MARILYN MONROE FACTS

1. She was born Norma Jean Mortenson. The head of new talent at Fox suggested the first name Marilyn because he looked like a Marilyn to him.  Specifically, the actress Marilyn Miller.  Norma chose Monroe as her last name to honor her grandmother.
2. Her grandmother and mother both had mental issues. Norma was put in an orphanage at age 9 because her mother went into a mental hospital.  She did not have any relationship with her father.
3. Norma went through a few foster homes. At age 16, her foster family decided to move and could not take her. The mother suggested her getting married to the next-door neighbor to avoid going back into the foster system.  Jim Dougherty thought it was a good idea and they remained married for four years.
4. She made her first suicide attempt after her agent Jimmy Hyde died of a heart attack. Hyde had been responsible for boosting her career.  He was in love with her, but she turned down his marriage proposal.
5. Her husband Arthur Miller saved her life from suicide attempts three times. She lost two babies when married to him.  She was pregnant during the filming of “Some Like It Hot”.
6. She was very difficult to work with. She never showed up on time.  She had trouble learning her lines.  She was fired from her last movie, the appropriately named “Something’s Got to Give”, for erratic behavior. 
7. She was grossly underpaid. While Elizabeth Taylor made $1 million for “Cleopatra”, she was paid $100,000 for “Something’s Got to Give”.
8. She loved to read. She owned more than 400 books.  She liked “The Fall” by Camus and “The Sun Also Rises” by Hemingway.
9. In 1954, she did ten USO shows in Korea.

10. She was married to Joe Dimaggio for nine months in 1954. The marriage was troubled and the last straw was the famous blown-up skirt scene in “The Seven Year Itch” which offended Dimaggio.  After her death, Dimaggio had flowers sent to her grave twice a week for twenty years.
11. Hugh Hefner bought the grave site next to hers in 1992.
12. She left 75% of her estate to her acting coach Lee Strasburg.
13. Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind” is about her.

https://medium.com/the-nonfiction-zone/18-fascinating-facts-about-marilyn-monroe-f074ccd76f2b

https://arthousehotelliverpool.co.uk/blog/25-magical-marilyn-monroe-moments/

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/19268/14-breathless-facts-about-marilyn-monroe