Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 – 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2021) by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, Monroe remains a major icon of pop culture. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her sixth on their list of the greatest female screen legends from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Multiple film critics and media outlets have cited Monroe as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in a total of 12 foster homes and an orphanage; she married at age sixteen. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in late 1950. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. She faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photographs prior to becoming a star, but the story did not damage her career and instead resulted in increased interest in her films. By 1953, Monroe was one of the most marketable Hollywood stars; she had leading roles in the film noir Niagara, which overtly relied on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde". The same year, her nude images were used as the centerfold and on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. She played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, but she was disappointed when she was typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project but returned to star in The Seven Year Itch (1955), one of the biggest box office successes of her career. When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe's contract, she founded her own film production company in 1954. She dedicated 1955 to building the company and began studying method acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Later that year, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and her first independent production in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Some Like It Hot (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).
Known For
Credits
- 2024 · Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes as Self (archive photo)
- 2024 · Aliens Uncovered: Marilyn Monroe Exposed as Self
- 2024 · Cecilia Cloacas as Self (archive footage)
- 2024 · Cecilia 13: El Camino al Deseo as Tentación (archive footage)
- 2024 · Cecilia X. Familia. as Self (archive footage)
- 2024 · Aliens Uncovered: Declassified as Self
- 2023 · Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · Le Siècle des icônes as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · Becoming Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · Dream Girl: The making of Marilyn Monroe as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · Una foto de Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · Reframed: Marilyn Monroe as Self (archive footage)
- 2022 · Rat Pack as Self (archive footage)
- 2021 · Tunnel to Freedom as Self (archive footage)
- 2021 · Marilyn Monroe: Beauty is Pain as Self (archive footage)
- 2021 · Cher: In Her Own Words as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2020 · Signoret et Montand, Monroe et Miller : Deux couples à Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
- 2020 · I Am Jackie O as Self (archive footage)
- 2020 · First Ladies as Self (archive footage)
- 2019 · Hollywood, la vie rêvée de Lana Turner as Self (archive footage)
- 2019 · Marilyn and I as Self (archive footage)
- 2018 · Marilyn Monroe for Sale as Self (archive footage)
- 2018 · Always at The Carlyle as Self (archive footage)
- 2017 · Arthur Miller: Writer as Self (archive footage)
- 2017 · Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime as Self (archive footage)
- 2016 · Andy Warhol, Fluorescent as Self (archive footage)
- 2016 · All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone as The Girl (archive footage)
- 2015 · Arthur Miller: A Man of His Century as Self - Miller's 2nd Wife (archive footage)
- 2015 · Marilyn Monroe Declassified as Self (archive footage)
- 2013 · Love, Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 2013 · Footsteps on the Ceiling as Miss Caswell (archive footage)
- 2012 · Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe as Self (archive footage)
- 2012 · Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 2012 · Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen as (archive footage)
- 2011 · Mentiras verdaderas as Self (archive footage)
- 2011 · Bert Stern: Original Madman as Self (archive footage)
- 2010 · The Kennedy Detail as Self (archive footage)
- 2010 · Smash His Camera as Self (archive footage)
- 2010 · Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff as Self (archive footage)
- 2010 · Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon as Self (archive footage)
- 2010 · Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved as (archive footage)
- 2009 · Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical as Self (archive)
- 2008 · La Rabbia di Pasolini as Self (archive footage)
- 2008 · Marilyn, dernières séances as Self (archive footage)
- 2006 · Grace Kelly: Destiny of a Princess as Self - Actress (archive footage)
- 2006 · Marilyn Monroe: Still Life as Self (archive footage)
- 2006 · The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot' as Self (archive footage)
- 2006 · The Making of 'Some Like It Hot' as Self (archive footage)
- 2006 · Jane Russell - Der Star aus dem Heu as Self (archive footage)
- 2006 · Playboy: Celebrity Centerfolds as Self (archive footage)
- 2004 · Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates as Self (archive footage)
- 2003 · Sex at 24 Frames Per Second as Self (archive footage)
- 2003 · Un film et son époque as Self (archive footage)
- 2002 · Making 'The Misfits' as Self (archive footage)
- 2002 · Marilyn: Portrait of a Legend as Self (archive footage)
- 2001 · Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days as Self (archive footage)
- 2001 · Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
- 2001 · Marilyn on Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 1999 · Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl as Self (archive footage)
- 1998 · Marilyn in Manhattan as Self (archive footage)
- 1997 · Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line as Self (archive footage)
- 1996 · Marilyn, divine et fragile as Self (archive footage)
- 1996 · The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful as Self (archive footage)
- 1996 · We Remember Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 1995 · Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie as Self (archive footage)
- 1994 · Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess as Self (archive footage)
- 1994 · That's Entertainment! III as (archive footage)
- 1993 · Intimate Portrait as Self (archive footage)
- 1991 · Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire as Self (archive footage)
- 1991 · Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star as Self (archive footage)
- 1990 · Marilyn: Something's Got to Give as Self (archive footage)
- 1990 · Star Life as Self (archive footage)
- 1990 · Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths as (archive footage)
- 1989 · John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick as Self (archive footage)
- 1989 · Batmania: From Comics to Screen as Self (archive footage)
- 1987 · Hollywood Uncensored as Self (archive footage)
- 1987 · Hollywood's Hidden Secrets as (archive footage)
- 1986 · Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend as Self (archive footage)
- 1986 · Marilyn Monroe as Self (archive footage)
- 1985 · Volunteers as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1984 · Electric Blue Special: Nude Celebrity Special as
- 1983 · Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1982 · Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! as Self (archive footage)
- 1975 · Mi Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 1974 · Spécial cinéma as Self (archive footage)
- 1973 · The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks as Self (archive footage)
- 1972 · Marilyn Magdalena as
- 1970 · Fake Newsreal as Self (archive footage)
- 1969 · The Two Kennedys as Self (archive footage)
- 1965 · The Love Goddesses as (archive footage)
- 1963 · The Marilyn Monroe Story as Self (archive footage)
- 1963 · Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 1963 · La Rabbia as Self (archive footage)
- 1962 · President Kennedy's Birthday Salute as Self
- 1962 · Something's Got to Give as Ellen Wagstaff Arden
- 1961 · The Misfits as Roslyn Taber
- 1960 · Let's Make Love as Amanda Dell
- 1959 · Startime as
- 1959 · Some Like It Hot as Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
- 1957 · The Prince and the Showgirl as Elsie
- 1956 · Bus Stop as Cherie
- 1955 · The Seven Year Itch as The Girl
- 1954 · There's No Business Like Show Business as Vicky
- 1954 · River of No Return as Kay Weston
- 1953 · How to Marry a Millionaire as Pola Debevoise
- 1953 · Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as Lorelei Lee
- 1953 · Niagara as Rose Loomis
- 1952 · Monkey Business as Lois Laurel
- 1952 · O. Henry's Full House as Streetwalker (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
- 1952 · Don't Bother to Knock as Nell Forbes
- 1952 · We're Not Married! as Annabel Jones
- 1952 · Clash by Night as Peggy
- 1951 · Let's Make It Legal as Joyce Mannering
- 1951 · Love Nest as Roberta 'Bobbie' Stevens
- 1951 · As Young as You Feel as Harriet
- 1951 · Home Town Story as Iris Martin
- 1950 · All About Eve as Miss Caswell
- 1950 · The Fireball as Polly
- 1950 · The Jack Benny Program as Marilyn Monroe
- 1950 · The Jack Benny Program as Self
- 1950 · Right Cross as Dusky Ledoux (uncredited)
- 1950 · A Ticket to Tomahawk as Clara
- 1950 · The Asphalt Jungle as Angela Phinlay
- 1950 · The Bob Hope Show as Self
- 1949 · Love Happy as Grunion's Client
- 1948 · Ladies of the Chorus as Peggy Martin
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self (archive footage)
- 1948 · Green Grass of Wyoming as Extra at Square Dance (uncredited)
- 1948 · Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! as Betty (uncredited)
- 1947 · Dangerous Years as Evie
- 1947 · The Shocking Miss Pilgrim as Telephone Operator (voice) (uncredited)
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Winner