Underneath the Makeup:A Candid Portrait of MM

I live in a world of black and white, of classic films, handsome and dashing leading men, and effortlessly beautiful and talented actresses. That's my reality--the place I spend most of my time. So, naturally, I am familiar with the work of Hollywood's most recognizable icon--Marilyn Monroe.
It is also no secret (seeing as I have done a post about it before) that while I will not deny that Marilyn Monroe was very pretty, she has never been my favorite. I have always looked at her as a ditzy, fake blonde who completely changed herself just for fame, was never true to herself, and would do or say anything just to make a buck from the industry. That's what I thought until very recently.
For various reasons, I have recently been studying, reading, and watching quite a bit about Miss Monroe, and I was very quickly brought to the realization that I had drawn such conclusions about her in my mind, yet I really had never learned anything about her at all. The more I studied, read, watched and listened, the more I got roped in and I have learned more than I thought could be possible about someone who I thought was so shallow. And I know that undoubtedly, for most people, this story is a familiar one, but I felt I should share what I've learned and pay homage to such a beautiful and real human being. It is as candid and truthful as I can make it according to the information I have obtained from various sources. It is a deeper look at not Marilyn Monroe,but who she always truly was--Norma Jeane.

Marilyn Monroe

Born June 1, 1926

Died August 5, 1962

On the first of June in 1926, a daughter, Norma Jeane Mortenson, was born to single mother Gladys Baker. Even in those earliest days of her life, Norma Jeane went through changes and difficulties. Her mother, Gladys, did not have the financial means to care for a baby, and even worse, it is widely believed that she did not really want to care for her daughter. She did try, though--undoubtedly through a sense of obligation more than anything else. Norma Jeane's love for the movies was also instilled in her very early on. She was born in Los Angeles--the land of the stars. Her mother, Gladys, worked as a film cutter for one of the studios and she would sometimes give Norma Jeane money to go by herself to the movies, in order to keep her out of the way. She also spent many hours at Grauman's Chinese Theater, just going from block to block and looking at the places where many different stars stood. She would spend hours trying to fit her feet into the prints of the stars, but they were usually too big. She would just sigh and say to herself, "Poor little girl. Your turn will never come."

Even though she tried, Gladys was just not mentally or financially able to support her daughter, so Norma Jeane was placed in foster care at a young age. She was sent from home to home, interspersed with brief reunions with her mother. She was unhappy as a child, and just wanted someone to love her as a parent, but she did not truly belong to the people she was sent to live with, so they could never give her the affection she desired. During her time in one foster home, she was even sexually assaulted. There were bright spots for Norma Jeane, though. Probably the foster parent or guardian she was closest to was a close friend of her mother's, Grace McKee. Together the two of them would read magazines about all the latest pictures, and McKee would let Norma Jeane dress up like a movie star--she would even do her hair and makeup for her. They would often take trips to the theater and spend their afternoons watching Hollywood's greatest stars on the big screen.

It was also while she was still fairly young that she met Andre de Dienes, a photographer who was several years older than herself, but the two became very good friends nonetheless. Dienes saw model potential in the young Norma Jeane, and he helped her blossom through many different photograph series. They would take day trips up and down the coast, shooting pictures and talking. Once they took a trip to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where they went to visit the grave of Rudolph Valentino. Norma Jeane, still possessed by dreams of becoming a star, noticed that Valentino died the same year she was born and she quietly suggested, "Maybe I was born to take his place." A grim thought considering that Rudolph Valentino's life was also tragically cut short at the age of 31. Dienes was captivated by her--not the platinum blonde, red-lipped starlet that she would later become. No, he was captivated by her then, with her natural beauty, her brown hair, and her simple style. But Dienes was not the only one of Norma Jeane's acquaintance who adored her just the way she was. Long time friend Robert Slatzer once asked her during a day trip to the beach to never change and she said, "I'll never change." After her death, Slatzer described her as a "down-to-earth, pleasant type of girl."

When Norma-Jeane was in high school, she was living with Grace McKee, but McKee decided to relocate to Virginia, and despite everything, decided not to take Norma Jeane with her. A dilemma was created, because if McKee left Norma Jeane behind, she was still young enough that she would be taken into the custody of the state. So, a boy from school who she had a crush on, James Dougherty, was approached and  convinced to marry Norma Jeane to keep her from returning to an orphanage. An overall harsh blow for Norma Jeane, who would learn more and more over time that it was always just a marriage of convenience and nothing more. She remained Mrs. Dougherty, though, for five years, and it was over that span of time that she would take her first steps toward stardom.

James Dougherty enlisted in the military during WWII, and Norma Jeane, a typical housewife, did her part to support the cause by doing factory work. Photographers came around to the munitions factory to take pictures and they took note of Norma Jeane. She was encouraged to look for modeling jobs, so that's what she did. She got a contract with The Blue Book Modeling Agency. This was the time when Norma Jeane underwent her biggest identity change. The agency was more interested in women with lighter hair, so Norma Jeane bleached hers. After changing her appearance, she became one of the agency's most successful models. It was naturally only a matter of time until a Hollywood executive picked up a magazine and discovered her. In 1947, 20th Century Fox offered her a contract. She accepted, but something still wasn't right. That name--Norma Jeane. Too plain sounding, not important enough. Wishing to stay true to her roots and stick with her original dream, Norma Jeane suggested the last name of Monroe, because it was her mother's maiden name. Yes! Monroe! They liked it. Norma Jeane Monroe. No, no, no. Still not right. Norma Monroe? Too clunky sounding. Jeane Monroe? No, it's missing something. How about....Marilyn! Marilyn Monroe--now that sounds sexy. Norma Jeane did not like the name Marilyn, but the executives persuaded her to use it because it would help launch her to stardom, and besides, it was bound to be lucky with MM for initials.

Everything was going well for Marilyn Monroe. She had a contract with a film studio, she was taking singing and dancing lessons, etc. She had finally made it. But Fox would not take her seriously, and at first would not use her at all. Then they only had her in non-speaking roles. Finally she had one line in one scene in a movie, but that was it. Fox released her from her contract and she then headed over to Columbia pictures. She appeared in one movie for them, Ladies of the Chorus (1948) and then she was dropped. After that, it took a while for her to get more film work, but she slowly began to take on smaller parts. Her next big picture was a part in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). It was around 1950 that a talent agent managed to get her a second contract with Fox. In 1951, finally having adequate funds for the first time in her life, Marilyn decided to try and achieve another dream. She enrolled for classes in UCLA where she studied literature and art. She was able to juggle school and her career for a while, because she only had smaller bit parts and promotional pieces in magazines. These magazines sparked an interest in audiences about this Marilyn Monroe--who was she? Where did she come from? In 1952, Marilyn got more significant parts in Clash by Night, We're Not Married! and Don't Bother to Knock. She received very positive reviews, and people wanted to see more of her. More parts came, but people only focused on her beauty, and not the talent that inspired the look. Many more well-seasoned actors of the day automatically wrote her off as a dumb blonde. More rejection for Norma Jeane from the realm she always felt she belonged in. Finally, one of her biggest breakout roles came. Marilyn was cast alongside Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). The film was an enormous success, and even earned her her own immortalized footprints at the Grauman's Chinese Theater--success for Marilyn. But it came with a price. Her schedule got tighter and busier and she decided she needed to stick with acting, so she dropped out of college--another dream that would never come true for Norma Jeane.

Next came the comedy How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), which also was an enormous help in boosting her career. Yet the reviews were bittersweet for her. She knew too well that it was one of the only films she ever made where the audience could appreciate her for what she was saying and her acting skills rather than how she looked.  What many people even now do not realize about Marilyn Monroe--the bold, sexy, fearless actress--is that she suffered from acute stage fright. She was terrified of being in front of the camera and having to say the right words. Terrified of not getting it right, part of which was a fear of rejection, and part of which was due to her perfectionist personality. She even said that in her dressing room, she wasn't Marilyn Monroe, but just Norma Jeane, and she would work herself up so much that she would be afraid to come out. This led to her being labelled as "difficult" on set, which would only scare her more and make her feel disappointed in herself, so she would often disappear for days at a time. In 1953, after one such incident, Fox suspended her.
While on suspension in 1954, she married Joe DiMaggio. Her marriage proved to be difficult due to her career. She later remarked that DiMaggio married and actually wanted to share a life with Norma Jeane, but to everyone else in the world, Norma Jeane did not exist. Later that same year, Fox reached an agreement with Marilyn and she was cast as the main character in one of her most well recognized films, The Seven Year Itch (1955). The film also was responsible for one of the most iconic scenes in cinematic history when Marilyn was conveniently and very publicly positioned over a subway grate and the air lifted her skirt to revealing heights. It was a scene that turned out to be an iconic representation of her for the rest of her career--success for Marilyn. Their marriage already on the rocks, DiMaggio was infuriated at the scandalous scene. The two had a dispute about it and a matter of weeks later announced their separation--failure for Norma Jeane.
Norma Jeane longed to be a serious actress, but nobody would take her seriously. After the release of The Seven Year Itch, she decided to take a break. She spent her time off in New York, where she was reunited with previous acquaintance Arthur Miller. The two began a relationship and married the next year.The break was short,however, and by the beginning of 1956 she had agreed on a new contract with Fox which obligated her to produce 4 films over a 7 year period. She agreed because she had newly established Marilyn Monroe Productions, in the hopes that it would give her more of a say in how her image was presented to the public. It did very little to help her in the long run. She was cast as an unsophisticated saloon girl in Bus Stop (1956), and then came The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She desperately wanted the part in the latter film because it was alongside acclaimed Shakespearean actor Laurence Olivier, and she believed that if she could pull it off it would help her image. But she never felt that she earned Olivier's respect and the film only drove it further into her mind that she was just something pretty to take up space in front of the camera. Later that year, in 1957, Marilyn found out that she and new husband, Arthur Miller, were expecting a baby. She was thrilled, even though it meant it would set back her career for a while. In August of 1957, a pregnant Marilyn spent an afternoon at the beach with her husband, and many well publicized photos were taken of her looking radiant in a white bathing suit (see above). What many people do not know is that it was only a matter of hours later, on that same day, that she would return to New York and suffer a miscarriage. A positive outcome for Marilyn, whose career would not be postponed. A broken heart for Norma Jeane.
Marilyn took a year off to recover her from her loss, but her husband encouraged her to return to Hollywood. So, that next year she went back to work and filmed Some Like It Hot (1958). Shortly after filming began, she discovered that she had a second chance and she was once again pregnant. But this too, would end in another miscarriage within 4 months. There was silver lining. Some Like It Hot was a major hit at the box office, and Marilyn won the Golden Globe for Best Actress. But even with her achievements, Marilyn was beginning to sink into a depression. She wasn't happy and couldn't sleep at night. She began to abuse prescription drugs and become more dependent on alcohol. It was also not long after this that she began to seek psychoanalytic treatment. Nothing was going right. Her marriage was failing, and she and Miller would divorce in 1961. Her career was falling apart, she was depressed and tired, but couldn't sleep and had developed a fear of the night. Her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, was intrigued and scared of the way that she expressed herself, noting that, "she evoked painful things with no pain." She was empty. She began to deteriorate very quickly. When she turned 35 in 1961 she claimed, "I know I'll never be happy, but at least I can be high-spirited." She had already attempted to commit suicide once before but had been unsuccessful. A confusing portrait of her is portrayed in the last years of her life. To many of her friends and colleagues, Marilyn Monroe seemed positive, healthier and full of life. To Greenson, while he had seen some improvement of her, he still saw Norma Jeane, who was still suffering and had legitimate fears.
On the morning of August 5, 1962, Dr. Greenson's worst fear as a psychiatrist was recognized--he lost a patient. The body of Norma Jeane was found in her Los Angeles home. She had died at the age of 36 from acute barbiturate poisoning. The coroner ruled that it was a probable suicide, and she had certainly tried to take her life before, yet there were many suspicious things involving the scene of her death and evidence found there. It is therefore an unsolved mystery to this day as to whether she committed suicide or was murdered. Who knows, perhaps Norma Jeane just thought she could save herself by killing Marilyn Monroe.

If you are interested in a raw documentary on Marilyn Monroe and her psychoanalysis, there is an excellent documentary on Youtube, just click these and it will take you there:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

"Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss,
and fifty cents for your soul."

"I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights
belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded
was our right to twinkle."

"It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk.
A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone."

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful."

"I have feelings too. I am still human.
All I want is to be loved for myself and my talent."