60th Anniversary of The Iconic Marilyn Monroe

The Marilyn Monroe Story

Sixty years after her death, Marilyn Monroe still remains one of the most famous women in the world, making headlines once again. Kim Kardashian at the met gala wore the famous ‘Happy Birthday dress’ which was originally worn by Marilyn Monroe in May 1962 when she delivered her seductive rendition of the song to President John F Kennedy. 

Not surprisingly, many were outraged when another should dare to wear the historical dress which has become a material effigy, worshipped as the embodiment of the woman herself and all that she strived for. A sacred object that represents the image of a goddess. The dress was designed by a then fresh-out of college designer Bob Mackie who worked for French Haute Couturier Jean Louis.

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The iconic figure overcame so much in her life and shot to fame of dizzying heights only for her life to end in tragic circumstances, her death shrouded in mystery. 

After several decades, we have to ask, what is it about Marilyn Monroe’s life that still mesmerises us all today? Is it that she was the most photographed glamorous woman of her time? Or the allure of her hedonistic lifestyle and rollercoaster of love affairs with men, drugs and booze? Perhaps it is the fact that we just can’t accept that fairy tales don’t always have a happy ending?  

The mystery is always an allure and speculation over her death and the conspiracy theories rage on. But so too do the questions about her mental state, more so surrounding the final years of her life as she is reported to have attempted suicide on more than one occasion before her death and suffered from bouts of depression. 

In the golden era of Hollywood, the Public relations policies were very much hands-off. Actors were given reverence because studios heavily controlled what they wanted the public to view of the movie stars- usually from a distance to maintain respect.

But Marilyn Monroe was groundbreaking in that she was one of the first that seemed open and more available to the public. It would appear that anything that you wanted to know about her could be asked. This made her hugely appealing. Alongside her glamorous style, platinum blonde hair and voluptuous physical image – something she carefully crafted. 

But this was an illusion as Marilyn had a turbulent relationship with the truth, her past and reality itself. When asked in public interviews Marilyn would say that her mother was dead and she had no family. In fact, this was not the case and her mother Gladys who was born in Mexico outlived her. 

Long after her death, there have been several books written about the star as close confidants have carried out interviews in their later years. In his book The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, J Randy Taraborrelli talks about ‘the war with her own mind’. Something she hid with her style and wit. The truth of her own childhood years and fears were unbearable to her and she agonisingly fought to escape it.

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Her fear for her own insanity plagued Monroe and stemmed from the fact that both her grandmother and mother were committed to asylums. Her Mother Gladys lost her father at age 7 and battled with mental depression which meant that Marilyn’s childhood was not a secure one.  She was passed from several foster parents to orphanages as her mother was in and out of mental institutions. This left Marilyn with a constant craving for the security of the family.  

Her quest for stability started when she married at just 16 to a work colleague Jim Dougherty whilst working in a munitions factory to avoid being put back into an orphanage.  But, it was at this very factory where she was spotted by an army photographer and her modelling career began.  She divorced two years later in 1946 as her husband who was a marine stationed in the Pacific was against her career. 

Interesting, it was later in life that Marilyn discovered that she had a half-sister. Her mother was married previously and had a daughter Bernice Baker Miracle and a son called Robert who tragically died as a teenager. Both were taken away by their father at a young age – probably due to their mother’s mental health.

Her half-sister later wrote a book about their relationship. My Sister Marilyn: A Memoir of Marilyn Monroe. In it, we learn how Marilyn remained in contact with her sister and indeed her mother -determined to maintain some sort of family.  Both sisters were affected by their mother’s unstable mind:

‘We share the same mother, who was diagnosed as mentally ill early in our lives. We grew up feeling abandoned and, though both of us were told we were pretty and talented, we still needed courage and strength. We got that from each other.’

Bernice Baker Miracle

The enticing mystery of Marilyn also circled around who was her father as her mother had been married 3 times and initially she was named Norma Jean Mortensen and later it was changed to Baker only to become her stage name Monroe finally when at Columbia pictures [this was actually her mother’s maiden name.] 

Her final secret, the name of a documentary, by Francois Pomès, shows evidence of recent  DNA tests that prove her father was actually a man called Charles Stanley Gifford whom Monroe had also suspected was her father when alive and tried to contact several times without a great deal of success. It is alleged that saliva from his granddaughter verifies this. The intrigue and mystery platinum archetype once again capture a world audience.

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Her past gives us clues as to the pattern of her behaviour later in life. She craved the attention that was missing in her childhood but certainly learned to attract it on a huge scale later on. The permanence of the family eluded Marilyn. Divorcing her later husbands Joe Di Maggio the famous American baseball player and Arthur Miller, the acclaimed writer of the day. She also suffered miscarriages. 

Brought up a strict Christian by one of her foster parents called Ida, she even converted to Judaism when she married Miller and remained so for the rest of her life as she was drawn to the importance of family that the religion embodies.

In his book, Taraborrelli portrays the star as ‘a brave soldier with a devastating battle with her own mind’.  She was acutely wary of her impending genetic madness that seemed to have been passed down from her grandmother and then to her mother. Marilyn’s psychiatrist, Dr Ralph Greenson, was never far away in her later years and indeed it was he who found her dead. 

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But Marilyn’s mind also showed such strength and vigour and this is what attracted people to her.  Taraborrelli writes how she lived in the ‘now’ and had ‘an abundance of hope’ as well as  ‘an anything is possible attitude’. Certainly, Marilyn’s story is more than just tragedy as she achieved so much in one lifetime against all the odds and is respected and admired for such outstanding achievement. 

Battling mental illness and a fractured childhood, she did not let that stand in her way. She fought hard to be recognised as a serious actor. Famously tired of being sold as an ‘Aphrodisiac celluloid’  as she so wisely put it. When the patronising filmmakers of Hollywood would not give her serious roles she set up her own film production company in 1954 and took lessons with Lee Strasberg in New York City at the Actors Studio from which she emerged as a talented comic actor.  

“Hollywood as a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul’ 

Marilyn Monroe

She was nominated for a BAFTA in 1955 for ‘The Severn Year Itch’ and a Golden Globe in ‘Bus Stop’ in 1956 going on to win the Golden Globe for her most famous film ‘Some Like it Hot. She made over 35 major films and starred opposite some Hollywood greats such as Bette Davis, Lawrence Olivier and Dean Martin.

Intrigued by the mystery of her life, today’s audience still muses at perfectly styled images, questioning over and over,  the journey of one human story of struggle and success on a scale only few will experience, frustratingly taken down by her own demons. 

Monroe’s story has become enshrined alongside legends and fables. A fairy tale with no happy ending, but at the same time never-ending as we constantly look for lessons to be learnt.  Perhaps the lesson is ‘hope’ and that with an ‘anything is possible attitude’ life with all its ups and downs and unexpected curve balls can be lived to the full.

Marilyn Monroe: 1st June 1926 – 4th August 1962

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By Vicky Hatia