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).
Some Like It Hot
(Sugar Kane Kowalczyk)
All About Eve
(Miss Caswell)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(Lorelei Lee)
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
(Self (archive footage))
How to Marry a Millionaire
(Pola Debevoise)
River of No Return
(Kay Weston)
Arthur Miller: Writer
(Self (archive footage))
The Seven Year Itch
(The Girl)
The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'
(Self (archive footage))
The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'
(Self (archive footage))
Love, Marilyn
(Self (archive footage))
The Misfits
(Roslyn Taber)
There's No Business Like Show Business
(Vicky)
Green Grass of Wyoming
(Extra at Square Dance (uncredited))
Let's Make It Legal
(Joyce Mannering)
Clash by Night
(Peggy)
We're Not Married!
(Annabel Jones)
Don't Bother to Knock
(Nell Forbes)
O. Henry's Full House
(Streetwalker (segment "The Cop and the Anthem"))
Monkey Business
(Lois Laurel)
Bus Stop
(Cherie)
The Prince and the Showgirl
(Elsie)
Let's Make Love
(Amanda Dell)
Cher: In Her Own Words
(Self (archive footage) (uncredited))
Love Happy
(Grunion's Client)
Home Town Story
(Iris Martin)
Jane Russell - Der Star aus dem Heu
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved
((archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon
(Self (archive footage))
Love Nest
(Roberta 'Bobbie' Stevens)
Fake Newsreal
(Self (archive footage))
As Young as You Feel
(Harriet)
The Asphalt Jungle
(Angela Phinlay)
Marilyn and I
(Self (archive footage))
Ladies of the Chorus
(Peggy Martin)
Hollywood Uncensored
(Self (archive footage))
Niagara
(Rose Loomis)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
(Self (archive footage) (uncredited))
Smash His Camera
(Self (archive footage))
The Fireball
(Polly)
Dream Girl: The making of Marilyn Monroe
(Self (archive footage))
Dangerous Years
(Evie)
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe: Beauty is Pain
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn in Manhattan
(Self (archive footage))
I Am Jackie O
(Self (archive footage))
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
(Self (archive footage))
A Ticket to Tomahawk
(Clara)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
(Self (archive footage))
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks
(Self (archive footage))
Right Cross
(Dusky Ledoux (uncredited))
Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
(Self (archive footage))
Playboy: Celebrity Centerfolds
(Self (archive footage))
Una foto de Marilyn
(Self (archive footage))
Becoming Marilyn
(Self (archive footage))
La Rabbia di Pasolini
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn, divine et fragile
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn: Something's Got to Give
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe Declassified
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe for Sale
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn: Portrait of a Legend
(Self (archive footage))
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
(Self (archive footage))
Rat Pack
(Self (archive footage))
The Two Kennedys
(Self (archive footage))
Hollywood's Hidden Secrets
((archive footage))
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
((archive footage))
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!
(Betty (uncredited))
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
(Self (archive footage))
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
(Self (archive footage))
Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn
(Self (archive footage))
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
((archive footage))
Always at The Carlyle
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn on Marilyn
(Self (archive footage))
The Kennedy Detail
(Self (archive footage))
Something's Got to Give
(Ellen Wagstaff Arden)
Electric Blue Special: Nude Celebrity Special
Volunteers
(Self (archive footage) (uncredited))
Andy Warhol, Fluorescent
(Self (archive footage))
That's Entertainment! III
((archive footage))
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
(Self (archive footage))
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone
(The Girl (archive footage))
We Remember Marilyn
(Self (archive footage))
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim
(Telephone Operator (voice) (uncredited))
Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn, dernières séances
(Self (archive footage))
Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn
(Self (archive footage))
The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful
(Self (archive footage))
Mi Marilyn
(Self (archive footage))
Bert Stern: Original Madman
(Self (archive footage))
Arthur Miller: A Man of His Century
(Self - Miller's 2nd Wife (archive footage))
Making 'The Misfits'
(Self (archive footage))
Hollywood, la vie rêvée de Lana Turner
(Self (archive footage))
La Rabbia
(Self (archive footage))
Signoret et Montand, Monroe et Miller : Deux couples à Hollywood
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Monroe
(Self (archive footage))
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
(Self (archive footage))
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute
(Self)
Grace Kelly: Destiny of a Princess
(Self - Actress (archive footage))
Batmania: From Comics to Screen
(Self (archive footage))
The Marilyn Monroe Story
(Self (archive footage))
Footsteps on the Ceiling
(Miss Caswell (archive footage))
Tunnel to Freedom
(Self (archive footage))
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes
(Self (archive photo))
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical
(Self (archive))
Marilyn Monroe: Still Life
(Self (archive footage))
Marilyn Magdalena
Aliens Uncovered: Declassified
(Self)
Aliens Uncovered: Marilyn Monroe Exposed
(Self)
Un film et son époque
(Self (archive footage))
Mentiras verdaderas
(Self (archive footage))
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields
(Self (archive footage))
Startime
The Jack Benny Program
(Marilyn Monroe)
Spécial cinéma
(Self (archive footage))
Reframed: Marilyn Monroe
(Self (archive footage))
Intimate Portrait
(Self (archive footage))
Star Life
(Self (archive footage))
Le Siècle des icônes
(Self (archive footage))
The Jack Benny Program
(Self)
The Bob Hope Show
(Self)
First Ladies
(Self (archive footage))
Golden Globe Awards
(Self - Winner)
ABC Stage 67
(Self (archive footage))
