Born
Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926, she was destined
to become the most famous woman of the twentieth century. Her
paternity is unknown, and so she was baptised with her mother's
last name as Norma Jean Baker. Due to her mother's severe mental
ilness she spent much of her life in foster homes and orphanages.
In 1937 she moved in with family friend Grace Goddard. Grace's
husband was transferred to the east coast in 1942, and they were
financially unable to keep 16 year old Norma Jean. To avoid going
back to an orphanage she married Jimmy Dougherty, whom she had
been seeing for 6 months. While Jimmy was in the South Pacific
with the Merchant Marines, she took a job at a munitions factory,
where magazine photographer David Conover first met her. He began
sending her modeling jobs, and she began studying acting. Not
long after her first divorce, in June of 1946, she dyed her hair
blond and changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. |
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