We remember Marilyn Monroe

We remember Marylin Monroe who died the 5th Aug 1962

Born – June 1, 1926, Los Angeles, CA
Died – August 4, 1962, Los Angeles, CA

Marilyn Monroe was and still is the best-known Hollywood movie star that ever lived.

In death, Marilyn became much more famous than she had been in life. To date, there have been more books written about her than any other movie star in the history of Hollywood. There have been over a dozen TV shows, three feature movies and 10 plays on her life. Her grave is visited, photographed and has more flowers delivered to it daily than any other celebrity grave in America.

Here’s a full account of her life from the cradle to the grave:

Norma Jean Mortensen was born in 1926 to Gladys Baker Mortensen on 1 June in the charity ward at the LA General Hospital, 1200 South State Street. Twelve days after her birth, she was placed in a foster home at 4201 West, 132nd Hawthorne. She was baptised in November at six months old at the Four Square Church at 4503 West Broadway, Hawthorne. In July 1927, her grandmother Della Grainger nearly suffocated her with a pillow. In 1931, she started kindergarten school at Washington Elementary at 4339 West 129th Street.

She moved to Hollywood with a new foster family in 1932, and was enrolled in the Vine Street School at 955 North Vine Street. In 1934, she attended the Selma Street School in the third grade. In October that year, her mother bought a home on Arbol Street, and Marilyn moved into the first real family home she had ever known. Then in February 1935, her mother was sent to a mental asylum. Neighbours looked after Marilyn for a few months, but then in October she was placed in an LA orphans’ home. In late August 1936, she moved into the foster home of ‘Aunt’ Ana Lower.

She went to the Lankershim School at 5250 Bakeman, North Hollywood. She did well at sport by winning two first-place track awards in jumping and running. In December, she moved in with Grace Goddard who was her mother’s best friend—Grace now lived at 14753 Archwood, Van Nuys. At the start of 1937, she moved back in with ‘Aunt’ Ana Lower in West Hollywood.

From September of 1938 through till June, she attended the Sawtelle Elementary School at 1730 Corinth Avenue, West LA. In September 1939, she entered Junior High School, attending Emerson Junior High at 1650 Selby, West LA where she graduated in June 1941. That same month, she moved back to Van Nuys to live with her guardian Grace Goddard. She met her first husband, Jim Dougherty, in September at the Van Nuys High School. Their first date was at the Adel Precision Products employee Christmas Party.

She was 15, and the party was held at 231 South Olive Street, Burbank. In January 1942, she moved with ‘Aunt’ Ana Lower to 11348 Nebraska West LA where she attended the University High School at 11800 Texas, West LA. On 19 June, she married James Dougherty at the home of friends at 432 South Bentley, West LA; she was just 16. Their wedding reception was held at the Florentine Gardens, 5951 Hollywood Blvd.

After the wedding, they moved into a one-room apartment at 4524 Vista Del Monte, Sherman Oaks. Early in 1943, she moved in with her husband’s parents when James joined the Service—their house was at 14747 Archwood, Van Nuys. In 1944, she signed with the Blue Book Modelling Agency at the Ambassador Hotel at 3400 Wiltshire Blvd.

In April 1945, she tried to kill herself by gas, then in the May she tried again with pills. In June, she had her hair bleached blonde for the first time at a beauty salon located at 6513 Hollywood. In July 1946, she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe when she signed with 20th Century-Fox Studios. Three months later, she moved into room #307 at the Hollywood Studio Club located at 1215 North Lodi. In 1948, she moved back for a short time and lived in room #334. 20th Century-Fox let her go in August 1947, so she started collecting unemployment.

In December, she moved in with Hollywood actor John Carroll and his wife at 8491/99 Fountain Apt #F, West Hollywood. She signed a six-month contract with Columbia Studios in March 1948. She tried to commit suicide in September at the apartment she then shared with her drama coach, Natasha Lytess, after being dropped by Columbia.

In May, the following year, she was paid $50 to pose nude in the studio of Hollywood photographer, Tom Kelly. In July, she moved in with 72-year-old Joseph Schenck, who was the co-founder of 20th Century-Fox, at his beautiful Holmby Hills mansion.

In October 1950, she was evicted by the family out of the home she had shared with her 53-year-old lover/agent Johnny Hyde who’d died of a heart attack in December. She moved back in with her old friend, Natasha Lytess, at 611 North Crescent Drive.

In February 1951, she shared an apartment with actress Shelley Winters at 8573 Holloway. She met Joe DiMaggio on a blind date at the Villa Nova Restaurant in March 1952, which was located at 9015 Sunset Blvd. In May, her former guardian and her mother’s best friend, Grace Goddard, killed herself. In August, Marilyn put her mother, Gladys, in the Rockhaven Sanatorium at 2713 Honolulu, Glendale.

She stayed there until she died in her sleep on 11 March 1984. On 26 June 1953, Marilyn placed her hand- and footprints in cement at Graumanns on Hollywood Blvd. She lived with Joe DiMaggio from January to October 1954 at 508 North Plam.

In July 1956, she married Arthur Miller in New York. Their divorce was granted in January 1961. In July 1962, she entered Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, reportedly to abort a child of Jack Kennedy.

Two days before her death, she had dinner with her good friend, actor Peter Lawford, at the La Scala 9455 Santa Monica. Marilyn had prescriptions for Nembutal and Phenergan filled at Vaccinate Pharmacy two days before her death at 12025 San Vaccinate Blvd.

Marilyn was found dead of a suspected drug overdose on 5 August, at her home on 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, Brentwood, California.

On 8 August 1962, 36-year-old Marilyn Monroe was dressed in a green sheath dress with a green silk scarf draped around her neck. Her hair had been freshly dyed, and she lay clutching a small bouquet of mature pink roses, which came from Joe Di Maggio; she was buried in a wall crypt in Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery. Marilyn didn’t like the idea of being buried in the ground.

The crypt next to Marilyn’s has been bought by Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine. Marilyn graced the very first cover of Playboy and was its first centrefold, in December 1953. In 1982, for no reason at all, Marilyn’s ex-husband Joe DiMaggio cancelled his 20-year-old order for fresh flowers to be placed regularly on her tomb. No matter who the culprit, or the culprits, or the instigator of the cover-up of Marilyn Monroe’s death was or were, her death will always remain one of the most controversial of all Hollywood’s unsolved mysteries.