NORMA JEANE MORTESON AKA 'MARILYN MONROE'

The Grandma in the market of antiquities, Girona

The Grandma and Claire Fontaine continue in Girona. They have visited the downtown and the most beautiful places of the city.

Every Sunday, there's a little market of antiquities and The Grandma has bought an interesting biography with questions and listenings about Marilyn Monroe who died on a day like today in 1962. Claire Fontaine and The Grandma want to remember this actress who has become an icon during more than forty years after her death.

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Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926-August 5, 1962) was an American actress, model, and singer. She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson. Famous for playing comic blonde bombshell characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and was emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality. Although she was a top-billed actress for only a decade, her films grossed $200 million by the time of her unexpected death in 1962. More than half a century later, she continues to be a major popular culture icon.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage and married at the age of sixteen. While working in a radioplane factory in 1944 as part of the war effort, she was introduced to a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career. The work led to short-lived film contracts with Twentieth Century-Fox (1946–1947) and Columbia Pictures (1948).

More information: Marilyn Monroe

After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in 1951. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress and had 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.

Norma Jeane Mortenson aka Marilyn Monroe

Monroe faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photos before she became a star, but the story did not tarnish 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 noir film Niagara, which focused 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. 

More information: Biography

Although she played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, 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 one of the biggest box office successes of her career, The Seven Year Itch (1955).

When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe's contract, she founded a film production company in late 1954; she named it Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP). She dedicated 1955 to building her company and began studying method acting at the Actors Studio. 

More information: PBS-American Masters

In late 1955, 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 the first independent production of MMP, The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).

Marilyn Monroe

Monroe won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her work in Some Like It Hot (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).

Monroe's troubled private life received much attention. She struggled with substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. Her second and third marriages, to retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, respectively, were highly publicized and both ended in divorce.

During the final months of her life, Monroe lived at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her housekeeper Eunice Murray was staying overnight at the home on the evening of August 5, 1962. 

More information: The Telegraph

Murray awoke at 3:00 a.m. on August 6 and sensed that something was wrong. Although she saw light from under Monroe's bedroom door, she was unable to get a response and found the door locked. Murray then called Monroe's psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, who arrived at the house shortly after and broke into the bedroom through a window, finding Monroe dead in her bed. She was pronounced dead by her physician, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, who arrived at the house at around 3:50 a.m. At 4:25 a.m., they notified the Los Angeles Police Department.

Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe

Monroe had died between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on August 5, and the toxicology report revealed that the cause of death was acute barbiturate poisoning. 

She had 8 milligrams per 100 milliliters of solution chloral hydrate and 4.5 mg% of pentobarbital, Nembutal, in her blood, and a further 13 mg% of pentobarbital in her liver. Empty medicine bottles were found next to her bed.

The possibility that Monroe had accidentally overdosed was ruled out because the dosages found in her body were several times over the lethal limit.

More information: Vogue

According to The Guide to United States Popular Culture, as an icon of American popular culture, Monroe's few rivals in popularity include Elvis Presley and Mickey Mouse... no other star has ever inspired such a wide range of emotions, from lust to pity, from envy to remorse. 

Art historian Gail Levin stated that Monroe may have been the most photographed person of the 20th century, and The American Film Institute has named her the sixth greatest female screen legend in American film history.

Marilyn Monroe

The Smithsonian Institution has included her on their list of 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time, and both Variety and VH1 have placed her in the top ten in their rankings of the greatest popular culture icons of the twentieth century.

Hundreds of books have been written about Monroe. She has been the subject of films, plays, operas, and songs, and has influenced artists and entertainers such as Andy Warhol and Madonna. 

More information: MoMA

She also remains a valuable brand: her image and name have been licensed for hundreds of products, and she has been featured in advertising for multinational corporations and brands such as Max Factor, Chanel, Mercedes-Benz, and Absolut Vodka.

Due to the contrast between her stardom and troubled private life, Monroe is closely linked to broader discussions about modern phenomena such as mass media, fame, and consumer culture.

Monroe was perceived as a specifically American star, a national institution as well known as hot dogs, apple pie, or baseball"according to Photoplay. She was considered a symbol of populuxe, a star whose joyful and glamorous public image helped the nation cope with its paranoia in the 1950s about the Cold War, the atom bomb, and the totalitarian communist Soviet Union.

More information: The Guardian

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and 

it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. 

Marilyn Monroe