Marilyn Monroe’s Birth Anniversary: The Struggle Behind The Glitz

Were she alive today, Marilyn Monroe would have turned 96.

Andy Warhol’s iconic ‘Marilyn Diptych’ at the Tate Modern gallery, with Nicholas Serota, Director of the Tate in front. 

(Photo: Reuters) 

The world celebrates Marilyn Monroe’s birth anniversary on 1 June. But the question is, who exactly was born on this day in the year 1926? Was it Norma Jean, or Marilyn Monroe? Because even though the two were the same women, they were in reality completely different.

One was a fragile, lonely girl and the other, a sex symbol to the world.

Somewhere between the two, there is another side to Marilyn that many of us identify with – a go-getter with an unflinching belief in herself.

A US postage stamp commemorating actress Marilyn Monroe in January 1995.

(Photo: Reuters)

Marilyn Dreamed Big and Worked Hard For It

During her time at the orphanage, Monroe’s often dreamed of love, not from her parents, of course. “That was far too wishful,” she would say – but love of people, lots of people. Her childhood may not have been ideal, but by January 1946, at the age of 20, all Norma Jean thought about were her dreams of being a star.

It’s ironic that Norma Jean was never loved, and Marilyn Monroe had no dearth of love from fans.

Marilyn Always Kept Learning

Marilyn Monroe once said, “My illusions didn’t have anything to do with being a fine actress. I knew how third rate I was. But my God, how I wanted to learn! To change, to improve! I didn’t want anything else. Not men, not money, not love, but the ability to act".

Even though she dropped out of school at age 15, Marilyn knew she needed knowledge of her craft, the hunger for which she maintained even after she had made it big.

Marilyn Monroe Didn’t Depend upon Luck

A visitor looks at the picture ‘Marilyn Monroe, Actress, New York City, 5 May 1957’ by celebrated photographer Richard Avedon displayed at a Christie’s auction.

(Photo: Reuters)

Ben Lyon, studio executive at 20th Century Fox, who gave Norma Jean the name ‘Marilyn’ told her that the double M’s in her new name would be lucky.

But luck didn’t come knocking. Monroe was unceremoniously dropped from the first movie that she was supposed to appear in. Still, Monroe wasn’t the one to give up. Some said she didn’t shy away from using the last centimeter of her 35-inch bust. Nevertheless, Monroe achieved her triumphs defiantly on her own.

A modelling document signed by Marilyn Monroe in front of a photograph of Monroe taken by Tom Kelley at a 1949 photo shoot.

(Photo: Reuters)

Marilyn Never Gave Up

Monroe skipped on dinners when men were not paying for her, in order to pay for her acting lessons.

Once, a famous photographer, Paul Hesse refused to photograph Monroe, bluntly calling her “too fat”. A sensitive Monroe had burst into tears after hearing this. Years later, the photographer would have regretted saying that to Monroe.

In her later years, Monroe wanted something more than the celluloid aphrodisiac that the studios had made of her. She wanted to do some meaningful roles.

But the studios had little interest in her acting. Her first serious movie, The Misfits came out only in 1961, a year before her death at the age of 36. Marilyn, thus, remained a sex symbol all her life.

A Hollywood reporter, in crude terms, once said that the word ‘sex symbol’ was a euphemism for any woman in showbiz under thirty who’s not employed in a brothel. But Marilyn Monroe would not want to make a dramatic tragedy of this fact. As she went on to say, “Hollywood is a place where they pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul”.

What, then, was it about Marilyn Monroe that carved her a permanent name in showbiz; an industry that is an endless factory of the desirable?

Some say it was talent, some say it was seduction and others would whisper it was the company of some powerful men. For me, though, it will always be Marilyn’s never-give-in spirit and her brazen audacity.

(This article was first published on 1 June 2015. It is being reposted from The Quint’s archives to mark Marilyn Monroe’s death anniversary.)