Marilyn Monroe

Known for ActingBorn 1926-06-01Died 1962-08-05Los Angeles, California, USA

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 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).Read more

Movies & web series

Marilyn and I

Un film et son époque

Marilyn vs Marilyn

Marilyn: Portrait of a Legend

Marilyn Monroe

Arthur Miller on Home Ground

Zwischen Glück und Krone

Marilyn on Marilyn

Spécial cinéma

Rat Pack

Backstory: 'All About Eve'

Two Tragic Blondes - Marilyn Monroe And Jean Harlow

Remembering Marilyn

Norma Jean Alias Marilyn Monroe

Lykke og krone

The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'

The Casting Couch

Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim

Marilyn Monroe, la célébrité à tout prix

Mythos Côte d'Azur - Liebe, Luxus, Leidenschaft

Destins secrets d’étoiles - Grace, Jackie, Liz, Marilyn…

Marilyn despite herself

Signoret and Montand, Monroe and Miller: Two couples in Hollywood

The Body of Marilyn Monroe

Dream Girl: The Making of Marilyn Monroe

Reframed: Marilyn Monroe

Prayer for Marilyn Monroe

We Remember Marilyn

Murderers, Mobsters, & Madmen: Volume 6: Hollywood Police Files

Something's Got to Give

Eve and Marilyn

Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum

Marilyn in Manhattan

Becoming Marilyn

Bert Stern - Original Madman

Batmania: From Comics to Screen

Some Like It Hot

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields

Arthur Miller: A Man of His Century

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

All About Eve

Bettie Page: The Girl in the Leopard Print Bikini

Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star

President Kennedy's Birthday Salute

All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone