Marilyn Monroe

Acting · 3.9 popularity

Age

100

Movies

152

Born: June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962
From: Los Angeles, California, USA

Biography

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2021) by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, Monroe remains a major icon of pop culture. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her sixth on their list of the greatest female screen legends from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Multiple film critics and media outlets have cited Monroe as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in a total of 12 foster homes and an orphanage; she married at age sixteen. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in late 1950. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. She faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photographs prior to becoming a star, but the story did not damage her career and instead resulted in increased interest in her films. By 1953, Monroe was one of the most marketable Hollywood stars; she had leading roles in the film noir Niagara, which overtly relied on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde". The same year, her nude images were used as the centerfold and on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. She played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, but she was disappointed when she was typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project but returned to star in The Seven Year Itch (1955), one of the biggest box office successes of her career. When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe's contract, she founded her own film production company in 1954. She dedicated 1955 to building the company and began studying method acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Later that year, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and her first independent production in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Some Like It Hot (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).

Works

152 films

Some Like It Hot

19598.1

All About Eve

19508.1

The Misfits

19617.0

Love Happy

19495.8

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

19537.3

The Seven Year Itch

19557.0

How to Marry a Millionaire

19536.8

The Asphalt Jungle

19507.5

Let's Make Love

19606.4

River of No Return

19546.7

Niagara

19536.8

Bus Stop

19566.1

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

20127.5

The Prince and the Showgirl

19576.3

Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire

19916.5

Lykke og krone

19629.0

Don't Bother to Knock

19526.7

Monkey Business

19526.7

Hollywood Invasion

20116.0

Playboy's 50th Anniversary Celebration

2003

Andy Warhol, Fluorescent

2016

That's Entertainment! III

19947.0

O. Henry's Full House

19526.9

Bardot

20258.3

Portrait of Norma Jeane

2027

Crushtime

20256.0

There's No Business Like Show Business

19546.1

Clash by Night

19526.7

Disney Celebrates America: The Pursuit of Happiness

2026

Jayne Mansfield: The Tragedy of a Blonde

20156.4

Let's Make It Legal

19515.7

Hollywood Uncensored

19875.4

Playboy: Celebrity Centerfolds

20062.0

Love, Marilyn

20136.6

Zwischen Glück und Krone

195910.0

A Ticket to Tomahawk

19506.0

As Young as You Feel

19516.4

Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum

20177.7

Mansfield 66/67

20174.8

We're Not Married!

19525.9

Fatal Addiction: Marilyn Monroe

2022

Playboy's Playmates: The Early Years

19923.0

Bert Stern - Original Madman

20117.6

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

20106.7

Marilyn, Her Final Secret

20226.8

Arthur Miller: Writer

20177.1

Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl

19998.3

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

19977.7

The Casting Couch

19958.3

The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful

199610.0

Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star

19917.5

All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone

20167.4

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

19837.0

Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie

19957.2

Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates

20045.5

The Fabulous Allan Carr

20174.5

Ladies of the Chorus

19486.7

Remembering Marilyn

19889.0

Rat Pack

20229.0

The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'

20068.5

Marilyn Monroe: The Last Torments

2011

Faces of Death VII

1992

Prayer for Marilyn Monroe

19988.0

Arthur Miller on Home Ground

197910.0

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim

19478.8

100 Years of Marilyn Monroe

20269.0

Marilyn

1970

Footsteps on the Ceiling

2013

John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick

19886.0

Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!

19826.0

The Prince, The Showgirl and Me

2004

Norma Jean Alias Marilyn Monroe

19879.0

Destins secrets d’étoiles - Grace, Jackie, Liz, Marilyn…

20158.0

The Myth of Marilyn Monroe

2023

Grace Kelly: Destiny of a Princess

20067.2

Arthur Miller: A Man of His Century

20157.5

Right Cross

19507.3

Marilyn, a woman of today

20227.0

Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days

20016.8

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

19867.4

Home Town Story

19514.9

Murderers, Mobsters, & Madmen: Volume 6: Hollywood Police Files

19928.0

Mi Marilyn

19756.3

The Fireball

19506.0

Marilyn Monroe Declassified

20156.9

Becoming Marilyn

20227.6

Love Nest

19515.5

Marilyn

19637.5

Marilyn's Man

20047.0

Nobody's Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot

20017.0

Marilyn in Manhattan

19987.9

Una foto de Marilyn

2022

The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'

20067.0

Marilyn: Portrait of a Legend

199210.0

My Life as Marilyn

20237.0

Hollywood-Diven von ihrer erotischen Seite

2017

Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths

19905.7

Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe

20127.2

La Rabbia

19637.0

Green Grass of Wyoming

19486.8

Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults

19977.7

Marilyn, dernières séances

20087.0

The Discovery Of Marilyn Monroe

1991

Eve and Marilyn

19878.0

Marilyn Monroe: In The Movies

20127.0

Marilyn at the Movies

2011

Mythos Côte d'Azur - Liebe, Luxus, Leidenschaft

20217.5

Death In Hollywood

19906.8

Marilyn vs Marilyn

200210.0

President Kennedy's Birthday Salute

19627.8

Marilyn Monroe: The Rise of an Icon

20267.0

Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood

20017.2

The Legend of Marilyn Monroe

19666.7

The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks

19736.8

We Remember Marilyn

19968.0

Batmania: From Comics to Screen

19897.8

Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!

19486.6

Marilyn despite herself

20128.0

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical

2009

Backstory: 'All About Eve'

20009.0

Beautiful Like a Poem

2020

Marilyn: Something's Got to Give

19905.0

Making 'The Misfits'

20027.0

Two Tragic Blondes - Marilyn Monroe And Jean Harlow

19899.0

Marilyn Monroe: Still Life

2006

Voyage to Nowhere

19867.5

The Complete Marilyn Monroe

2001

Celebrity Crime Scene: Marilyn Monroe

20266.0

Dangerous Years

19476.2

The Body of Marilyn Monroe

20048.0

Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved

2010

Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess

19946.9

Signoret and Montand, Monroe and Miller: Two couples in Hollywood

20207.9

The Marilyn Files

19927.0

Bettie Page: The Girl in the Leopard Print Bikini

20047.5

Aliens Uncovered: Marilyn Monroe Exposed

2024

Marilyn Monroe

198610.0

Say Goodbye to the President: Marilyn and The Kennedys

1985

Marilyn on Marilyn

20019.5

Marilyn

2012

Marilyn and I

201910.0

Marilyn Monroe: A Life in Pictures

2005

Hollywood Hall Of Fame - Marilyn Monroe

1998

Marilyn Monroe for Sale

20186.0

Marilyn Magdalene

1972

Marilyn Monroe: Portrait of a Legend...Suicide Or Murder?

19956.0

Marilyn Monroe: Beauty is Pain

20216.0

The Marilyn Monroe Story

19634.0

Marilyn Monroe: Unclaimed Baggage

20125.0

Fake Newsreal

1970

Marilyn Monroe: The Story of Her Iconic Life

2012

The Life And Music Of Marilyn Monroe

2006