Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was known as the Sex goddess/symbol of the 50's, but to a lot of younger people she was more than that. "She was an inspiration to all who strive to overcome personal obstacles for the goal of achieving greatness."

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Marilyn Monroe was born June 1, 1926 at 9:30 a.m. in California's Los Angeles General Hospital. her mother was Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker. Her father was identified as Edward Mortenson at least on her birth certificate, but they don't think that was her actual father. They think that her biological father was probably Stanley Gifford, a co-worker of her mothers. So she never really knew who her real father was.

Her birth name was Norma Jeane Mortenson, but she was baptized as Norma Jeane Baker for her mother's name. She was the last of 3 children she had an older half sister and brother from her mother's first husband, Jasper Baker. Marilyn never really knew her brother and sister because they were in the custody of their father.

Norma had a horrible childhood that was characterized by neglect. She went through a series of foster homes, she was sexully abused and and her childhood was just very sad. Her mother had to work overtime, so Marilyn went into the care of Albert and Ida Bolender, who were Christian Scientists. She lived with them for about 7 years, seeing her mother on occasional weekends. They were very strict with Marilyn because they had extreme moral and religious values. When Norma turned 7, she lived with her mother for a little while until her mother was put into a nursing home. The doctors had diagnosed her mother with paranoid schizophrenia. Schizophrenia was a family condition that her mother’s father also suffered from.

Marilyn Monroe (http://www.marilynmonroe.com/about/photos/color_photos.htm)

Soon her foster parents began having financial troubles, so Norma had to choose whether to go back to the orphanage or to get married at the age of 16. She chose to get married to her 21-year old next door neighbor, Jim Dougherty, They got married on June 19, 1942 and that was the first of her 3 failed marriages. The other two marriages were with baseball all-star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller. While her husband was off at sea, Norma worked at an aircraft and parachute-inspecting plant called Radio Plane Munitions Factory. Her first job didn't really fulfill her dreams or her expectations, so she started to use alcohol as a way to escape. In mid-1944 she caught the attention of an army photographer. Norma just happened to be a natural beauty and she was paid $5 dollars an hour to model for him. While she was modeling her pictures also caught the attention of Blue Book Model Agency, so she started to model for them and that is where her career in the world of film and modeling took off.

A month after her 20th birthday, Norma was interviewed for a 20th Century Fox movie. A couple of days later she got a phone call asking if she would like to be in the movie. The contract was signed in August and she was paid 75 dollars a week. The contract had one adjustment: Norma Jeane Dougherty had to change her name to something catchier. One of the directors suggested "Marilyn" because it was the name of his favorite actress: Marilyn Miller, and Norma suggested Monroe because of her mother's maiden name. So there it was: she had to change her real name, Norma Jeane Dougherty, to Marilyn Monroe to become "the new face and name of Hollywood".

In 1962, the actress had an overdose of sleeping pills and went into a coma that led to her death. Marilyn Monroe was great and she achieved so many things. People are always telling you to go for your dreams and she did. She acted in 30 amazing movies, she won a 1962 Golden Globe for Female World Film Favorite, and she inspired many people, including someone like me, to go after our dreams. She had such a hard life with 3 failed marriages and a horrible childhood, yet somehow she got through it. And she didn’t act as if she was scarred for life.