Marilyn Monroe was born June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. She lived to the 36 when she died of a (questionable) drug overdose. Born, Norma Jean Mortensen, her father abandoned she and her mother and her mother Gladys, who worked as a film cutter for RKO Studios.
Gladys suffered from mental illness and was in and out of mental institutions for the duration of her life. Because of that Norma Jean spent time in foster homes. At nine years old, she was placed in an orphanage where she would stay for the next two years.In 1942, at the age of 16, Norma Jean married 21-year old aircraft plant worker James Dougherty.
The marriage lasted four years and divorced in 1946. Norma Jean was now modeling swimsuits and bleached her red hair blonde. Various shots made their way into the public eye, where some were eventually seen by RKO Pictures and head Howard Hughes. He offered Norma Jean a screen test, but an agent suggested that 20th Century-Fox would be the better choice for her, since it was a much bigger and more prestigious studio. She was signed to a contract at $125 per week for a six-month period.Her first film was in 1947 with a bit part in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim. After three more unsuccessful films Fox declined to renew her contract, so she went back to modeling and acting school. Columbia Pictures then picked her up to play Peggy Martin in Ladies of the Chorus (1949). Notices from the critics were favorable for her, if not for the film. Columbia dropped her shortly after. Once again she turned to modeling.
In 1949, she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe and posed nude for the now famous calendar shot which was later to appear in Playboy magazine in 1953 and further boost her career. She appeared in five more films, but the good news was that she received very good praise for her roles in two of them The Asphalt Jungle (MGM) and All About Eve(Fox), both in (1950). But it wasn’t until Monkey Business (1952), where she was seen for the first time as a platinum blonde, a look that became her trademark. The next year she appeared in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) as Lorelei Lee, opposite Jane Russel. 
It was also the same year she began dating the baseball great, Joe DiMaggio.Marilyn was now a genuine box-office drawing card. Later, she appeared in How to Marry A Millionaire (1953) with Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall and Rory Calhoun. Although her co-stars got rave reviews, it was the sight of Marilyn that really excited the audience. In 1954 she starred opposite Ethel Merman, Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O’Connor in There’s No Business Like Show Business.
That was quickly followed by The Seven Year Itch (1955), which showcased her considerable comedic talent and contained what is arguably one of the most memorable moments in cinematic history: Marilyn standing above a subway grating and the wind from a passing subway blowing up her store bought white dress up in the air.
By October 1954, Marilyn announced her divorce from DiMaggio. The union only lasted eight months. In Bus Stop (1956), Marilyn showed critics that she could play a straight dramatic role.
It was also the same year she married playwright, Aruthur Miller (the divorced in 1960). After a year off in 1958, Marilyn returned to the screen the next year for a delightful comedy, 
Some Like It Hot (1959) with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The film was an absolute smash hit (and one of my personal favorites).The next year Marilyn appeared in Let’s Make Love (1960) with Tony Randall and Yves Montand. The film made money, but it was critically panned as stodgy and slow-moving. The following year Marilyn made what was to be her final film. The Misfits (1961), which also proved to be the final film for legendary Clark Gable, who died later that year of a heart attack. The film was popular with critics and the public alike.
In 1962 Marilyn was chosen to star in Fox’s Something’s Got to Give (1962). It was to be her comeback movie. Due to her absenteeism, which caused delay in production, resulted in her being fired from the production in June of that year. She would die of a drug overdose on August 6, 1962.
Do I believe that it was a drug overdose that killed her? No. Let's see. She started an affair with the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy in December 1961. May 17, 1962, a sick Marilyn defies studio executives and leaves in the middle of shooting her latest film, Something's Got To Give, and flies to New York to attend a Democratic Fund Raiser and birthday salute for President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden. Approximately 17,000 people at $1,000 a ticket showed up that night. Jackie Kennedy, 
however by now knew of the affair, did not attend. Later that evening a picture was taken of the trio (Marilyn, JFK and RFK). By now news of the president's illicit affair was becoming common knowledge. JFK's brother Robert, was called in. He served as the go-between and told Marilyn to leave his brother alone as he couldn't be seen with her anymore. To help soften the blow, he offered his private line to Marilyn and picked up the affair where his brother left off. By June 1962, Marilyn and RFK were hot and heavy. After about two months he deserted her...cold turkey. No warning. She never saw it coming. This made her depressed in bad shape. It was in late July that she had an alleged abortion (people would speculate which brother was the father: JFK or RFK). It was said that she was going to call a press conference to air some things out. She was hurt at being cast aside. Before she had a chance to do anything, she died.
Those close to her said that Marilyn knew enough about pharmacology and would often take just enough pills and champagne to go to sleep, so that an overdose was unlikely.
Marilyn’s death was ruled “acute barbiturate poisioning” by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners office and listed as a “probable suicide”. Many individual, including Jack Clemmons, the first Los Angeles Police Department officer to arrive at the deatch scene, believe that she was murdered.
The death of Marilyn Monroe is one of the most debated conspiracy theories of the 20th and 21st century.She made only 30 movies in her lifetime, but her status and mysticism will remain with film history forever.
JEAN HARLOW, MARILYN MONROE
