Korea: February, 1954. Marilyn Monroe visits the troops in Korea. (Photo: Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group)
Norma Jeane Mortenson Baker Monroe was born on June 1, 1926, at 9:30 a.m. at Los Angeles General Hospital. Young Norma had a very troubled childhood. Due to her mother’s mental instability, she was placed with foster families and occasionally in various orphanages. It’s no surprise that Norma Jean sought to break this vicious cycle.
Indeed, in the 100 years since her birth and the 64 years since her tragic death on August 4, 1962, much has been written and said about her. What has undoubtedly shaped her life and is of particular interest to those of us who work in the field of imagery is the iconic nature of her image, a constant definition of additional details. Her hair, her gaze, her makeup, her style, her ever-evolving attitude, which, first associated with her, have been emulated by many.
Korea: February, 1954. Marilyn Monroe visits the troops in Korea. (Photo: Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group)
Westbury, New York: 1954. Drive-in theater sign advertising ‘River Of No Return’, starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. (Photo: Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group)
Korea: February, 1954. Marilyn Monroe visits the troops in Korea. (Photo: Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group)
Korea: February, 1954. Marilyn Monroe visits the troops in Korea. (Photo: Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group)
Marilyn Monroe, in a late 1953 issue of Modern Screen. Publicity still taken for 1954 film River of No Return. (Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group)
Marilyn Monroe on the cover of the first issue of Play-Boy magazine. (Photo: Photo12/Universal Images Group)
United States: c. 1954. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio. (Photo: Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group)
Marilyn Monroe performing at Democratic Party fund-raising dinner and birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Madison Square Garden, New York City, May 19, 1962. Cecil Stoughton, White House Photographs. (Photo: GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group)
Marilyn Monroe with Joshua Logan, an American stage and film director. (Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group)
Laurence Olivier with Marilyn Monroe. (Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group)
Russell Metty, Marylin Monroe. 1960s. (Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group)
Marylin Monroe, Arthur Miller. 1960. (Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group)
Signed photograph of Marilyn Monroe. (Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group)
Marilyn Monroe, Robert Mitchum, 1954. (Photo: Photo12/Universal Images Group)
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The fragility of her soul, the constant search for some form of happiness and for “missing pieces” in relationships, often sealed by marriages to people so different from her and from each other, went hand in hand, almost like a dichotomy, with her iconic and “photographic” definition.
Everything about Norma Jean is human, fragile, yet iconic and strong. These combinations and dichotomies have made her particularly beloved by the arts and helped shape her into a truly universal language of cinema, photography, and the figurative arts of her time, of which her image is a dictionary. For all of us, Marilyn is a universal expression, an icon of global pop culture that has never ended and never will.
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