Marilyn Monroe’s Career Was At An All-Time High Before Her Tragic Passing
Fans of Marilyn Monroe are likely well aware she had a tough life. Behind the glamor and fame was inner turmoil, underestimation and, worst of all, mistreatment from so many men in her life.
However, it's also fair to say that, in the short time she was here, Monroe left an unforgettable legacy that continues to inspire the aesthetics, grace and ambitions of so many others today.
Marilyn Monroe Wasn't Her Birth Name
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926. Like many actresses of her era, that meant her famous stage name was invented by Hollywood studio executives.
It was believed her birth name wasn't memorable (plus her married name, "Dougherty," could be easily mispronounced), so the decision was made for the young star to adopt her mother's maiden name, Monroe.
As for her first name, that came from 20th-Century Fox's Ben Lyon, who was a fan of Broadway star Marilyn Miller.
She Got Her Start in Modeling
Before she began her Hollywood journey, Monroe was a model, working under her own name. While her hair and general aesthetic was radically different back then, she had a recognizable face.
While modelling throughout the 1940s, Monroe was known to wear cutting-edge swimwear that would have been considered fairly scandalous at the time.
Was Her Modeling Career a Threat?
However, the legitimate threat to Monroe's early film career was the fact she posed nude before she began working as an actress. As it turns out, this aspect of her modeling work only attracted public interest in her movies.
The Humble Start Of Her Film Career
By 1948, Marilyn Monroe had begun dipping her toes into the acting world. Indeed, of the five movies she first appeared in, four were released that year.
Of course, these early roles, including a minor character in the amusingly titled Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!, consisted of very small parts that often left her uncredited.
Nonetheless, it was a start.
Capturing Audiences' Attention in 'All About Eve'
After these minor roles, Monroe saw her image transform into the persona the world would forever remember. While she continued to take on small roles in obscure movies, she'd appear in her first all-time classic by 1950.
Bette Davis and Anne Baxter co-starred in All About Eve, but Monroe made her captivating debut to many moviegoers as Miss Caldwell. She may not have received top billing, but it was a more sizeable role in a bigger movie.
A Carefully Crafted Image
By the time she became a rising star in 1951, everything that'd make Monroe an eternally recognizable icon was already a part of her persona. In addition to her name, everything from her distinct voice to her signature fluffy blonde hairstyle had been concretely decided by either her or her management.
A Busy Period for Marilyn Monroe
While it's true it would take a couple of years for Monroe to sign on to another film that most people remember today, her rising star years from 1951-52 were a productive period for her.
Monroe appeared in nine movies during this time, including Fritz Lang's 1952 film noir drama, Clash By Night. However, many of her roles saw her act in romantic comedies, like Let's Make It Legal and We're Not Married!.
Monroe Hits Her Star-Making Role
While Monroe had ironed out everything about her image by this time, the movie that truly achieved this was the 1953 comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Monroe starred alongside the similarly adored Jane Russell and cemented her legendary status with the classic music number, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend." Although Monroe's unique voice sang most of the song, she had some help in the high-octave intro from Gloria Wood.
An Icon of Sensuality
While Monroe was hardly the first actress to enchant and entrance audiences with a sensual persona (Mae West had been similarly titillating for about 20 years by that point), the combination of her shyness and primal magnetism made her a deeply alluring figure.
So much so that she all but perfected that kind of image in a way that's only felt more pioneering and aspirational in the decades since her passing.
Other Women Spoke Out Against Her Appearance
Despite women protesting her revealing outfits and her even more esteemed peers, like Joan Crawford, calling her behavior "unbecoming an actress and a lady," Monroe continued to irresistible to male and female audiences alike.
Her Momentum Keeps Going
The third and last of her movies to be released in 1953, How To Marry A Millionaire, earned the most commercial success her career had seen up to that point. She starred in the film alongside Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall.
She Made an Unforgettable Impression on People
When the 1950s began, Monroe stuck out to moviegoers as a sultry and irresistible blonde bombshell. While her later career saw her depart from this image into more serious fare like The Misfits, many of her other movies were comedic or otherwise frivolous enough to establish her trademark shtick.
Marilyn Monroe Was Active in the USO
By the time her star had risen, Marilyn Monroe saw an opportunity to make a difference for Americans fighting overseas in the Korean War. Indeed, that's exactly what she did through the United Services Organization - better known as the USO.
In January 1954, Monroe toured various US military bases and performed a total of 10 shows for about 100,000 soldiers.
Her Brief But Significant Marriage
Soon after she'd cemented herself as a certified film star, Monroe married baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. While she'd been married once before, back before she was a household name, this marked the first of two unions she would have after she entered the public eye.
Monroe and DiMaggio were able to become platonic, yet dear friends before her passing, but that doesn't mean they had a particularly happy marriage. Indeed, one of her most iconic moments had a dark context behind it for this reason.
Monroe's Sadness After This Joyful Moment
The most often-imitated moment of Monroe's career saw her pose over a Manhattan subway grate while wearing a white dress. As she laughed, the updraft blew her skirt up, revealing her undergarments to busy photographers.
This move was intended to promote her movie The Seven Year Itch, but it reportedly enraged DiMaggio. Allegedly, he mistreated her enough that if he had been caught, it would have warranted a domestic violence charge.
Their Marriage Didn't Last Long
Monroe's marriage to DiMaggio was a significant part of her life story, but it only lasted until 1955. Rather than focusing on the events of the aforementioned night, Monroe described an overall pattern of neglect and mistreatment on DiMaggio's part.
This period also marked some fairly lean years for Monroe in a professional sense, as only The Seven Year Itch and 1956's Bus Stop came out in the months after their divorce.
A Rare Positive Influence Entered Marilyn Monroe's Life
While The Seven Year Itch became one of 1955's biggest commercial successes, a contract dispute with Fox led to a public smear campaign against Monroe that even included a mocking jab in the Broadway show, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.
This ridicule came in the wake of Monroe starting her own production company, but she also took it as an opportunity to hone her acting skills. She spent much of the year in Manhattan, studying under method acting pioneer Lee Strasberg.
Lee Strasberg Was More Than a Teacher to Her
While Monroe started lessons with Strasberg as the famous Actor's Studio, her shyness was severe enough that he, instead, invited her to his home, so he and his wife, Paula, could tutor her privately.
Not only did Monroe grow close enough to fire her existing acting coach in favor of Paula, but she'd eventually be considered a treasured member of their family.
A New Professional and Personal Phase
Monroe found her production company didn't have the funds to operate on its own, but she was nonetheless in a position where she was able to negotiate a new and more favorable contract with Fox by the end of 1955.
Around this time, she became much closer to famed playwright Arthur Miller, who was by then under investigation by the FBI and had been subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee for allegations of Communism.
Things Begin to Look Up for Marilyn Monroe
By 1956, it was clear Monroe's training with the Strasbergs was paying off, as her accent work in Bus Stop gave her some of the most promising critical acclaim of her career.
While her lateness to set and perfectionism had also given erh a reputation of being difficult to work with, Monroe's skills and bankable status compelled some directors not to worry about that.
Another Classic in Her Later Career
One of those directors was Billy Wilder, who fit Monroe's soft, sensuous charms perfectly into the timeless 1959 comedy, Some Like It Hot. While Tony Curtis reportedly found their romantic scenes nightmarish, due to the length of the shoots required, the movie was commercially and critically successful, to the point of earning Monroe a Golden Globe.
She Took on More Ambitious Roles Before Her Passing
Some Like It Hot and the 1960 film Let's Make Love weren't too far removed from Monroe's usual shtick, yet it was clear she was seeking more dramatically challenging roles by the end of her life.
Before her sudden death in 1962, Monroe starred in The Misfits. Directed by John Huston and written by her soon-to-be-ex-husband Arthur Miller, it saw her engage in her most dramatically intense performance ever. It was a bittersweet sign of what was to come in her career, had she lived.
Mason Zimmer
