About Me
She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California, to Gladys Baker. As the identity of her father is undetermined, she was later baptized Norma Jeane Baker. Gladys had been a film cutter at RKO studios, but psychological problems prevented her from keeping the job and she was eventually committed to a mental institution.Monroe married James Dougherty on June 19, 1942. In The Secret Happiness of Marilyn Monroe and To Norma Jeane with Love, Jimmie, he claimed they were in love but dreams of stardom lured her away. She always maintained theirs was a marriage of convenience, and was reportedly furious when he claimed in a 1953 Photoplay piece that she threatened to jump off the Santa Monica Pier if he left her. He later appeared on To Tell the Truth as "Marilyn Monroe's real first husband". He sold his books on his website.In the 2004 documentary Marilyn's Man, Dougherty made three new claims: he was her Svengali and invented "Marilyn Monroe", Fox forced her to divorce him, and he was her true love. The evidence does not support this. He remarried in 1947. When informed of her death, the New York Times reported he chose to continue his LAPD patrol; he did not attend her funeral. He admitted to A&E Network his mother asked him if he'd marry Norma Jeane. Although he maintained he didn't mind if she modeled, his sister wrote in the 12/1952 Modern Screen Magazine that he left Norma Jeane because she wanted to pursue modeling. He admitted to Lifetime's "Intimate Portrait" that he cut off her monthly allotment when he was served with divorce papers. More telling, the 1999 Christie's auction revealed Monroe kept nothing from him except their divorce decree. He died from leukemia complications on August 15, 2005.Monroe proved she could carry a big-budget film when she finally received star billing for Niagara in 1953. Movie critics focused on Monroe's connection with the camera as much as the sinister plot. Here she played the part of an unbalanced easy virtue who is planning to murder her equally neurotic husband Around this time, nude photos of Monroe began to surface, taken by photographer Tom Kelley when she had been struggling for work. Prints were bought by Hugh Hefner and in December 1953 appeared in the first edition of Playboy. In 1951 Joe DiMaggio saw a picture of Monroe with two Chicago White Sox players, but did not ask the man who arranged the stunt to set up a date until 1952. She did not want to meet him, fearing a stereotypical jock. They eloped at San Francisco's City Hall on January 14, 1954. During the honeymoon, she was asked to visit Korea. She performed 10 shows over 4 days in freezing temperatures for more than 100,000 soldiers and marines. Reportedly, Joe was not pleased with his wife's decision during what he wanted to be an intimate honeymoon. On June 29, 1956, Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller, whom she had first met in 1951, in a civil ceremony in White Plains, New York. Born as a Christian, she converted to Judaism when she married Arthur Miller. After she finished shooting The Prince and the Showgirl, the couple returned to the States from England and discovered she was pregnant. However, she suffered from endometriosis and the pregnancy was found to be ectopic; it was aborted to save her life. A subsequent pregnancy ended in miscarriage.By 1958, she was the couple's main breadwinner. Not only did she pay alimony to Miller's first wife but he reportedly charged her production company for buying and shipping a Jaguar to the United States. His screenplay for The Misfits was meant to be a Valentine gift for his wife, but by the time filming started in 1960 their marriage was broken beyond repair. A Mexican divorce was granted on January 24, 1961. On February 17, 1962, Miller married Inge Morath, one of the Magnum photographers recording the making of The Misfits.Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California home clutching her telephone by her live-in housekeeper Mrs. Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was only 36 years old. Her death was ruled as an overdose of sleeping pills, but several conspiracy theories have been brought up around the circumstances. Cover-up has been a main topic for discussion for decades. Marilyn is buried at Corridor of Memories, #24, at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, CA.According to Maury Allen, on August 1, 1962 DiMaggio - alarmed by how Marilyn had fallen in with people he felt detrimental to her (including Frank Sinatra and his "Rat Pack" - quit his job with a PX supplier to ask her to remarry him. He claimed her body, and arranged her funeral, barring Hollywood's elite. For 20 years, he had a dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week. He never talked about her publicly or "cashed in" on the relationship. He never remarried. He died on March 8, 1999, of lung cancer.
