Lorelei

The Basics about Marilyn

A while ago I wrote a short version of a biography for Marilyn in the first person stance, so I would like to share it:

I am, as most of you know, Marilyn Monroe. I officially became Marilyn Monroe on February 23rd, 1956 after usuing my stage name for a decade already. I was born Norma Jeane Mortensen, then Norma Jeane Baker. I've been married several times, beginning with Jimmy Dougherty from 1942 to 1946. I then married the hottest baseball star at the time & became Mrs. Joe DiMaggio in 1954 for only nine months. But then I married playwright Arthur Miller (And to do so, even changed my religion to Judaism) from 1956 to 1961. I have been in several movies, but I have never won an Academy Award.

I am a model, actress, & singer. I have blue eyes and platinum blonde hair which is naturally light brown if you look at my early modelling pictures. I weighed 140 pounds, and my measurements were 37-23-36 according to the studio, or 35-22-35 according to my dressmaker. Personally, I think my dressmaker would know a little better about how my measurements really were, but that's just me. I also wrote with my left hand, which a lot of people don't know about me. And about that rumour that I bathed in 350 bottles of champagne....well, I'm not going to spill the beans just yet. I was the first playgirl in the very first issue of Playboy, but I never intended for them to be in there! I was desperate for money, and that's what I was getting paid for. But I suppose when you do something like that and then you attain the fame that I did, it was bound to happen.

I died on 5th August 1962 in Brentwood, California. Joe DiMaggio, the love that he is, paid for my funeral and all and I was buried at the Corridor of Memories, #24, at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, CA. Joe used to bring me flowers every week until he himself passed away.

General: Acting, champagne, Dom Perignon, singing, film, cinema, men, makeup, Chanel No. 5, shopping, entertaining troops, getting married, Arthur Miller, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmy Dougherty, sex appeal, goddess, Miss California Artichoke Queen 1947, Norma Jeane Mortenson, Norma Jeane Baker, psychology

Music: "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", "I Wanna Be Loved by You", "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" ...and more

I love the music of Ella Fitzgerald & Frank Sinatra. I also love the music of musicians like Louis Armstrong, Earl Bostick, Ludwig Van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Movies: 1947 - The Shocking Miss Pilgrim; 1948 - Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!, Dangerous Years; 1949 - Ladies of the Chorus; 1950 - A Ticket to Tomahawk, Right Cross, The Fireball, Love Happy, The Asphalt Jungle, All About Eve; 1951 - Love Nest, Let's Make It Legal, Hometown Story, As Young as You Feel; 1952 - O. Henry's Full House, Monkey Business, Clash by Night, We're Not Married!, Don't Bother to Knock; 1953 - Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire; 1954 - There's No Business Like Show Business, River of No Return; 1955 - The Seven Year Itch; 1956 - Bus Stop; 1957 - The Prince and the Showgirl; 1959 - Some Like It Hot; 1960 - Let's Make Love; 1961 - The Misfits; 1962 - Something's Got to Give (never completed) My own personal favourites out of all of my films were The Asphalt Jungle & Don't Bother to Knock. 

Books: How Stanislavsky Directs by Michael Gorchakov 

Heroes: Jean Harlowe - I used to have my hair dyed and styled exactly like she used to. Abraham Lincoln - I carried around a copy of the Gettysburg Address everywhere with me. 

1 June 26 is born in Los Angeles, California, to Gladys Monroe, a film cutter, and an unknown father, allegedly Martin Edward Mortensen
Mid-June 26 is placed with a foster family, Albert and Ida Bolender
September 32 begins attending Washington Street School in Hawthorne, California
June 33 moves from the Bolenders back to her mother
August 33 moves with her mother to 6812 Arbol Drive
Sept 33 attends Selma Avenue Elementary School
January 35 when her mother is committed to the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, California, because of mental instability, she is placed with new foster parents
13 September 35 is placed in the Los Angeles Orphans Home
begins attending Vine Street Elementary School
Fall 39 starts dating regularly
40 allegedly her son is born. She gives him up for adoption.
September 41 starts attending Van Nuys High School
Fall 41 meets Jim Dougherty, a worker at Lockheed Aircraft. He’s 5 years her senior.
January 42 transfers to University High School
19 June 42 marries Dougherty in the home of friends. Dougherty thinks she’s a virgin. The Doughertys move into a one-room bungalow at 4524 Vista Del Monte, Sherman Oaks.
January 43 moves with Dougherty into his parents home
Mid-43 moves with Dougherty to a house on Bessemer Street, Van Nuys
Fall 43 joins her husband on Catalina Island, where he becomes supervisor at a boat camp
April 44 works at a Radioplane company in Burbank for $20 a week
Fall 44 poses for Army photographer David Conover
February 45 quits her job to begin a modeling career
Summer 45 has an affair with 26-year-old Conover
2 August 45 is signed to a modeling contract by Blue Book Model Agency
45 attends charm school at night
Fall 45 moves out on Dougherty
December 45 has her first screen test
Christmas 45 is on location in Nevada and Washington with 32-year-old photographer Andre de Dienes. They have an affair.
February 46 has an affair with photographer William Burnside
February 46 poses for pinup painter Earl Moran
May 46 files for divorce from Dougherty
June 46 allegedly meets 19-year-old reporter Robert Slatzer for the first time at 20th Century-Fox studio
Summer 46 is a frequent cover girl
June 46 screen-tests for 20th Century-Fox. Darryl F. Zanuck is unenthusiastic but agrees to sign her to a 6-month contract.
Howard Hughes allegedly offers her a screen test. Later there will be rumors that the two had an affair.
August 46 changes her name to Marilyn Monroe
January 47 is on stage in Portrait of a Madonna by Tennessee Williams
June 47 moves into an apartment in Hollywood
September 47 dropped by 20th Century-Fox, she offers quick sex to men in cars on side streets near Hollywood and Santa Monica Boulevards
Fall 47 has an affair with 22-year-old Charlie Chaplin, Jr., and his younger brother, 21-year-old Sid
Winter 47 has an abortion
January 48 starts an affair with 41-year-old actor John Carroll even though he’s married to MGM talent scout Lucille Ryman
January 48 playboy Pat DiCicco escorts her to a poker party at the house of movie mogul Joseph M. Schenck
February 48 starts an affair with 69-year-old Schenck
9 March 48 is signed to a contract with Columbia Pictures
9 June 48 moves into the Studio Club, 1215 North Lodi Place, Hollywood
July 48 starts an affair with 32-year-old Columbia music director Fred Karger. He will marry actress Jane Wyman in 1952.
Summer 48 has an affair with 40-year-old comedian Milton Berle and with producer-director Orson Welles
31 December 48 meets Johnny Hyde, executive vice-president of the William Morris Agency, during a party of producer Sam Spiegel / of Joseph Schenck at the Palm Springs Racquet Club Hotel. He’s 53, married with four children, and suffers from a serious heart problem. The 30-years-elder Hyde falls head over heels for her, and they begin an affair.
Early 49 has an affair with columnist Jim Bacon
Spring 49 undergoes cosmetic surgery and has her nose and jaw altered
27 June 49 poses nude for photographer Tom Kelly
September 49 meets 27-year-old photographer Milton H. Green. They start an affair.
December 50 signs a 3-year contract with the William Morris Agency
Hyde arranges a screen test at 20th Century-Fox, and she is signed to a 7-month contract
18 December 50 Johnny Hyde dies of a heart attack, and his family denies her attendance at his funeral. She attempts suicide a few days later.
January 51 has an affair with 41-year-old director Elia Kazan
May 51 signs a 7-year contract with 20th Century-Fox
Early 52 moves into an apartment on Hillside Avenue, West Los Angeles, California
February 52 marries Joe DiMaggio. He’s 38; she’s 25.
April 52 her appendix is removed at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital
Fall 52 moves to 2393 Castilian Drive
4 October 52 allegedly marries her longtime friend Robert Slatzer in Tijuana, Mexico. In his 1974 book, The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe, Slatzer claims that the marriage certificate was destroyed 3 days after the ceremony.
November 52 wants a baby from 22-year-old actor Nico Minardos even though he is married
Early 53 has an affair with 19-year-old Edward G. Robinson, Jr., son of the actor, and his friend, Andrew James
has an affair with 33-year-old costume designer William Travilla
26/28 June 53 she and Jane Russell, her co-star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, put their handprints in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood
August 53 is off to the Canadian Rocky Mountains for the filming of River of No Return. DiMaggio’s with her. During the filming she falls into the Athabasca River and is slightly injured.
November 53 agrees to marry DiMaggio
December 53 her nude shots go public when the first Playboy magazine hits the newsstands
January 54 refuses to do Pink Tights and is suspended by 20th Century-Fox
14 January 54 marries DiMaggio in San Francisco
29 January 54 travels with DiMaggio to Tokyo, Japan, for their honeymoon
February 54 flies from Tokyo to Korea to entertain the troops
24 February 54 returns to San Francisco
May 54 the DiMaggios rent a house at 508 North Palm Drive, Beverly Hills
starts an affair with her vocal coach from There’s No Business Like Show Business. He will try to commit suicide because of this affair in July.
August 54 meets Paula Strasberg, wife of Lee Strasberg of Actors Studio fame
15 September 54 films the famous skirt scene for The Seven Year Itch outside the Trans-Lux Theater on Lexington Avenue at 52nd Street, New York City. DiMaggio is among 2,000 bystanders and watches angrily. The following night they have a big argument.
October 54 hires Hollywood lawyer Jerry Giesler for her divorce from DiMaggio
5 October 54 files for divorce from DiMaggio
October 54 rents an apartment at 8336 De Longpre Avenue
meets Frank Sinatra at a party at Romanoff’s Restaurant
November 54 moves into an apartment near the Sunset Strip
7 November 54 due to a gynecological problem, she is in the hospital for 5 days, escorted there by DiMaggio
December 54 celebrates Christmas with the Milton Greenes at their home in Connecticut
7 January 55 announces the formation of MM Productions with Milton Greene
January 55 moves into a suite at the Gladstone Hotel in New York City
February 55 spends five days with DiMaggio
May 55 remeets playwright Arthur Miller at a party in New York City
Summer 55 has an affair with actor Marlon Brando
31 October 55 her divorce from DiMaggio becomes final
Fall 55 moves into an apartment at 2 Sutton Place in New York City
December 55 Brando escorts her to the New York premiere of his The Rose Tattoo. Afterwards they dine at the Sheraton Astor Hotel at 44th Street.
31 December 55 signs a new contract with 20th Century-Fox for 4 films, to be made during the next 7 years
February 56 announces she will produce The Sleeping Prince with Sir Laurence Olivier
returns to Los Angeles for the filming of Bus Stop. She rents a house at 595 North Beverly Glen Boulevard in Westwood.
Spring 56 talks the studio into hiring Paula Strasberg to coach her for Bus Stop
March 56 films Bus Stop on location in Phoenix, Arizona
1 June 56 meets the president of Indonesia and movie fan, Ahmed Sukarno, during his stay in Los Angeles at her 30th birthday party
21 June 56 announces she will marry Miller. A few days later she visits his parents in Roxbury, Connecticut.
29 June 56 marries Miller in a Jewish ceremony. He's 40; she's 30.
13 July 56 is off to England for the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl. Miller’s with her.
is deeply upset when she finds and reads Miller’s diary, in which he claims to be in doubt about his marriage
August 56 gets pregnant
September 56 suffers a miscarriage
29 October 56 attends the Command Performance of The Pursuit of the Graf Spee at the Empire Theater at Leicester Square, London, and is introduced to Queen Elizabeth II. Joan Crawford, Brigitte Bardot, Victor Mature, and Anita Ekberg are among the guests.
November 56 returns to the States with Miller
December 56 the Millers vacation in Jamaica
January 57 rents an apartment at 44 East 57th Street in New York City
March 57 develops an alcohol problem
16 April 57 fires her partner Milton Greene over business differences
June 57 gets pregnant again
August 57 suffers a miscarriage
January 58 starts drinking heavily. Within some months her weight goes up to 133 lbs.
Spring 58 turns down roles in Some Came Running, The Sound and the Fury, and Can-Can
July 58 returns to Los Angeles for the filming of Some Like It Hot
12 September 58 accidentally takes an overdose of sleeping pills. She’s rushed to the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.
October 58 learns that she is pregnant
16 September 58 miscarries again
May 59 turns down a part in The Story on Page One
19 September 59 attends a luncheon at 20th Century-Fox for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
September 59 attends French Yves Montand’s show on Broadway
January 60 the Millers become close friends with Montand and his wife, French actress Simone Signoret. Marilyn and Montand are to film Let’s Make Love together.
March 60 receives the Golden Globe Award for her role in Some Like It Hot
Spring 60 briefly resumes her affair with Nico Minardos
April 60 with his wife back in Europe, she starts an affair with 38-year-old Montand
July 60 attends actor Peter Lawford’s party for John F. Kennedy following his acceptance of the Democrat nomination. She first met Kennedy in the mid-fifties when he was a senator from Massachusetts. He’s 43; she’s 34. Lawford’s married to Pat Kennedy, sister of John F. and Robert F. Kennedy. Travels to Nevada for location filming for The Misfits
5 August 60 has an argument with Miller about her dates with Montand
26 August 60 takes an overdose of sleeping pills, but is rescued
October 60 returns from Nevada to Los Angeles. Miller moves out on her.
11 November 60 announces the end of her marriage to Miller
December 60 celebrates Christmas with the Strasberg family in New York City
January 61 shortly before Kennedy’s inauguration, she confides to a friend that she had sex with the upcoming president
20 January 61 divorces Miller in Juarez, Mexico
24 January 61 her divorce from Miller becomes final
30 March 61 vacations with DiMaggio in Redington Beach, Florida
April 61 returns to Los Angeles and stays with Frank Sinatra. Soon afterwards she rents an apartment at 882 North Doheny Drive.
meets 35-year-old Robert F. Kennedy, attorney general and younger brother of the president, at a dinner party at the Peter Lawfords. He’s married with six children. She and Bobby spend the evening deep in conversation.
June 61 her gall bladder is removed
August 61 thinks about marrying Frank Sinatra. Together they spend a weekend on his yacht.
September 61 Sinatra presents her with emerald earrings
October 61 attends a dinner party for John F. Kennedy at the Lawfords’ Santa Monica beach house. Among the guests are actresses Kim Novak, Angie Dickinson, and Janet Leigh.
November 61 is unenthusiastic about her upcoming Something’s Got to Give. Employs Eunice Murray as housekeeper
December 61 spends the Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve with DiMaggio
January 62 buys a house at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, her last residence
1 February 62 attends a dinner party for Robert F. Kennedy and his wife. Kim Novak is among the guests.
February 62 meets John F. Kennedy at a dinner party in New York City
tours Mexico, where she starts an affair with 26-year-old scriptwriter Jose Bolanos and brings him to Los Angeles. He’s ten years her junior.
5 March 62 receives the Golden Globe Award as the "world’s favorite female star." At her acceptance speech she appears to be drunk.
May 62 there are rumors that she took a small dose of LSD with Dr. Timothy Leary
17 May 62 leaves the studio by helicopter to attend John F. Kennedy’s 45th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden, New York City. 20th Century-Fox files a breach of contract notice against her.
19 May 62 sings "Happy Birthday" to the President at Madison Square Garden. Afterwards she attends a private party for Kennedy given by producer Arthur Krim. Later that night, she meets the president at the Hotel Carlisle.
20 May 62 returns to Los Angeles
23 May 62 films the famous swimming scene for Something’s Got to Give. First she wears a flesh-colored bikini, and then she does it in the nude.
25 May 62 after taking four sick days from filming, she reports to the set again
1 June 62 celebrates her 36th birthday at the studio. She will never be on the set again.
2 June 62 celebrates her birthday with Frank Sinatra at Trader Vic’s and gets quite drunk
7 June 62 20th Century-Fox files suit against her for $500,000, claiming breach of contract. Two days later, Lee Remick is signed for Monroe’s part when Kim Novak refuses. Dean Martin refuses to continue without Marilyn.
13 June 62 refuses an invitation of the Robert F. Kennedys for a party honoring the Lawfords
23 June 62 is photographed by Bert Stern for Vogue, the first of five sessions
25 June 62 invites Robert F. Kennedy to Los Angeles to visit her at her house on June 27th
27 June 62 spends the evening with Robert F. Kennedy and the Lawfords at their beach house
2 July 62 calls Robert F. Kennedy’s office in Washington twice but gets stuck with his secretary
4 July 62 attends a 4th of July party at the Lawfords. The president is among the guests.
15 July 62 discusses portraying Jean Harlow in a film produced by Sidney Skolsky
25 July 62 is visited by Peter Levathes of 20th Century-Fox, who promises to drop the law suit and to reinstate her
27 July 62 attends Sinatra’s performance at his casino-hotel Cal-Neva Lodge at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The Lawfords are with her; DiMaggio joins them too. Later there will be rumors that Sinatra’s business partner and mobster Sam Giancana attended and that Marilyn had forced sex with him that weekend. The 58-year-old Giancana is Chicago syndicate leader and archenemy of the Kennedys.
30 July 62 calls Robert F. Kennedy for the last time
31 July 62 makes arrangements with an emporium on San Vincente Boulevard to cater her wedding reception
1 August 62 talks with the studio about returning to the filming of Something’s Got to Give
DiMaggio tells a friend that Marilyn will re-marry him
2 August 62 shops around Beverly Hills, driven by Eunice Murray, and has dinner at Lawford’s beach house
3 August 62 has a prescription for Nembutal filled
has dinner with 32-year-old Patricia Newcomb, her publicist, and Peter Lawford at the Frascati Restaurant in Beverly Hills. Later there will be rumors that Newcomb was also in love with Bobby Kennedy.
calls Lawford and tells him that she has to reach Robert F. Kennedy, who’s with his family in San Francisco. She attempts to reach him, but her calls are not returned.
orders food from La Scala Restaurant
Pat Newcomb spends the night at her house
4 August 62 at 5:30 a.m., she phones her neighbor, actress Jeanne Carmen, and asks her for sleeping pills
calls Gene Kelly’s representatives regarding his upcoming project I Love Louisa and agrees to a meeting Monday afternoon
has a hamburger lunch with Pat Newcomb
in the afternoon she visits the Lawfords
at 5:00 p.m., Lawford invites her to a small dinner party. She promises to think about it.
at 7:10 p.m., she is phoned by her former stepson, Joe DiMaggio, Jr., and they talk about his love problems
at 7:45 p.m., Lawford calls her and notes some depression and slurred speech. Suddenly the phone goes dead, and afterwards he gets the busy signal.
at 8:00 p.m., Murray, her housekeeper, discovers her either dead or dying, as the result of an accidental overdose of barbiturates, and phones Dr. Ralph Greenson, Marilyn’s Los Angeles psychiatrist
between 8:40 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., Greenson calls Dr. Engelberg, and they call for an ambulance from Schaefer Ambulance. Before the car arrives, Engelberg determines she is dead, and the ambulance is sent away.
at 10:00 p.m., her public relations representative, Arthur Jacobs, receives news that she’s dead. He immediately leaves the concert he is attending and hurries to her home.
at 11:00 p.m., Lawford still worries about her fate. Jacobs shows up at the scene at Fifth Helena Drive and finds a "horrendous scene, too dreadful to discuss."
5 August 62 at 1:00 a.m., Lawford calls director William Asher and asks him to go and check on her
at 1:30 a.m., Lawford learns about her death
at 4:25 a.m., Dr. Engelberg finally calls the police, who arrive ten minutes later to find her in her bedroom, nude and dead. Mrs. Murray is operating the washing machine.
at 5:30 a.m., her body is delivered to the Westwood Village Mortuary
at 10:30 a.m., Deputy Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi completes her autopsy
6 August 62 DiMaggio claims her body and starts making funeral arrangements. In the afternoon, her body is taken from the Los Angeles County morgue to the Westwood Village Mortuary.
7 August 62 her embalmed body is prepared by make-up man Allan Snyder and Marjorie Plecher, her longtime wardrobe assistant. Her hair is covered with a wig and her breasts are replaced by plastic bags filled with cushion stuffing. She is dressed with a green Pucci dress, with a green scarf around her neck. DiMaggio sits with the body throughout the night.
8 August 62 at 1:00 p.m., her funeral service is held at the Westwood Village Mortuary Chapel, with only 24/31 people invited by DiMaggio. Lee Strasberg delivers the eulogy. After the service, where she lies in an open casket, DiMaggio places pink roses in her hands and kisses her. Then the casket is closed.
in the afternoon her bronze casket is interred in wall crypt 24 at the Corridor of Memories, Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles
later there will be rumors that Marilyn was killed by the Mafia or the CIA, with or without the involvement of the Kennedys, and that Jacobs and his former employee Newcomb helped to cover up her death on request of the Kennedys
Giancana’s brother Chuck will later claim that Marilyn was killed by Mafia hit men "Needles" and "Mugsy" shortly after a dispute with Robert F. Kennedy, in order to blame the attorney general with her death and to get him out of Giancana’s way
63 John F. Kennedy is assassinated
66 big-league freelance eavesdropper and wiretapper Bernard Spindel claims that he bugged her apartment on order of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa to get information about her Kennedy connections
68 Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated
75 Arthur Jacobs dies
Sam Giancana is murdered at his home
79 Dr. Ralph Greenson dies
84 Gladys Pearl Baker, her mother, dies
Peter Lawford dies
85 Milton H. Greene dies
99 Joe DiMaggio dies

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