The Life of Marilyn Monroe
In order to better understand who Marilyn Monroe really was, it is helpful to read a Marilyn Monroe biography. A person and their personality are shaped by all the various phases of their lives. From beginning to end, people change and every stage of their life has a different meaning. We can look at Marilyn Monroe's life by examining the following stages - her childhood, her career and her death.
Marilyn Monroe was born on July 1, 1926 as Norma Jeane Mortenson (baptized as Norma Jeane Baker) in Los Angeles, California. Norma Jeane's parents had separated before she was born. Monroe's mother -- Gladys Pearl Baker -- suffered from mental health problems and was not able to financially provide for her family. Because of this, Norma Jeane was sent to live with a foster family. From there Norma Jeane was bounced around to various foster homes, orphanages and even lived with her mother again for a brief period until Gladys had a mental breakdown and was institutionalized. It was while she was living in one of her many foster homes that Norma Jeane met James Dougherty and started dating him. When her last foster family needed to move and were not able to take her with them, they suggested that Norma Jeane and Jim get married. They were married on June 19, 1942, just a few weeks before Norma Jeane's sixteenth birthday. Their marriage ended in 1946 when she decided to pursue a career in modeling.
Norma Jeane signed on with a modeling agency in 1946 and appeared on dozens of magazine covers that year. It was then that a 20th Century Fox executive "discovered" her and gave her a six month contract. It was then that Norma Jeane became Movie Star Marilyn Monroe. She did several movie projects in 1947 however her contract was not renewed. This cycle repeated for her until 1950 when she was cast for a small role in All About Eve. From 1950 until her death in 1962, Marilyn had roles in over thirty Hollywood movies.
Through these years, Marilyn married and subsequently divorced Joe DiMaggio (1954) and Arthur Miller (1957-1961). Tragically, on August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. The official cause of her death was determined to be an accidental drug overdose.