Marilyn Monroe spent much of her career trying to shrug off the label "comic actress" - despite which, she was one of the most instinctive comediennes ever to light up the screen. Her two finest comedies, The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959), were directed by Billy Wilder. The daughter of a mentally ill mother who left her to abusive foster homes and an orphanage, Monroe grew up very insecure. Drug addiction and uterine disorders made things worse. She could be hell to work with - showing up hours late, incapable of learning the simplest lines. After Itch, Wilder swore never to work with her again: "But whenever I saw her, I always forgave her."
John Huston gave Monroe her first worthwhile role as a childlike mistress in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). A decade later, he cast her again in her last completed movie, The Misfits (1961), as a lonely divorcee who links up with a trio of down-on-their-luck cowboys. She was battling addiction and her marriage to the film's screenwriter, Arthur Miller, was falling apart. In between, she had become perhaps the most famous movie star and greatest sex symbol in the world. The blonde hair, little-girl voice, and air of wide-eyed innocence gave her global appeal. Fans raved over her voluptuous curves, enhanced by the famous Monroe wiggle. Ironically, Monroe loathed what gave her stardom - the sex appeal, the naive but sensual image - deployed so well in the Wilder comedies, and in such films as Howard Hawks's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Even greater public attention was focused on the sexy star in 1954 during her short-lived marriage to baseball star Joe DiMaggio. Yearning to be taken seriously as an actress, she starred with Laurence Olivier in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). They disliked each other and the film flopped.
Although she was an icon, Monroe's insecurities deepened; and her unreliability on set worsened. Affairs with both Jack and Robert Kennedy ended in rejection. There had been earlier suicide attempts, and the overdose that killed her may have been the final one - although dark rumors of murder have dogged her memory. She was thirty-six years old.
FAMOUS QUOTES
“...If you can make a girl laugh - you can make her do anything...”
“I am not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful.”
“the nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least i can dream”
“I want to grow old without facelifts... I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I've made. Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you”
“If I'd observed all the rules, I'd never have got anywhere”
“The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.”
“It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone - so far.”
“I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot”
“What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.”
“I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it.”
“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”
“It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”
“I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.”
“Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.”
INTERESTING FACTS
Was roommates with Shelley Winters when they were both starting out in Hollywood.
Playboy "Sweetheart" of the Month, December 1953.
When she died in 1962 at age 36, she left an estate valued at $1.6 million. In her will, Monroe bequeathed 75% of that estate to Lee Strasberg, her acting coach, and 25% to Dr. Marianne Kris, her psychoanalyst. A trust fund provided her mother, Gladys Baker Eley, with $5,000 a year. When Dr. Kris died in 1980, she passed her 25% on to the Anna Freud Centre, a children's psychiatric institute in London. Since Strasberg's death in 1982, his 75% has been administered by his widow, Anna, and her lawyer, Irving Seidman
The licensing of Marilyn's name and likeness, handled world-wide by Curtis Management Group, reportedly nets the Monroe estate about $2 million a year.
Started using the name Marilyn Monroe in 1946, but did not legally change it until 1956.
Appeared on the first cover of Playboy in 1953.
Interred at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Corridor of Memories, crypt #24.
Hundreds of items of memorabilia auctioned off in late October, 1999 by Christie's, with her infamous 'JFK' birthday-gown fetching over $1 million.
Hugh M. Hefner owns the burial vault next to hers.
Died with the phone in her hand.
Her first modeling job paid only five dollars.
Frequently used Nivea moisturizer.
Wore glasses.
On Thursday, February 23rd, 1956, she obtained order from the City Court of the State of New York to legally change her name from Norma Jeane Mortenson to Marilyn Monroe.
In 1999, a make-up kit that she had owned sold for $266,500.
Died at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, California.
Her "Happy Birthday Mr. President" dress sold for $1,267,500.00, a world record for the most expensive piece of clothing ever sold, and is in the Guinness Book of World Records.
There are over 600 books written about her.
At 168, Marilyn's IQ was significantly higher than John F. Kennedy's 129. (A score of 100 is considered average and 150 to be highly gifted).
Salary
Something's Got to Give (1962) $100,000
The Misfits (1961) $250,000
Some Like It Hot (1959) $200,000 + 10% gross over $4 million.
Bus Stop (1956) $100,000+500/week expenses
The Seven Year Itch (1955) $1,500/wk
There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) $1,000/wk
(8.50) 
