10 Lesser Known Facts About Marilyn Monroe and How She Died

Long before the screen goddesses, whom many have come to know today, came to the party, there was a lady who paved the way and literally brought the sultriness of the screen to a level that was unparalleled at the time. In her pomp, Marilyn Monroe was no average actress, but the ultimate sex symbol in a film industry that wanted to shake off its conservatism.

Born as Norma Jeane Mortenson she decided after some adaptations for the name Marilyn Monroe. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker, was not well prepared to take care of a child and placed Marilyn in foster care – Albert and Ida Bolender. After Gladys became financially more stable, she returned to her daughter in the summer of 1933. Here are some lesser-known details of Marilyn Monroe’s eventful life.

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Lesser Known Facts About Marilyn Monroe

1. In 1953, Monroe was introduced in the first issue of Playboy magazine as Playboy’s first Favourite of the Month (later called Playmate of the Month). The magazine would subsequently become a mainstay of American lifestyle culture. In 1949 she received 50 dollars as a model for the picture.

2. During the shooting of the film The Prince and the Showgirl, Marilyn’s weight varied so much that costume designer Beatrice Dawson had to design dresses in different sizes for her.

3. Among modern filmmakers, there is a consensus that Marilyn Monroe was relatively poorly paid even at the height of her powers. For example, the actress Jane Russell earned nearly ten times more than Marilyn when both acted in the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. In another case, Marilyn Monroe received $100,000 for Something’s Got to Give, while the less popular Elizabeth Taylor received $1 million for Cleopatra.

4. The beaded Jean Louis dress Marylyn wore when she sang “Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy” was sold in 1999 for what was then a record price of £820,000 This record was broken by another Marylyn Monroe auction item, this time her billowing white seven-year itchy dress, sold by Debbie Reynolds in 2011. The dress sold for £2.8 million.

5. At 16, on 19 June 1942, she married a neighbor’s son, Jim Dougherty. This was a strategy to circumvent the child protection laws in California, which prevented her from moving to West Virginia with her guardians. After their divorce, Dougherty was forbidden by his second wife to see any of the Marilyn Monroe films.

6. Marilyn Monroe had a penchant for running around naked whenever she was among female studio staff, stylists, and wardrobe girls. On some occasions, she would give interviews with little clothing.

7. She was sent to the devil by Twentieth-Century Fox from the production of the film Somentieth-Century Fox because of her chronic lateness. In fact, she didn’t make it to the set during the first two weeks of shooting. During the shooting of “Let’s Make Love” her no-show (she didn’t show up for the shooting) extended the shooting time by another 28 days and increased the budget for the film by 1 million dollars.

8. Her popularity and celebrity status even flooded her grave – literally. Vaults near her resting place have been put up for sale. When the widow of the man buried in the tomb above Marilyn was put up for sale on eBay, she received bids of up to £2.8 million. Playboy Boss, Hugh Hefner has already bought the vault next to Marilyn Monroe, he paid an astonishing £50,000 for it in 1992.

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9. In the event of death, two men claimed the paternity of Marilyn Monroe. The first, Stanley Gifford, who refused to meet her during her lifetime (both Marilyn and her mother thought he was her father), and Edward Mortensen, who was married to her mother at the time of her birth.

10. In 1999, Mariah Carey bought Marylyn’s white wing for $662,500 at the auction of some of her personal items. The value of the wing was estimated at about $15,000.

How Did She Die?

On the night of August 5, 1962, Marilyn’s housekeeper woke up around 3:00 a.m. after feeling unwell. She called Marylyn’s personal psychiatrist, who broke into her room and found her lying naked on the bed, face down, with a telephone in her hand. Scattered around the room were empty bottles of prescribed pills to treat her depression.

At the end of the investigation, LAPD concluded that her death was caused by a self-administered overdose of tranquilizers. Over the years, many of her friends (and some sections of the American public) believed that she had been murdered by a powerful person with close ties to the government or mafia and staged as suicide.