Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson) was an American actor, model, and singer who became one of the most iconic figures of 20th-century popular culture.
In 1953, Monroe had solidified her status as one of the most marketable Hollywood stars, with leading roles in the noir thriller Niagara (focused on her sex appeal) as well as the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire that established her star image as a “dumb blonde.”
The same year, her nude photographs were used as the centerfold and cover of the first issue of Playboy’s debut issue. Although she played a significant role in creating and managing her public image, she was disappointed when she found herself typecast and underpaid. Frustrated by her limited creative control and low pay, she found herself briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project, but she would soon return in one of the biggest box office successes of her career, The Seven Year Itch (1955).
The Seven Year Itch was also responsible for one of the most iconic images of Monroe.
When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe’s contract, she founded a film production company in late 1954 and named it Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP). She dedicated 1955 to building her company and began studying method acting at the Actors Studio, meanwhile developing projects under her new banner. Her efforts paid off when 20th Century Fox renegotiated her contract, granting her higher salaries and creative input. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and the first independent production of MMP, The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). Monroe won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her work in the smash hit Some Like It Hot (1959). Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).
In the transcripts of her sessions with Dr. Ralph Greenson, the psychoanalyst she saw towards the end of her life, she admitted to having sexual encounters with actresses Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, and Elizabeth Taylor.
Monroe’s troubled private life received much attention. She struggled with substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. Her second and third marriages, to retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, were highly publicized and both ended in divorce. On August 4, 1962, she died at age 36 from an overdose of barbiturates at her home in Los Angeles.