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Marilyn Monroe
File:Monroe-1.jpg
BornJune 1, 1926
Los Angeles, California
DiedAugust 5, 1962
Los Angeles, California
Occupation(s)Model, Singer, Film Actress
Spouse(s)James Dougherty, Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller
Websitehttp://www.marilynmonroe.com Official Website of the Monroe Estate

Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962) was an iconic American actress, singer and model. To this day, she is one of the 20th century's most famous movie stars, sex symbols and pop icons. After acting in small roles for several years, she gradually became known for her comedic skills, sex appeal and screen presence, going on to become one of the most popular movie stars of the 1950s. Later in her career, she worked towards serious roles with a measure of success. However, long standing problems were exacerbated by disappointments in both career and personal life during her later years. Her death, officially ruled to be probable suicide by drug overdose, has been the subject of much speculation and conspiracy theory.

Early life

She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in the charity ward of the Los Angeles County Hospital. According to biographer Fred Lawrence Guiles, her grandmother, Della Monroe Grainger, had her baptized Norma Jean Baker by Aimee Semple McPherson.

Her mother, Gladys Pearl Monroe, had returned from Kentucky where her ex-husband had kidnapped their children, Robert and Berniece. Some of Monroe's biographers portray Jasper Baker as a vicious brute. Berniece recounted in My Sister albert that when Robert later suffered a series of physical ailments, Baker refused to seek proper medical attention for him; the boy died in 1933.

Many biographers believe Norma Jeane's biological father was Charles Stanley Gifford, a salesman for the studio where Gladys worked as a film-cutter. The birth certificate lists her second husband, Martin Edward Mortensen, the father. While Mortensen left Gladys before Norma Jeane's birth, some biographers think he was the father. [citation needed] In an interview with Lifetime, James Dougherty said Norma Jeane believed that Gifford was her father. Whoever the father, that he played no part in the child's life has never been in dispute.

Unable to persuade Della to take Norma Jeane, Gladys placed her with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, where she lived until she was seven. In her autobiography My Story, Monroe states she thought Albert was a girl. Some do not consider My Story trustworthy. It was ghost-written by Ben Hecht, and designed to promote Monroe's image as a long-suffering orphan. [1] Hecht divulged to his agent: "It is easy to know when she is telling the truth. The moment a true thing comes out of her mouth, her eyes shed tears. She's like her own lie detector." [2]

Gladys visited Norma Jeane every Saturday. One day, she announced that she had bought a house. A few months after they had moved in, Gladys suffered a breakdown. In the book, Monroe recalls her mother "screaming and laughing" as she was forcibly removed to the State Hospital in Norwalk. Gladys's father, Otis, died in an asylum near San Bernardino from syphilis. According to My Sister Marilyn, Gladys's brother, Marion, hanged himself upon his release from an asylum, and Della's father hung himself in a fit of depression.

Norma Jeane was declared a ward of state and Gladys's best friend, Grace McKee (later Goddard) became her guardian. After McKee married in 1935, Norma Jeane was sent to a Los Angeles orphanage and then to a succession of foster homes where she was allegedly subjected to abuse and neglect. There is, however, little evidence that she lived in as many foster homes as claimed.

The Goddards were moving East and could not take her. Grace Goddard worried about Norma Jeane having to return to the orphanage, so she spoke to the mother of James Dougherty. Mrs. Dougherty approached her son, who agreed to take Norma Jeane out on dates, paid for by Grace [citation needed]. They married two weeks after she turned 16.

Career

File:Monroe-4.jpg
A typical photograph from the early years of Monroe's career

Early years

While her husband served in the Merchant Marines during World War II, Norma Jeane Dougherty moved in with her mother-in-law, and worked in a factory spraying airplane parts with fire retardant and inspecting parachutes. Army photographer David Conover scouted local factories taking photos for a YANK magazine article about women contributing to the war effort. He saw her potential as a model and she was soon signed by The Blue Book modelling agency. In his book "Finding Marilyn", Conover claims the two had an affair that lasted years.

She became one of their most successful models, appearing on dozens of magazine covers. In 1946 she came to the attention of talent scout Ben Lyon. He arranged a screen test for her with 20th Century Fox. She passed and was offered a standard six-month contract with a starting salary of $75 per week.

Lyon suggested "Marilyn" (after Marilyn Miller) to be her stage name, since Norma Jeane wasn't considered commercial enough. She came up with her mother's maiden name "Monroe". Thus the twenty-year old Norma Jeane Baker became "Marilyn Monroe". During her first half-a-year at Fox, Monroe was given no work. Instead, she learned about hair, make-up, costumes, acting and lighting. After six months Fox renewed her contract. She was given minor appearances in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! and Dangerous Years, both released in 1947. In Scudda Hoo!, her face wasn't even visible. Both films failed at the box office and Fox decided not to renew her contract again. Monroe returned to modelling and began to network and make contacts in Hollywood.

In 1948, a six-month stint at Columbia Pictures saw her star in Ladies of the Chorus, but the low-budget musical was not a success and Monroe was dropped yet again. She then met one of Hollywood's top agents, Johnny Hyde, who had Fox re-sign her after MGM had turned her down. Fox Vice-President Darryl F. Zanuck was not convinced of Monroe's potential. However, due to Hyde's persistence, she gained supporting parts in All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle. Even though the roles were small, movie-goers took notice and Monroe began receiving more fan mail than some top-billed stars of the time.

The next two years were filled with inconsequential roles in standard fare such as We're Not Married! and Love Nest. However, RKO executives used her to boost box office potential of the Fritz Lang production Clash By Night. After the film performed well, Fox employed a similar tactic and she was cast as the ditzy receptionist in the Cary Grant/Ginger Rogers comedy Monkey Business. Critics no longer ignored her, and both films' success at the box office was partly attributed to Monroe's growing popularity.

Fox finally gave her a starring role in 1952 with Don't Bother to Knock, in which she portrayed a deranged babysitter who attacks the little girl in her care. It was a cheaply made B-movie, and although the reviews were mixed, many claimed that it demonstrated Monroe's ability and confirmed that she was ready for more leading roles. Her performance in this, one of her earliest films, has since been noted as one of the finest of her career by many critics.[3]

Stardom

Marilyn Monroe
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byMargie Harrison
Personal details
Height[convert: invalid number]
File:Monroe-Niagara.jpg
Monroe's role in the thriller Niagara gave her credibility as a dramatic actress, but her career would follow a comedy-orientated path.

Monroe proved she could carry a big-budget film when she received star billing for Niagara in 1953. Movie critics focused on Monroe's connection with the camera as much as the sinister plot[4]. She played the part of an unbalanced woman of easy virtue who is planning to murder her new 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. To the dismay of Fox, Monroe decided to publicly admit it was indeed her posing in the pictures. To a journalist asking what she had on during the photoshoot, she replied: "The radio." When asked what she wore in bed, she said: "Chanel No. 5".

Over the following months, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How To Marry A Millionaire cemented Monroe's status as an A-List screen actress and she became one of the world's biggest movie stars. The lavish Technicolor comedy films established Monroe's "dumb blonde" on-screen persona.

In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Monroe's turn as the gold-digging showgirl Lorelei Lee won her rave reviews [5], and the scene where she sings "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" has had an impact on popular culture, inspiring the likes of Madonna and Kylie Minogue. In the Los Angeles premiere of the film, Monroe and co-star Jane Russell pressed their foot- and handprints in the cemented forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

File:270px-Diamonds Gentlemen.jpeg
A much parodied scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, one of the iconic Marilyn Monroe scenes that defined pop culture.

In How to Marry a Millionaire, Monroe was teamed up with Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable. She played a short-sighted dumb blonde, and even though the role was stereotype, critics took note of her comedic timing.[6]

Her next two films, the western River of No Return and the musical There's No Business Like Show Business, were not successful. Monroe got tired of the roles that Zanuck assigned her. After completing work on The Seven Year Itch in early 1955, she broke her contract and fled Hollywood to study acting at The Actors Studio in New York. Fox would not accede on her contract demands and insisted she return to start work on productions she considered inappropriate, such as The Girl in Pink Tights (which was never filmed), The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, and How to Be Very, Very Popular.

File:Seven YEar Itch.jpg
A famous scene from the film The Seven Year Itch, in which Monroe's character has her skirt blown upwards revealing her underwear. This has grown to become an iconic moment for Monroe. On the left is Tom Ewell.

Monroe refused to appear in these films and stayed in New York. As The Seven Year Itch raced to the top of the box office in the summer of 1955, and with Fox starlets Jayne Mansfield and Sheree North failing to click with audience, Zanuck admitted defeat and Monroe triumphantly returned to Hollywood. A new contract was drawn up, giving Monroe an approval of the director as well as the option to act in other studios' projects.

The first film to be made under the contract was Bus Stop, directed by Joshua Logan. Praised by critics for her performance as Chérie [7], a saloon bar singer who falls in love with a cowboy, Monroe deliberately appeared badly made-up and non-glamorous. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for the performance.

Monroe formed her own production company with friend and photographer Milton H. Greene. Marilyn Monroe Productions released its first and only film The Prince and the Showgirl in 1957 to mixed reviews. Along with executive-producing the film, she starred opposite the acclaimed British actor Laurence Olivier, who directed it.

Olivier got furious at her habit of being late to the set, as well as her dependency on her drama coach, Paula Strasberg. While Monroe's reputation in the film industry for being difficult grew, her performance was hailed as a first-rate characterization by critics, especially in Europe, where she was handed the David di Donatello, the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award, as well as the French Crystal Star Award. She also got nominated for the British BAFTA award.

Later years

In 1959 she scored the biggest hit of her career starring alongside Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot. After shooting finished, Wilder publicly blasted Monroe for her difficult on-set behavior. Soon, however, Wilder's attitude softened, and he hailed her a great comedienne. Some Like It Hot is consistently rated as one of the best films ever made. [8] [9] Monroe's performance earned her a Golden Globe for best actress in musical or comedy.

File:Galler31.jpg
Screen Test's for Something's Got To Give, Monroe's last picture. It quickly descended into a costly debacle for Fox and was never completed.

After Some Like It Hot, Monroe did Let's Make Love directed by George Cukor and co-starring Yves Montand. Monroe, Montand and Cukor all considered the script subpar, yet Monroe was forced to shoot the picture because of her obligations to Twentieth Century Fox. While the film was not a commercial or critical success, it included one of Monroe's legendary musical numbers, Cole Porter's "My Heart Belongs to Daddy".

Arthur Miller wrote what became her and her co-star Clark Gable's last completed film, The Misfits. The exhausting shoot took place in the hot Nevada desert. Monroe's tardiness became chronic and the shoot was troublesome. Despite this, Monroe, Gable and Montgomery Clift delivered performances that are considered excellent by contemporary movie critics[10]. Monroe became friends with Clift, with whom she felt a deep connection. Some blamed Gable's death of a heart attack on Monroe, claiming she had given him a hard time on the set. Gable, however, insisted on doing his own stunts and was a heavy smoker. After his death, Monroe attended the baptism of his son.

Some of the most famous photographs of her were taken by Douglas Kirkland in 1961 as a feature for the 25th anniversary issue of LOOK magazine.

Monroe returned to Hollywood to resume filming on the George Cukor comedy Something's Got to Give. In May 1962, she made her last significant public appearance, singing Happy Birthday, Mr. President at a televised birthday party for President John F. Kennedy. After shooting what was claimed to have been the first ever nude scene by a major motion picture actress, Monroe's attendance became even more erratic.

File:Happybirthdaymonroe.jpg
Happy Birthday, Mr. President May 1962

Already in a financial strain due to production costs of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Fox dropped Monroe from the film and replaced her with Lee Remick. However, co-star Dean Martin was unwilling to work with anyone else but Monroe. She was rehired.

Monroe conducted a lengthy interview with Life Magazine, in which she expressed how bitter she was about Hollywood labeling her as a dumb blonde and how much she loved her audience. [11] She also did a photo shoot for Vogue, and began discussing a future film project with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, as stated in the Donald Spoto biography. Furthermore, she was planning to star in a biopic as Jean Harlow. Other projects being considered for her were What a Way to Go! and The Stripper.

Before the shooting of Something's Got to Give resumed, Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home, on the morning of August 5, 1962. She remains one of the 20th Century's most legendary public figures and archetypal Hollywood Movie Stars.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President
Marilyn Monroe's performance of the song
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Marriages

James Dougherty

File:PhilippeHalsman04071952.jpg
First Life cover (7 April 1952), taken by Philippe Halsman

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 arranged by Grace Goddard. She was reportedly furious when he wrote in a 1953 Photoplay piece called "Marilyn Monroe Was My Wife" that she threatened to jump off the Santa Monica Pier if he left her. He appeared on To Tell the Truth in April 7, 1967 as "Marilyn Monroe's real first husband". He sold his books on his website [12].

In the 2004 documentary Marilyn's Man, Dougherty made three new claims: he was her Svengali and invented the "Marilyn Monroe" persona, studio executives forced her to divorce him, and that he was her true love. The evidence does not support this. He remarried in 1947. When informed of her death, the August 6, 1962 New York Times reported he replied "I'm sorry," and continued his LAPD patrol; he did not attend her funeral. Contrary to his later claims that he did not mind that she modeled, his sister wrote in the 12/1952 Modern Screen Magazine that Dougherty left Norma Jeane because she wanted to pursue modeling. He admitted to A&E Network that his mother asked him to marry her, and told Lifetime in 1996 he cut off her allotment after being served with divorce papers. Perhaps more telling, the 1999 Christie's auction of Monroe's estate revealed she kept nothing from Dougherty except their divorce decree. He died from leukemia complications on August 15, 2005.

File:Marilynlovejoekiss.jpg
Joe DiMaggio and Monroe on their wedding day, January 14, 1954

Joe DiMaggio

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 wrote in My Story that 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 ten shows over four days in freezing temperatures for over 100,000 servicemen. Biographers have noted that DiMaggio was not pleased with his wife's decision during what he wanted to be an intimate trip.

Back home, she wrote him a letter about her dreams for their future, dated February 28, 1954:

"My Dad, I don't know how to tell you just how much I miss you. I love you till my heart could burst... I want to just be where you are and be just what you want me to be... I want someday for you to be proud of me as a person and as your wife and as the mother of the rest of your children (two at least! I've decided)..." [13]

DiMaggio biographer Maury Allen quoted New York Yankees PR man Arthur Richman that Joe told him everything went wrong from the trip to Japan on. Fred Lawrence Guiles speculated that Joe, knowing the power and hollowness of fame, wanted desperately to head off what he was convinced was her "collision-course with disaster." Friends claimed that DiMaggio became more controlling as Monroe grew more defiant [citation needed]. On September 14, 1954, she filmed the now-iconic skirt-blowing scene for The Seven Year Itch in front of New York's Trans-Lux Theater. Bill Kobrin, then-Fox's east coast correspondent, told the June 26, 2006 Palm Springs Desert Sun that it was Billy Wilder's idea to turn it into a media circus: "... every time her dress came up and the crowd started to get excited, DiMaggio just blew up." The couple later had a "yelling battle" in the theater lobby [14] Her makeup man Allan Snyder recalled Monroe later appeared on set with bruises on her upper arms [citation needed]. She filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty 274 days after the wedding.

Even before her separation from Arthur Miller, the state of her mental health was publicly speculated on. In February 1961, her psychiatrist arranged for her to be admitted to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, where, according to Donald Spoto, she was placed in the ward for the most seriously disturbed. Unable to check herself out, she called DiMaggio, who secured her release. She later joined him in Florida. Their "just good friends" claim did not stop rumors of remarriage. Archive footage shows Bob Hope jokingly dedicated Best Song nominee The Second Time Around to them at the 1960 Academy Awards telecast, .

According to Maury Allen, on August 1, 1962 DiMaggio - alarmed by how his ex-wife had fallen in with people he felt detrimental to her, such as 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. Unlike her other two husbands, he never talked about her publicly, wrote a tell-all, nor remarried. He died on March 8, 1999, of lung cancer.

Arthur Miller

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. Nominally raised as a Christian, she converted to Judaism before marrying 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, as noted in the Monroe biographies written by Anthony Summers, Fred Lawrence Guiles, and Donald Spoto.

By 1958, she was the couple's main breadwinner. While paying alimony to Miller's first wife, her husband reportedly charged her production company for buying and shipping a Jaguar to the United States[citation needed].

Miller's 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.

In January 1964, Miller's play After the Fall opened, featuring a beautiful and devouring shrew named Maggie. The similarities between Maggie and Monroe did not go unnoticed by audiences and critics (including Helen Hayes), many of whom sympathized with the fact that she was no longer alive and could not defend herself [citation needed].

Simone Signoret noted in her autobiography the morbidity of Miller and Elia Kazan resuming their professional association "over a casket". In interviews and in his autobiography, Miller insisted that Maggie was not based on Monroe. However, he never pretended that his last Broadway-bound work, Finishing the Picture, was not based on the making of The Misfits. He told Vanity Fair the she was "highly self-destructive" and what "killed" her was not some conspiracy, but the fact that she was Marilyn Monroe [citation needed]. He died on February 10, 2005, at the age of 89.

Death and aftermath

Main article: Death of Marilyn Monroe

Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California home by her housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old. Her death was ruled as an overdose of sleeping pills. Several conspiracy theories have been brought up around the circumstances some involving the president JFK. Cover-up has been a main topic for discussion.

Monroe is buried at Corridor of Memories, #24, at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Administration of estate

In her will, Monroe left Lee Strasberg control of 75% of her estate. She expressed her desire that Strasberg, or, if he predeceased her, her executor, "distribute (her personal effects) among my friends, colleagues and those to whom I am devoted." [15]

Strasberg willed his portion to his widow, Anna. She declared she would never sell Monroe's personal items after successfully suing Odyssey Auctions in 1994 to prevent the sale of items which were withheld by Monroe's former business manager, Inez Melson. However, in October 1999 Christie's auctioned the bulk of the items Monroe willed to Lee Strasberg, netting $12.3 million USD. Julien's staged a second auction in 2005.

Anna Strasberg is currently in litigation against the children of four photographers to determine rights of publicity, which permits the licensing of images of deceased personages for commercial purposes. The decision as to whether Marilyn was a resident of California, where she died, or New York, where her will was probated, is worth millions. [16]

Trivia

Film Year Salary
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! 1948 $75/week
The Asphalt Jungle 1950 $1,050
All About Eve 1950 $500/week, with one-week guarantee
We're Not Married! 1952 $750/week
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1953 $1,250/week
The Seven Year Itch 1955 $1,500/week
Some Like It Hot 1959 $200,000 plus 10% gross over $4 million
The Misfits 1961 $250,000
Something's Got to Give 1962 $100,000

Filmography

Year Title Role Other notes
1962 Something's Got to Give Ellen Wagstaff Arden (unfinished)
1961 The Misfits Roslyn Tabler
1960 Let's Make Love Amanda Dell
1959 Some Like It Hot Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
1957 The Prince and the Showgirl Elsie Marina
1956 Bus Stop Cherie
1955 The Seven Year Itch The Girl
1954 There's No Business Like Show Business Vicky Hoffman/Vicky Parker
1954 River of No Return Kay Weston
1953 How to Marry a Millionaire Pola Debevoise
1953 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Lorelei Lee
1953 Niagara Rose Loomis
1952 O. Henry's Full House Streetwalker in "The Cop and the Anthem" episode
1952 Monkey Business Miss Lois Laurel
1952 Don't Bother to Knock Nell Forbes
1952 We're Not Married! Annabel Jones Norris
1952 Clash by Night Peggy
1951 Let's Make It Legal Joyce Mannering
1951 Love Nest Roberta Stevens
1951 As Young as You Feel Harriet
1951 Home Town Story Gina Norris
1950 Right Cross Dusky Ledoux (uncredited)
1950 All About Eve Miss Caswell
1950 The Fireball Polly
1950 The Asphalt Jungle Angela Phinlay
1950 A Ticket to Tomahawk Clara (uncredited)
1949 Love Happy Grunion's Client
1948 Ladies of the Chorus Peggy Martin
1948 Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! Girl in Canoe (lake scenes)/Girl Exiting Church (uncredited)
1947 Dangerous Years Evie

Awards and nominations

  • 1952 Photoplay Award: Special Award
  • 1953 Photoplay Award: Most Popular Female Star
  • 1956 BAFTA Film Award nomination: Best Foreign Actress for The Seven Year Itch
  • 1956 Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress in Comedy or Musical for Bus Stop
  • 1958 BAFTA Film Award nomination: Best Foreign Actress for The Prince and the Showgirl
  • 1958 David di Donatello Award (Italian): Golden Plate for The Prince and the Showgirl
  • 1959 Crystal Star Award (French): Best Foreign Actress for The Prince and the Showgirl
  • 1960 Golden Globe, Best Motion Picture Actress in Comedy or Musical for Some Like It Hot
  • 1962 Golden Globe, World Film Favorite: Female
  • Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 6104 Hollywood Blvd.

NOTE: In the interest of conserving space, only people or works or organizations with articles in Wikipedia are cited; the following is not meant to be comprehensive.

Music

Film

Portrayed in:

Based on her:

Television

Portrayed in:

Based on her:

Art

File:Marilyn Monroe Warhol Prints.jpg
Andy Warhol's iconic Marilyn Monroe Diptych

Artists who have used Marilyn as a basis of their work:

Photography

Stage

Based on her:

As a Character:

Books

According to The Guardian, there are nearly 300 biographies on Marilyn in English alone; the following are fictional takes:

See also

Further reading

  • Baty, S. Paige (1995). American Monroe: The Making of a Body Politic. University of California Press. ISBN 0520088069. Examines Marilyn's stature as an icon.
  • Belmont, Georges (2000). Marilyn Monroe and the Camera. Te Neues Publishing Company. ISBN 3823854674. Marilyn's "love affair" with the camera.
  • Churchwell, Sarah (2004). The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe. Metropolitan Books. ISBN 0805078185. Explores Western Civilization's fixation with Marilyn.
  • Guiles, Fred Lawrence (1993). Norma Jean: The Life of Marilyn Monroe. Paragon House Publishers. ISBN 155778583X. Reissue of a biography cited in this article.
  • Mailer, Norman (1973). Marilyn: A Biography. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0448010291. His controversial take on Marilyn.
  • Monroe, Marilyn (2000). My Story. Cooper Square Press. ISBN 0815411022. Reprint of Marilyn's memoirs, ghost-written by Ben Hecht; introduction by Andrea Dworkin.
  • Rollyson, Carl E. (1993). Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306805421. Scholarly look at Marilyn's films.
  • Spoto, Donald (2001). Marilyn Monroe: The Biography. Cooper Square Press. ISBN 0815411839. Biography cited in this article.
  • Victor, Adam (1999). The Complete Marilyn Monroe. Thames and Hudson Ltd. ISBN 0500019789.
  • Smith, Matthew (2004). Marilyn's Last Words: Her Secret Tapes and Mysterious Death. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0786713801. Alleged transcripts of Monroe's therapy sessions.
  • Taylor, Roger G. (2006). Marilyn in Art. Chaucer Press. ISBN 1904957021. Examines Marilyn's influence on numerous artists.
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