Marilyn Monroe

With her mesmerizing screen presence and tragic tale, Marilyn Monroe has long captured the hearts and imaginations of audiences worldwide. Born into humble beginnings and raised as Norma Jeane Baker, Monroe was discovered while working in a factory. After some forgettable bit parts, she broke through with a memorable (though small) role in the Oscar-winning showbiz fable All About Eve as a bubbly, but brainy, ingénue. Soon she was scoring bigger roles and developing her persona as a ditzy sexpot in the colorful musical Gentleman Prefer Blondes and the daffy romantic comedy How to Marry a Millionaire. Her status as a style icon was secured with a sexy, skirt-flying turn in Billy Wilder's 1955 infidelity comedy, The Seven Year Itch. Monroe garnered more fame and acclaim as a terrorized saloon singer in Bus Stop, and as a diplomatically savvy dancer in The Prince and the Showgirl. But while her career blossomed, her personal life crumbled. Shortly after production on the Western The Misfits came to an end, so did her marriage with its screenwriter, her third and final husband, Arthur Miller. Though her untimely death soon followed, Monroe is still regarded as an inspiration to actresses, comediennes, and women worldwide for her sense of fun, fearlessness, and fashion.