Marilyn Monroe spent most of her childhood being tossed between foster homes and orphanages. It was not until the World War II had arrived at her doorstep that a young Monroe embarked on a successful modeling career.
In the ‘50s and ‘60s, she was the most marketable Hollywood star – a sex icon taking America by storm, paralleling the country’s sexual revolution. She was best known for playing ‘blonde bombshell’ characters on screen. Her notorious mood swings, rumored affairs with both President John F Kennedy and his brother Bobby, widely-publicized and crumbling marriages and addiction struggles also drew widespread attention to her troubled private life. The star passed away at the age of 36, from an overdose of barbiturates, in 1962.
To this day, she remains a pop icon, an enduring sex symbol, her death subject to numerous conspiracy theories, and her memory etched in the hearts of millions of her devotees, continuing to fight against oblivion.
Here are Marilyn Monroe’s five essential performances:
Niagra (1953)
George and Rose Loomis are honeymooning at a Niagara Falls motel. She plots with Ted Patrick to do him in, but all does not go smoothly. For one thing, after Loomis is reported missing Polly Cutler spies him at the motel but her husband Bud thinks she's imagining it. Marilyn sings "Kiss."
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Showgirls Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw travel to Paris, pursued by a private detective hired by the suspicious father of Lorelei's fiancé, as well as a rich, enamored old man and many other doting admirers.
Some like It Hot (1959)
After two Chicago musicians, Joe and Jerry, witness the the St. Valentine's Day massacre, they want to get out of town and get away from the gangster responsible, Spats Colombo. They're desperate to get a gig out of town but the only job they know of is in an all-girl band heading to Florida. They show up at the train station as Josephine and Daphne, the replacement saxophone and bass players. They certainly enjoy being around the girls, especially Sugar Kane Kowalczyk who sings and plays the ukulele.
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
When his family goes away for the summer, a hitherto faithful husband with an overactive imagination is tempted by a beautiful neighbor.
The Misfits (1961)
A divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle.
