Marilyn Monroe, beauty icon who left a legacy in film and fashion
The legendary American actress Marilyn Monroe remains alive 56 years after her death, through the film work she did in Hollywood, as well as in the world of modeling.
Norma Jeane Mortenson, years later known as Marilyn Monroe, was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California and died on August 5, 1962.
Norma Jeane Mortenson, years later known as Marilyn Monroe, was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California and died on August 5, 1962. She was the daughter of Gladys Baker, who never told her the identity of her father. she.
Marilyn lived a hard childhood, because her mother left her in the hands of a friendly couple until she was seven years old; she then took her to live with her; however, a year later, Gladys, she was admitted to a psychiatric sanatorium for paranoid schizophrenia, a disease that Marilyn believed she had inherited.
She spent most of her childhood and adolescence in an orphanage, which she entered at the age of nine and worked as a kitchen helper; Likewise, she was in the house of her grandparents and in that of several families who adopted her.
In one of them she suffered abuse by her father. At age 17, she began working at an aircraft construction plant, where she met a 21-year-old mechanic named James Dougherty, whom she married on June 19, 1942 and divorced four years later.
In 1946, a fashion photographer discovered her and convinced her to become a model, in this way, the still called Norma Jeane began her career as a model under the tutelage of agent Emmeline Snively, who suggested that she change the color of her hair, that he was brown from birth, due to the characteristic platinum blonde.
During this facet, she carried out various advertising campaigns, the ones she did to advertise swimsuits being well remembered. Her outstanding way of being led her to take drama classes at the Actor's Lab in Hollywood and to attend literature courses at the University of Los Angeles (UCLA).
The beauty of the model began to gain strength, because in 1947 the tycoon Howard Hughes, owner of the film company R.K.O., offered her to do some screen tests in order to know if she could play in front of a movie camera; but she, Norma Jeane, preferred to accept an offer from 20th Century Fox to work for a few months as a supporting actress.
She made three films in which she was not properly credited, and during this time her name change to Marilyn Monroe was verified. In 1949 she struck her first stroke of celebrity, posing for a photo shoot, the result of which is still today one of the most genuine images of a “pin-up girl”; Marilyn is shown in overhead shots on a red bedspread.
Some of the photos appeared that same year in a calendar, but in 1953 one of them would be the cover of the first issue of the famous "Playboy" magazine, which became a true media event.
That same year she filmed three movies, the first “Niagara”; Alfred Hitchcock-style suspense story directed by Henry Hathaway, but it wasn't the right type of production for the actress.
Later they were followed by “Gentlemen prefer blondes”; a new comedy, this time musical, by Howard Hawks, with which she marked the beginning of her career as a star and myth.
Her third job that year was Jean Negulesco's “How to Marry a Millionaire,” in which Marilyn and actresses Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall set out to win over a millionaire at all costs.
As a consequence of these works, in 1954 she was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actress; she besides becoming one of the brightest stars of Hollywood cinema.
On January 14, 1954, she married the legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio, one of the first American athletes, whose popularity was comparable to that of a movie star.
The wedding was one of the most notorious social events of that year; however, a few months later, on October 27, DiMaggio and Marilyn divorced.
Despite this, and according to the testimony of friends of the actress, Joe DiMaggio was, of the three husbands she had, the only one she really loved. In 1955 she went to the prestigious New York Actors Studio to take classes with Lee Strasberg.
Induced by Strasberg, she studied psychoanalysis in order to know herself better and bring out her interpretative potential.
