10 facts you may not have known about Marilyn Monroe (before you saw ‘Blonde’)

Text by: Enrique Espinosa

We are only a few days away from seeing Ana de Armas playing the iconic Marilyn Monroe in Blonde (HERE a bit of controversy), one of the most anticipated Netflix movies that is part of its originals. The film presents us with a fictional glimpse into the life of one of the most famous figures in cinema and in the world.

One important thing to know is that Blonde takes as inspiration the novel of the same name by the writer Joyce Carol Oateswho has mentioned that his text is fiction and should not be considered a biography.

Marilyn Monroe’s life has given much to talk about. Since he achieved fame until the tragic outcome in his life, a whole mythology has been created around it. For this reason and to prepare for the premiere of BlondeHere we will review the Marilyn Monroe’s most interesting facts.

You can also read: Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn Monroe breaks sales record with $195 million

Where did the name Marilyn Monroe come from?

On June 1, 1926, Gladys Pearl Baker gave birth to Norma Jeane Mortenson, who would later take the stage name of Marilyn Monroe. The idea of ​​changing Norma’s name to Marilyn was from Ben Lyon, a 20th Century-Fox studio executive that he thought he needed a better stage name, so he suggested the name Marilyn inspired by actress and dancer Marilyn Miller.

The Monroe name was already part of his family. So in the year 1956, he finally legally changed his name (I already used it since 1946, but the papers were missing). Now Marilyn’s name is iconic, but at her time, the names of Clare Norman, Carole Lind and Meredith were also under consideration.

The photographs in Playboy

In December 1953 appeared the first Playboy magazine with Marilyn Monroe on the cover page. Something quite familiar. However, the actress did not pose specifically for the magazine, but photographer Tom Kelley sold the photographs to Hugh Hefner.

a few years before, In 1949, photographer Tom Kelly paid Monroe $50 for a photo shoot.. Among the conditions for accepting this session, Marilyn Monroe asked that she actually be paid and that Kelly’s wife be present during the session.

You must know that at that time, the film studios had “modesty clauses” with his actresses, so photographs like Kelly’s could put future jobs at risk, so Marilyn originally signed the photos under the name Mona Monroe.

When the actress was already famous, Hugh Hefner bought the photographic rights from Kelly for $500 and published them in Playboy., number with which it would sell more than 50 thousand copies. The thing is Marilyn never approved the use of her image or received any compensation for it.

his first marriage

Among the most famous couples that Marilyn Monroe had are some names like the writer Arthur MillerBaseball player Joe DiMaggioBrothers kennedy or the actor Marlon Brando. But the name of her first husband is less known: James Dougherty.

Marilyn’s childhood was not easy at all, because since she was little her mother abandoned her in a foster home. By the time he was 15, the family he was living with made the decision to move to Virginia, but she didn’t want to go back to an orphanage.

So at the request of his adoptive mother, she married her neighbor James Dougherty at age 16 to avoid returning. The marriage lasted about four years, but Monroe’s fame and commitments grew until in 1946 they divorced.

The FBI file on Marilyn

We already mentioned that one of Marilyn’s partners was the writer Arthur Miller, whom she married in June 1956. It was this relationship that sparked the FBI’s interest in Marilyn, as Miller was considered a public figure and intellectual who supported the communist party.

Therefore, the bureau thought that Marilyn could adopt and support these ideas. This archive begins in 1955 and focuses mainly on the trips and associations that Monroe maintained with the intention of finding evidence of an alleged alliance with communism. Although she was surrounded by alleged communists, the FBI never found evidence that she belonged to this party.

After Marilyn Monroe’s death, the new owners of her house decided to do a complete remodel, and in this process they found a telephone wiretapping system. If you are curious, HERE You can check the FBI file on Marilyn.

Frank Sinatra’s gift

After Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe divorced, Miller kept the couple’s dog, a Basset Hound named Hugo. This deeply affected Marilyn, who was already going through a very complex emotional moment.

It was thus that one of his best friends, the singer Frank Sinatra, decided to give him a puppy. To be more specific, it was a Maltese terrier whom he named Mafia Honey or “Maf”, when he spoke of affection. After Marilyn’s death, Maf was adopted by Gloria Lovell, Sinatra’s secretary.

Relationship with Ella Fitzgerald

Iconic jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald had a close relationship with Monroe. After Fitzgerald was banned from performing at the Mocambo club, Marilyn Monroe stepped in to prevent this. Fitzgerald said in an interview: “I owe a real debt to Marilyn Monroe… I personally called the owner of the Mocambo and told him that he should hire me right away, and that if he did, she would sit at a table up front every night”.

Marilyn knew that her presence would attract a large audience, so the owner agreed. “Thereafter, I never had to play small jazz clubs again. She was an unusual woman a little ahead of its time. But I didn’t even know”.

Marilyn Monroe founded her own production company

We associate Marilyn Monroe mainly with her career in the movies or her presence as a model in magazines, but a lesser-known aspect of her career is that she was the second woman to establish her own production company.

The movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes became the most profitable film of 20th Century-Fox, which led her to think that she would have some power or influence within the studio. monroe le presented the studio with multiple ideas for book-to-movie adaptationsbut all were rejected.

But not only that. The actress was also tired of only being considered in roles that sexualized her and her salary was $1,500 a week, much less, of course, than her male peers. Added to that is her divorce from Joe DiMaggio. What happen after? Monroe ended her contract with 20th Century Fox, joined Milton Greene and founded his production company called Marilyn Monroe Productions.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

when we think of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, this film classic, the image of Audrey Hepburn immediately comes to mind with her classic black dress and a beautiful pearl necklace. But what no one knows is that this iconic image It could have belonged to Marilyn Monroe.

Truman Capote, the writer of the original novel, had always had Marilyn in mind for the title role.but it was Paula Strasberg, the coach Marilyn’s acting role, who would discourage her from accepting the part. The reason? The character could give bad reputation.

Marilyn Monroe was an avid reader

Hollywood took it upon themselves to create a vision of Marilyn Monroe from lush and dumb blonde, which became a cliché that continues for many. But contrary to this idea, Marilyn was an avid reader and a woman who was far from dumb.

At the time of his death, the Monroe library had more than 400 booksincluding authors such as Tennessee Williams, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac, Ralph Ellison, Mark Twain, James Joyce and many others. In addition to a wide variety of authors, the library covered various subjects such as art, drama, poetry, politics, history, theology, psychology, and philosophy.

An anecdote tells that while read Letters to a young poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, she was asked about how she chooses her books, to which she replied that she visited the Pickwick bookstore in Hollywood, he would open a book at random, read a paragraph and if it was of interest to him, he would buy it.

Another notable aspect of Marilyn Monroe’s library is that it had a wide variety of first editions. And his favorite books had multiple pencil annotations and dividers. After his death, these books were sold at auction.

Marilyn Monroe suffered from endometriosis

endometriosis is a disorder where the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus grows outside of it, causing strong pain, especially during the menstrual cycle. This, according to some statistics, affects 1 in 10 women.

Marilyn’s biographers assure that the actress suffered from this disease, which caused her a lot of pain and delays in different filming that led to some considering her a diva on set. A fame that has always carried and could never be removed.

A story about Marilyn notes that prior to an appendix operation, the actress stuck a note on her belly where she asked the doctors not to remove her ovaries, since at that time this was one of the most effective methods to control endometriosis. Marilyn lived a long time with this disease until his death in 1962.

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