A Brief Look At Marilyn Monroe

I have done my research project on Norma Jeane Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe. She was born June 1st 1926, in Los Angeles, California. She died at age 36 in Brentwood, California, August 5, 1962. I wanted to do Marilyn Monroe because she was going through so much with all the rumors, losing jobs, and having no family, but, she still did what she wanted to and when she wanted to do it. She didn’t care what people thought about her, she was still going to be herself. Norma had a tragic childhood. At the age of seven her mother was hospitalized for schizophrenic, a medical disorder, she was then put into an orphanage. Between the age seven and sixteen, she had 12 different foster parents. Norma had two siblings Berniece and. She never really knew them
because their father had custody of them. She finally had a relationship with them when she was 12. She also indeed suffered sexual abuse as a child. Starting when she was eight at one of the foster homes. In Norma’s high school life she went to Van Nuys High School. She went to that school ninth through tenth grade. Norma had very poor grades. Then, she dropped out to marry her next door neighbor James Dougherty. Then she was 16 and he was 21. Her foster parents were being transferred so the options were : go back to the orphanage or get married. When James went to be in the marines Norma got a job at radio planes mission factory. Photographer David couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw her while taking pictures of girl contributing to the troops. She then became a successful model. Modeling made Norma want to be a model so she started taking drama classes. After 4 years of being away James came back and made Norma choose either acting or him, she choose acting. She signed an acting contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1946. She made one-hundred and twenty-five dollars a week. Along with a weekly check came a new name “Marilyn Monroe,” and a new hair color. In her first few months at Fox she didn’t land any speaking roles, instead she was placed for dancing, singing and, pantomime classes. She also posed for endless series of publicity shots. In 1947 Marilyn landed her first speaking role in “Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!.” After a few rolls in movies like “Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!” Marilyn was once again jobless. She starting modeling again and her nude photograph on playboy bunny magazine got her another acting job for the movie “Somethings Got to Give.” She got sick while she was filming the movie and never finished it. When she was sick, people was starting rumors about her. In the morning of August 5, 2962, 36 year old Marilyn Monroe was found nude in bed, her hand on the phone, she had took 40 sleeping pills, and killed herself.
Marilyn Had married 3 people in her life, James Dougherty, Joe DiMaggio, and Arthur Miller. She married formal baseball star Joe DiMaggio in 1954, their marriage was going great until Joe came to one of Marilyn’s movies scenes, and seen the famous skirt blowing act. The shot of Marilyn's white dress blowing up to reveal her shapely legs is so identified with her image that it has become a virtual icon, at once celebrating her sexuality and encapsulating her legend. Joe didn’t like that and they divorced. Marilyn Monroe had a couple challenges. When she was a little girl she was sexually abused, and her foster mother at the time did not believe her husband (Marilyn’s foster father) was doing it. A few of her foster parents abused her, sexually and physically. When she got older one of the challenges she face was rumors. Everyone started rumors about her like “Marilyn Monroe is having an affair with John F. Kennedy.” We don’t know if that is true or not. Marilyn had a couple challenges, but most of her challenges were in herself. She know who she
was. There were more than 3 things that made Marilyn important. But the major 3 things was her beauty, her acting, and her singing. Her beauty is what helped her with modeling and is what made her a major sex symbol. Her beauty led to her acting. And she was in a numerous amount of movies and plays. Her acting led to her singing, she started singing in plays. Marilyn contributed to her specially by being the person that she wanted to be and look like. With her dyed snow white hair and brown eyes, she was a perfect model and actor. Her voice was just her being her. She was doing what she loved. She didn’t care what people thought of her until her last few years. The part of Marilyn’s life that I admire the most is her last few years. She was going through so much and still happened to make it through everything. But a person has a breaking point. She was starting to act like what people wanted her to act like instead of herself. And I think that is what drove her to kill herself. She could not sleep so she took all these sleeping pills. When she tried to grab the phone to call 911, I think she died.