Did You Know? 5 (ish) Marilyn Monroe Facts

by Lara on March 16th, 2008

Her childhood was far less than normal. Her mother was a film-cutter at RKO who, widowed and insane, abandoned her to sequence of foster homes. She was nearly smothered to death at two, and believed to have been raped at six. At nine, the LA Orphans’ Home paid her a nickel a month for kitchen work while taking back a penny every Sunday for church, leaving her with no more than one cent a month. What the HELL could someone do with that?

Born June 1, 1926 in LA, died August 5, 1962 in LA from a drug overdose. Her birth name was Norma Jean Mortensen, and she was often called “The Blonde Bombshell”. She was 5′ 5.5″ tall, and NOT a natural blonde.
In 1942, at the age of 16, Norma Jean married 21-year-old aircraft plant worker James Dougherty. The marriage only lasted four years, and she’d gotten married in a beige dress. She had no matching veil, so she dyed one with coffee to match her dress.
Marilyn made only 30 films in her lifetime, how many do you know?
Was 1947’s Miss California Artichoke Queen. Was roommates with Shelley Winters when they were both starting out in Hollywood. Playboy “Sweetheart” of the Month, December 1953. 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 (yet another dead celeb worth more and more every year after their death than during their life).