourage the best of motivations for helping out parentless children. During her years in foster care at one point Marilyn was rapped, and when she said anything to the foster mother she slapped Norma Jeane, shouting, "I don't believe you. Don't you dare say such things about that nice man." -
The Way Out
She wed her boyfriend Jimmy Dougherty on June 19, 1942, at the age of 16. By that time, Monroe had dropped out of high school (age 15). -
Monroe is Born
Dougherty was later sent to the South Pacific. Monroe went to work in a munitions factory in Burbank, California, she was then discovered by a photographer. By the time Dougherty returned in 1946, Monroe had a successful career as a model, and had changed her name to Marilyn Monroe in hope for an acting career. -
The End of the Happy Couple
The couple divorced in 1946 -
The Start of a Short Career
Her small part in John Huston's crime drama The Asphalt Jungle (1950) garnered her a lot of attention. That same year, she impressed audiences and critics alike with her performance as Claudia Caswell in All About Eve, starring Bette Davis. She would soon become the center of alot of gossip with her relationship with Sir Laurence Olivier in 1957's The Prince and the Showgirl. -
Niagara
1953, Monroe made a star-making turn in Niagara -
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The emerging sex symbol was paired with another bombshell, Jane Russell, for the musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) -
A Star in the Rising
How to Marry a Millionaire with Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall, There's No Business like Show Business with Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor -
the Second Attempt in the White Dress
Her 1954 marriage to baseball great Joe DiMaggio only lasted nine months -
The Last Dumb Blonde
The Seven Year Itch -
A New Blonde in Town
Bus Stop playing a saloon singer kidnapped by a rancher who has fallen in love with her. -
The Third Attempt in the White Dress
she wed playwright Arthur Miller from 1956 to 1961 -
Some Like it Hot
Some Like It Hot, with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. -
The Misfit
Monroe starred opposite Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift in The Misfits -
The Fall of a Rising Star
The Misfits was the last movie fully made by Monroe. In 1962, Monroe was dismissed from Something's Got to Give also starring Dean Martin for missing so many days of filming. -
Teh Death of Monroe
On August 5, 1962, at only 36 years old, Marilyn Monroe died at her Los Angeles home. An empty bottle of sleeping pills was found by her bed.
