Marilyn Monroe’s real name was Norma Jeane Mortenson and before she became an actress, she was a surfer.
When she was young, Marilyn Monroe’s mentally unstable mother (Gladys Pearl Baker) tried to kidnap her from her foster parents by stuffing her in a duffle bag.
Marilyn Monroe was discovered by Army Photographer David Conover while she was working on the Radioplane assembly line in 1945. He photographed her working on the OQ-3 model, the world’s first-ever remote-controlled drone, which was used in World War 2. He thought she had potential as a model, which led to her first screen test.
Marilyn Monroe was naturally a brunette. To make herself more employable, she straightened her hair and dyed it blonde.
Eleanor Jones was a librarian, who in 1916 created a chaperoned dormitory after noticing groups of vulnerable young women in search of Hollywood stardom were congregating in her library with no place to go. The Hollywood Studio Club eventually housed over 10,000 women, which also included Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn Monroe was named Artichoke Queen of Castroville, California when she was 22 years old.
Marilyn Monroe had synesthesia. Synesthetes can taste sounds, smell colors or see scents.
Marilyn Monroe’s signature breathy voice was a strategy to conceal her stutter.
Marilyn Monroe suffered from endometriosis, a condition that causes severe pain due to the uterine lining growing throughout the body. She had multiple surgeries for it and couldn’t carry any of her much-wanted pregnancies to term.
In 1955, the Mocambo nightclub in West Hollywood wouldn’t book Ella Fitzgerald until Marilyn Monroe said she would take a front table every night Ella played, which launched the jazz artist's career. Ella also later in her career helped Marilyn become a better singer.
Marilyn Monroe used to shave her face to exfoliate her skin.
Queen Elizabeth II and Marilyn Monroe met in 1956, when both were 30, at the premiere of “The Battle of the River Plate.” The Queen celebrated her 90th birthday on April 21, 2016, while Marilyn Monroe would have turned 90 on June 1.
Marilyn Monroe once took reporters with her to New York and walked around unnoticed, but when she decided to turn her ‘magic’ on, she suddenly became mobbed by adoring fans who had recognized her.
There is a 15-minute video of Marilyn Monroe engaging in oral sex with a man that J. Edgar Hoover was convinced was President John Kennedy. The video was brought by a New York businessman for $1.5 million, who intends to keep it private.
The Carlyle Hotel became known as “the New York White House” during the administration of President John F. Kennedy, who maintained an apartment on the 34th floor for the last 10 years of his life. Marilyn Monroe reportedly used a warren of tunnels to enter the Carlyle secretly with Kennedy and friends.
Peter Lawford, brother-in-law of John F. Kennedy and one of the last people to see Marilyn Monroe alive, introduced her as “the late Marilyn Monroe” before her infamous “Happy Birthday Mr. President” performance in May 1962. It was most probably a play on her being habitually late. She died in August 1962.
