By Brooke Hancock

Marilyn Monroe had an impact on America by becoming a symbol of beauty. Marilyn had a rough childhood, but her acting career was glamorous. Marilyn Monroe was one of the best and most beautiful actresses ever.

Marilyn did not have the best childhood. She was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Her name at birth was Norma Jeane Mortenson, but then she was baptized as Norma Jeane Baker. Her mother, Gladys Baker, had problems and was not able to take care of her. She never knew who her father was. Marilyn stayed in foster homes where she was abused numerous times. She attended eight different schools, because of all of her different locations, and dropped out of high school in 1942 to marry Jimmy Doughtery, who she later divorced because of her new acting and modeling career. She worked on an assembly line at the Radio Planes Munitions Factory before she was famous. Nine years after she dropped out of school she attended UCLA and took evening courses in art appreciation and literature. Marilyn’s idol was Jean Harlow, and her mentor was Johnny Hyde.

Marilyn worked hard and won many awards during her career. Some of those awards include Best New Actress of 1953 by Photoplay magazine, a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy in 1959, and voted Female World Film Favorite at the 1962 Golden Globes. Marilyn started modeling when a photographer taking pictures of women helping with the war effort discovered her, and by the spring of 1945 she was on the cover of over 33 magazines. Soon after, she signed her first studio contract with 20th Century Fox, using the name Marilyn Monroe. She did not legally change her name to Marilyn Monroe until 1956. In 1947 she acted in her first movie, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, and sang her first song the same year in Ladies of the Chorus. After filming Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she put her hands and feet in the cement in front of the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, a place she often visited as a child. When signing her name in the cement, she dotted the “I” with a diamond, which was stolen very soon after. By 1951 she was getting about 2,000 to 3,000 fan letters a week. She met her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, in 1954 but divorced him soon after because they thought her career was getting in the way of their relationship. Her famous “skirt-blowing” scene from The Seven Year Itch was filmed in 1954, and the movie was the best that summer. In 1955 Marilyn took off to New York to study at Lee Strasburg‘s Acting Studio, where she met her third husband, Arthur Miller. Arthur wrote a part in The Misfits just for her. She started her own motion picture company, called Marilyn Monroe Productions, in 1956. Her company made Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl. In that same year she even got to meet Queen Elizabeth. Marilyn started to arrive at sets late and was forgetting her lines, so Fox fired her. Fox fired and rehired her twice. Once Fox even tried to file a suit against her company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, but they were unsuccessful. Marilyn and Arthur divorced in January of 1961, and the same year she entered the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic at the New York Hospital. Only a couple days later she left the clinic but was then put in the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where she stayed for a few weeks.

Marilyn Monroe’s career came to a sudden and unexpected stop when she died on August 4, 1962, leaving one film, Something’s Got to Give, unfinished. She was even scheduled to remarry Joe DiMaggio on August 8, just four days after her death. She was buried at Westwood Memorial Cemetery. Marilyn now has her own star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame with her name on it, along with a motion picture camera, representing her career as an actress. There are many things people say caused her death, but it is still unknown. Years after her death she is still just as famous, if not more. She is a symbol of Hollywood glamour and beauty. The character of Ginger on Gilligan’s Island was loosely based on her, and the Batman artist used Marilyn as a reference when creating Vicki Vale. Madonna also remade a scene from one of Marilyn’s movies in her “Material Girl” music video. Many of Marilyn’s possessions were auctioned off in 1999, one dress getting over $1,200,000. In 1995 Marilyn was featured on a 32 cents commemorative United States postage stamp. In 2003, a virtual Marilyn Monroe appears in “The Sims Superstar” computer game. There have been over 20 books written about Marilyn’s life, probably even more websites created about her, and many beauty products, fashion accessories, and perfumes featuring Marilyn.

Marilyn had a huge impact on our opinion of beauty. Now when a lot of people think about beauty, they think about Marilyn Monroe. All those make-up companies don’t put her on their products for nothing, they probably make a ton of money off of it. When women see a pretty face like Marilyn’s on a beauty product it might influence their choice on whether or not to buy it. Marilyn is also on clothing, jewelry, and other accessories. So not only is she a symbol of beauty, but she is almost like a fashion statement too. Her beauty is also why those characters in those shows are based on her. So if it wasn’t for Marilyn, those characters might look completely different, or maybe not even exist. There are also characters in movies that are based on her. I have even seen a movie that had a character that obviously was supposed to be Marilyn Monroe, but in the credits it just listed the characters name as “actress,” which means people must also think about Marilyn Monroe when they think of actresses too. Marilyn also won awards for her gorgeousness, one being “Sexiest Female Movie Star of All Time,” by Empire magazine in 1995. Not only is she a symbol of beauty, fashion, and actresses, but she is also a symbol of Hollywood glamour. She is possibly one of Hollywood’s most famous stars, along with Elvis Presley. There are also Marilyn impersonators. Many look almost just like her, but none will ever come close to the real Marilyn.

To conclude, Marilyn Monroe had an impact on America by becoming a symbol of beauty. Marilyn is now recognized as one of the best actresses of the twentieth century, and maybe the prettiest, too.

Please remember, I'm a 14 year old girl writing this paper for an 8th grade research project. I would not use this information for any of your projects, as I can have errors in my paper. I would suggest looking at my works cited for more accurate information that you can be able to trust more. :)

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