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00:30Born on the 1st of June 1926,
00:32Norma Jean Mortenson knew instability right from the beginning of her life.
00:37Baptized Norma Jean Baker by a mother who spent her life in and out of mental institutions,
00:43the girl who was to become one of the most famous and beloved female stars of all time
00:48began her life in orphanages and foster homes.
00:52Married to aircraft worker James Doherty at 16 but divorced at 20,
00:57Norma Jean began modeling and bleached her hair.
01:00She also started using the name Marilyn Monroe,
01:03though she didn't legally change it until 1956.
01:07The young starlet rose through the ranks with small but notable parts in films
01:11like The Asphalt Jungle, All About Eve and Monkey Business.
01:14These led to starring roles in Niagara, The River of No Return and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,
01:20which consolidated her image as the dumb blonde sex bomb.
01:25Marilyn became a magnet for photographers
01:28and an overwhelming success with the movie-going public.
01:31She received two to three thousand fan letters a week,
01:34which resulted in better movie roles.
01:37She became part of a group known as the Three Ms.
01:40The other two members were Jane Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren.
01:44Daryl Zanuck, president of 20th Century Fox once said
01:48that no one discovered Marilyn.
01:50She earned her own way to stardom.
01:54In 1949, she had a first taste of notoriety when she posed nude for a calendar.
02:00She was unapologetic, saying she needed the $50 to get her car out of hock
02:05and later joked that she did have something on when Tom Kelly took the photo, the radio.
02:11Three years later, Hugh Hefner used the infamous shot on the cover of his first issue of Playboy.
02:17Marilyn was dubbed Sweetheart of the Month and her star was on the rise.
02:23Her life became public property and she was mobbed wherever she went.
02:29The biggest sex symbol on the planet further cemented her fame
02:32when she began dating America's most celebrated baseball player, Joe DiMaggio.
02:38They wed in January 1954 and traveled to Japan for their honeymoon.
02:43But cracks in the marriage began to show early,
02:46especially when Marilyn left Joe to entertain the troops in Korea.
02:49DiMaggio may not have been very happy with the interruption to his honeymoon,
02:53but Marilyn's audiences were thrilled.
02:57Over four freezing cold days, she performed 10 shows
03:01to a rapturous response from over 100,000 servicemen.
03:07She sent Joe a touching letter telling him how much she missed him
03:10and her hopes that they would have children together.
03:13Sadly, this was not to be.
03:19Marilyn and Joe returned to the US and later that year,
03:22she began working on the Billy Wilder comedy, The Seven Year Itch.
03:27With Marilyn having trouble remembering her lines,
03:30the shooting of the legendary subway great scene was arduous.
03:36It was also witnessed by a loud and appreciative crowd,
03:40something that enraged DiMaggio further.
03:43The couple fought and citing mental cruelty,
03:46Marilyn filed for divorce just 274 days after the wedding.
03:52For her next marriage to playwright Arthur Miller,
03:54Marilyn converted to Judaism.
03:57In 1956, the couple traveled to England
03:59so Marilyn could work with British actor Laurence Olivier
04:03on The Prince and the Showgirl.
04:06The shoot was hard with Marilyn's well-known tardiness
04:09and trouble with lines causing delay and friction.
04:12But Marilyn won French and Italian awards for Best Foreign Actress,
04:16although her work was once again overlooked at home.
04:20While in England, the famous couple was invited
04:23to attend a Royal Command performance
04:25where the Queen complimented Marilyn on her curtsy.
04:29Little Norma Jean had come a long way.
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