Born at the cusp of the Great Depression and bidding her final farewell right at the end of the Eisenhower era, Marilyn Monroe managed in her short life to embody 20th Century America. With her iconic beauty, overwhelming charm, immense talent and that undefinable, yet undeniable, “It-factor”, Monroe single-handedly created the archetype of the hyperfeminine blonde bombshell — the Hollywood sex symbol — setting the standard for decades to come.

Transcending her chosen medium of film, Monroe’s influence thoroughly permeated the worlds of art, fashion and popular culture. She remains an object of fascination throughout the world, inspiring countless works of art, songs, biographies, novels, films and documentaries. As thorough research into her life, times and career have shown, none of this happened by accident or on its own. Her canonical rise to fame and box office dominance were ultimately as much her own doing as her tragic, untimely passing.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Born in poverty in 1926, Norma Jeane Mortenson — the girl who would become Marilyn Monroe — was raised in foster homes and orphanages, overcoming severe hardship to ultimately reach the highest echelons of popular culture. Her rise to fame out of this humble background is a big part of her story, and in her heyday she was said to embody the American Dream with her classic rags-to-riches tale, although reporters have since disputed parts of her story, noting that parts of it were exaggerated or even fabricated by the Hollywood studios as part of their marketing efforts.

Young Norma Jean got married at age sixteen, and started working in a factory during the wartime effort while her husband was deployed overseas. While at the factory she came in contact with a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and engaged in a successful test shoot. This led to a successful pin-up modeling career (opposed by her husband, whom she went on to divorce) along with brief film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures.

MAKING IT

Determined to make it as an actress, Monroe took acting lessons and steadily networked her way up the ladder. 1950 saw her first breakthroughs in the film world, with small roles in Joseph Mankiewicz’s “All About Eve” and John Huston’s “Asphalt Jungle” earning the public’s attention along with some glowing press reviews. A seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox followed.

Her profile steadily rose following these initial successes. Despite various personal hardships and battles with both the press and the studios (which she made untold millions of dollars), her career remained on an upward trajectory right up until her death in 1962, leaving behind a string of canonical films such as “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, “The Seven Year Itch”, “Bus Stop” and “Some Like It Hot”.

Marilyn Monroe’s entire career was marked with inner strife. Not content to be typecast as a sex symbol, even though she very much cultivated the image to her benefit, Monroe put a lot of work into honing her acting skills, studying with the Strasbergs and constantly making efforts to star in a wide range of films that could display her range and talent. Her constant efforts for independence and saw her founding her own production company in 1955, to better control her career and to avoid “the same old sex roles,” a move she was relentlessly mocked for initially. After great success, she eventually wound up declaring victory over Fox and, with the effort pegged as a smart business move for her.

ETERNAL LEGACY

Biographer Anthony Summers (author of the definitive Monroe bio “Goddess”) describes her as “nobody’s fool.” “Having had no education,” he says, “virtually, she was a very aware person who made herself politically aware, came up with quite insightful comments in political conversations and tried to improve herself throughout her life.”

“She kept little notebooks,” he continues, “little journals on which she made notes all the time. And she was a voracious reader, a terrific reader. [She] was a really thoughtful, intelligent woman... She played along with the effort to create her as a cardboard-cutout figure, while at the same time, in private life, doing everything she could to make sure she wasn’t a cardboard-cutout figure.”