Marilyn Monroe Research Paper

Noah Krzan
Mrs. Shingler
English I
18 April 2018
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was born in Los Angeles, California on June 1, 1926 under the name of Norma Jean Baker. Marilyn grew up living with her mother until she was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia ("Marilyn Monroe Biography - Life, Childhood, Parents, Name, Death, Mother, Young, Old, Information, Born"). Marilyn’s mother was hospitalized and Marilyn was forced to live at an orphanage for two years. She spent almost all of her teenagers years moving between foster homes until she decided she had enough of it and got married ("Marilyn Monroe Biography - Life, Childhood, Parents, Name, Death, Mother, Young, Old, Information, Born"). Her marriage lasted around a year before her husband,

James Dougherty, “joined the U.S. Merchant Marines in 1943.” ("Marilyn Monroe Biography - Life, Childhood, Parents, Name, Death, Mother, Young, Old, Information, Born"). Although her childhood and separation made her insecure, these hardships helped her become the strong woman she is known for being today.
Although Marilyn’s life was not easy as a child, her discovery to fame was.

“During World War II . . . , [Marilyn Monroe] . . . worked at the Radio Plane Company in Van Nuys, California” ("Marilyn Monroe Biography - Life, Childhood, Parents, Name, Death, Mother, Young, Old, Information, Born"). It did not take long after working at the Radio plane Company to be discovered for her beauty and join a modeling course. Taking advantage of the situation, Marilyn divorced her husband and went to Hollywood to sign a contract with Twentieth Century Fox ("Marilyn Monroe Biography - Life, Childhood, Parents, Name, Death, Mother, Young, Old, Information, Born"). This did not work in her favor. Marilyn was not featured in any movies and the company let the contract lapse. Despite this failure, “Columbia gave her a six-month contract, turned her over to coach Natasha Lytess and featured her in the B movie Ladies of the Chorus (1948) in which she sang three numbers.” (Jackson). After doing more work and being seen by more people, Marilyn got another chance to work with Twentieth Century Fox by signing a seven-year contract with them. Marilyn was featured in many different movies, although most of them depicted her in a provocative way (Jackson). Marilyn married Joe Dimaggio in attempts to get her tarnished reputation back to normal. The marriage did not work, causing Marilyn to divorce

him.
Throughout Marilyn’s career, she surpassed many milestones and accomplished many things she did not think possible. She was featured in twenty-nine films throughout her acting career ("Marilyn Monroe Biography - Childhood, Career, Facts, Achievements, Awards, Home, Auto | People"). When Marilyn changed her name from Norma and dyed her hair blonde, she won “Miss California Artichoke Queen” (“Marilyn Monroe”). Shortly after winning this title, Marilyn starred in movies such as “How to Marry a Millionaire,” and “Niagara”. Photoplay magazine liked her acting talents and voted her the Best New Actress (“Marilyn Monroe”). Her biggest accomplishment before dying was “[establishing] her own motion picture company, Marilyn Monroe Productions.” (“Marilyn Monroe”).
On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in Los Angeles. There are many conspiracies as to what happened, but because of the fact she was found face down and nude with empty bottles of antidepressants, the police concluded it was an overdose ("Marilyn Monroe is Found Dead - Aug 05, 1962"). One of the most famous theories about her death is that one of the Kennedys had her killed in order to prevent Marilyn from telling everyone about their love affair. Although there is no proven evidence, Robert Kennedy was in Los Angeles the night she died and has been said to have been in Marilyn’s house that night fighting with her ("Marilyn Monroe is Found Dead - Aug 05, 1962"). One of the other famous conspiracy theories claims she was not killed by the Kennedys, but was murdered in order to hurt the Kennedys. The book the “Double Cross” was written to explain this theory in more detail ("7 Conspiracy Theories About Marilyn Monroe's Death From Murderous Kennedys to UFOs").
Marilyn Monroe lived a short and meaningful life.

Her childhood years were not easy on her, but it pushed her to be a powerful woman that many people looked up to ("Marilyn Monroe Biography - Life, Childhood, Parents, Name, Death, Mother, Young, Old, Information, Born"). Marilyn did not let many things stand in her way, which is shown by all of her achievements. She embraced being different and never gave up on her career, even when it did not seem to be going in the direction she wanted it to (Jackson). Marilyn took risks to get her where she wanted to be and accepted change as a good thing. Even fifty years after her death, Marilyn is still praised for all of her achievements and looked up to by many different people (“Marilyn

Monroe”).

Works Cited
"7 Conspiracy Theories About Marilyn Monroe's Death From Murderous Kennedys to UFOs." SFGate, 1 June 2017, www.sfgate.com/entertainment/the-wrap/article/7-Conspiracy-Theories-About-Marilyn-Monroe-s-11189934.php.
Jackson, Denny. "Marilyn Monroe." IMDb, www.imdb.com/name/nm0000054/bio.
"Marilyn Monroe." United States American History, www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3712.html.
"Marilyn Monroe Biography - Childhood, Career, Facts, Achievements, Awards, Home, Auto | People." Proud Stories, 9 May 2017, www.proudstories.com/marilyn-monroe.html.
"Marilyn Monroe Biography - Life, Childhood, Parents, Name, Death, Mother, Young, Old, Information, Born." Notable Biographies, www.notablebiographies.com/Mo-Ni/Monroe-Marilyn.html.
"Marilyn Monroe is Found Dead - Aug 05, 1962." HISTORY.com, Aug. 05, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marilyn-monroe-is-found-dead.