Marilyn Monroe

At 36 years old, Marilyn Monroe has this physical status:

Life and career

Norma Jeane Mortenson was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 1, 1926. Gladys Pearl Baker (née Monroe) was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, to a poor Midwestern family who immigrated to California at the turn of the century. Gladys married John Newton Baker, an alcoholic man nine years her senior, at the age of 15. Robert (1917–1933), and Berniece (191919–2014) were their two children. In 1923, she registered for divorce and sole custody, but Baker kidnapped the children shortly thereafter and moved them with them to his homeland Kentucky.

Monroe was not told she had a sister until she was 12, and they were married for the first time in 1944 when Monroe was 17 or 18. Gladys worked as a film negative cutter at Consolidated Film Industries after the divorce. She married Martin Edward Mortensen in 1924, but she and Martin Edward Mortensen divorced in 1928 just months later. Monroe's father, Charles Stanley Gifford, Gladys' co-worker with whom she had an affair in 1925, was discovered by DNA analysis in 2022.

Although Gladys was physically and financially ill for a child, Monroe's early childhood was healthy and happy. In the rural town of Hawthorne, Gladys placed her daughter with evangelical Christian foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender. She lived in the city for the first six months before being forced to return to work. She then began visiting her daughter on weekends. Gladys purchased a tiny house in Hollywood with a loan from the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in 1933 and took her seven-year-old Monroe.

They shared the house with lodgers, actors George and Maude Atkinson, and their daughter, Nellie. Gladys had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with hyperchondromia in January 1934. She was admitted to the Metropolitan State Hospital after many months in a rest home. She spent the remainder of her life in and out of hospitals, and she was never in touch with Monroe. Monroe became a ward of the state and her mother's companion, Grace Goddard, took responsibility for her and her mother's affairs.

Monroe's life circumstances changed dramatically over the past four years. She remained with the Atkinsons for the first 16 months, and she may have sexually assaulted her during this period. She now had a stutter and was withdrawn, while still a shy child. She stayed briefly with Grace and her partner Erwin "Doc" Goddard and two other families in 1935. Grace Orphanage Home in Los Angeles, 1935, was placed in her care. The orphanage was regarded as a "model institution" by her peers, but Monroe felt abandoned.

Grace became her legal guardian in 1936, but did not take her out of the orphanage until 1937, after being encouraged by the orphanage workers who felt that Monroe would be happier living in a family. Since Doc molested Monroe's second stay with the Goddards, she was only able to stay for a few months. She then spent brief periods with her family and Grace's relatives and relatives in Los Angeles and Compton.

"I didn't like the world around me because it was so sad." Monroe's childhood experiences inspired her desire to become a star. I realized that this was happening, and I said that I want to be... Some of my foster families used to drag me out of the house, and it was then that I'd sit all day and night. "I love it" when you first opened the screen so large, a little boy, and I loved it."

Monroe moved to a more permanent home in September 1938, when she first began living with Grace's aunt, Ana Lower, in Sawtelle's west-side district. She was accepted into Emerson Junior High School and moved to Lower's weekly Christian Science services. She was otherwise a poor student but excelled in writing and contributed to the school newspaper. Monroe returned to live with the Goddards in Van Nuys around early 1941 due to the elderly's health problems.

She began attending Van Nuys High School the same year. Doc Goddard, the company that employed him in 1942, was moved to West Virginia. The Goddards were forbidden from entering Monroe, California, and she would have to return to the orphanage. She married their neighbors' 21-year-old son, factory worker James Dougherty, on June 19, 1942, just after her 16th birthday.

Monroe deviated from high school and became a housewife. During the marriage, she and Dougherty were mismatched, and she later said she was "dying of boredom" during the marriage. Dougherty joined the Merchant Marine in 1943 and was stationed on Santa Catalina Island, where Monroe travelled with him.

Dougherty was sent out to the Pacific in April 1944, and he will remain there for the majority of the next two years. Monroe took up with her in-laws and began a life at the Radioplane Company, a munitions plant in Van Nuys. In late 1944, she met photographer David Conover, who had been sent by the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Forces to the factory to shoot morale-boosting photos of female employees. Although none of her pictures were used, she ceased doing photography in January 1945 and started modeling for Conover and his family. She left on her own and joined the Blue Book Model Agency in August 1945, defying her service husband.

Monroe's figure was more suitable for pin-up than high fashion modeling, according to the department, and she was mostly seen in advertisements and men's magazines. She cut her hair and dyed it blonde to make herself more employable. Monroe's founder, Emmeline Snively, became one of the agency's most innovative and hard-working models by early 1946, and she appeared on 33 magazine covers for publications like Pageant, U.S. Laff, Camera, and Peek. Monroe used the pseudonym Jean Norman for a model.

Monroe had signed a deal with an acting company in June 1946, but had to Snively. Ben Lyon, a twentieth century-Fox executive, gave her a screen-test at Paramount Pictures after a failed interview at Paramount Pictures. Darryl F. Zanuck, the company's president, was unenthusiastic about it, but he did give her a six-month deal to prevent her from being signed by rival studio RKO Pictures. Monroe's career began in August 1946, and she and Lyon chose "Marilyn Monroe" for the stage name. Lyon, who was reminded of Broadway actress Marilyn Miller, was chosen first; the last was Monroe's mother's maiden name. She divorced Dougherty, who was against her career, in September 1946.

Scudda Hay!

Monroe was determined to make it as an actor and continued to study at the Actors' Lab. At the Bliss-Hayden Theatre, she appeared in a small role in the play Glamour Preferred, but it came to an end after a few performances. She used to network, attended editors' offices, befriended gossip columnist Sidney Skolsky, and entertained high-end male guests at studio functions, a practice she had started at Fox. She became a friend and occasional sex companion of Fox executive Joseph M. Schenck, who persuaded his colleague Harry Cohn, the head executive of Columbia Pictures, to sign her in March 1948.

After Rita Hayworth and her hair was bleached platinum blonde hair, Monroe's beauty was modeled at Columbia. Natasha Lytess, the studio's head drama coach, began working with her mentor until 1955. Her only film at the studio was the low-budget musical Ladies of the Chorus (1948), in which she appeared in her first role as a chorus girl courted by a wealthy man. She also screen-tested for the lead role in Born Yesterday (1950), but her deal was not renewed in September 1948. The Ladies of the Chorus were released the following month and it was not a success.

When Monroe's Columbia days came to an end, she returned to modeling. She shot a commercial for Pabst beer and photographed in artistic nudes by Tom Kelley for John Baumgarth's calendar (using the term 'Mona Monroe'). Monroe had previously appeared topless or clad in a bikini for other artists, including Earl Moran, and was used to nudity. She met and became the protégé and mistress of Johnny Hyde, the vice president of the William Morris Agency, shortly after leaving Columbia.

Monroe appeared in several films, including in Joseph Mankiewicz's drama All About Eve (1950) and John Huston's film noir The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Despite her screen time being limited to just a few minutes in the former, she was still a part of Photoplay, and according to photographer Donald Spoto, she went "effectively from movie model to serious actress." With 20th Century-Fox, Hyde negotiated a seven-year deal for Monroe in December 1950. Fox could decide not to renew the deal after each year, according to the company's terms. Only days later, Hyde died of a heart attack, which left Monroe devastated.

Monroe appeared in three moderately successful Fox comedies in 1951: As Young as You Feel, Love Nest, and Let's Make It Legal. All three films starred her "essentially [as] a sex ornament," according to Spoto, but critics lauded her as "superb" in As Young As You Feel and Ezra Goodman of Los Angeles Daily News, who described her as "one of the most up-and-coming [actresses] for Love Nest, according to Spoto.

Her fanbase was also on the rise; she received many thousand fan letters a week and was named "Miss Cheesecake of 1951" by the army newspaper Stars and Stripes, capturing soldiers' tastes in the Korean War. Monroe was named by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in February 1952 as the "best young box office celebrity." Monroe had a brief encounter with director Elia Kazan, as well as briefly dating several other guys, including director Nicholas Ray and actor Peter Lawford. She began a public interest with former New York Yankees baseball star Joe DiMaggio, one of the period's most well-known sports stars.

Monroe was embroiled in a controversy in March 1952, when she announced publicly that she had voted for a nude calendar in 1949. The studio had heard of the shots and that she was officially announced to be the model a week earlier, and Monroe and Monroe decided that to avoid damaging her career, it was best to tell them that she was unemployed at the time. The tactic earned her public respect and renewed excitement in her films, for which she was now receiving top-billing. Monroe was named on the front page of Life as the "talk of Hollywood" and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper declared her the "cheese queen" turned "box office smash" as a result of the scandal. Clash by Night, Don't Bother to Knock, and We're Not Married — three of Monroe's films — were released shortly after to capitalize on the public interest.

Monroe, despite her emergence as a sex symbol, also wanted to show more of her acting talent. Soon after starting the Fox business, she had started taking acting lessons with Michael Chekhov and Mime Lotte Goslar, and Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock performed her in various roles. Barbara Stanwyck and directed by Fritz Lang played a fish cannery worker in the 1970s; to prepare, she spent time in a fish cannery in Monterey. She has received rave reviews for her role: "She deserved her role in this film," the Hollywood Reporter wrote, and Variety said she "has an ease of delivery that makes her a cinch for success." The former was a thriller in which Monroe played a physically ill babysitter and in which Zanuck put her abilities to the test in a more dramatic role. Crowther deemed her too young for the role, and Variety blasted the script for the film's ineffectiveness.

Monroe's three other films in 1952 continued with her typecasting in comedic roles that showcased her sex appeal. According to its writer Nunnally Johnson, her role as a beauty pageant was designed solely to "present Marilyn in two bathing suits." She played a secretary in Howard Hawks' Monkey Business, in which she starred opposite Cary Grant, and she is blissfully unaware of the commotion her sexiness causes around her.

Charles Laughton appeared in a passing vignette as a nineteenth-century street walker in O. Henry's Full House. Monroe wore a revealing gown while attending the Miss America Pageant parade as Grand Marshal, and Earl Wilson said she rarely wore no underwear during her publicity stunts this year. Florabel Muir, a gossip columnist, dubbed Monroe the "it girl" of 1952 at the end of the year.

Monroe developed a reputation for being difficult to work with during this time, which would only get worse as her career progressed. She was often late or didn't turn up at all, didn't remember her name, and would insist multiple re-takes before she was happy with her results. Director Niatasha Lytess and then Paula Strasberg were both irritated by her dependence on her acting coaches. Monroe's difficulties have been traced to a combination of perfectionionism, low self-confidence, and stage phobia.

She disliked her lack of film sets and never had similar issues during photo shoots, although she had more to complain about her performance and could be more spontaneous than following a script. She began using barbiturates, amphetamines, and alcohol, which also exacerbated her insomnia, although she didn't become addicted until 1956. According to Sarah Churchwell, some of Monroe's behavior, especially later in her career, was also in reaction to her male co-stars and directors' condescension and sexism. Lois Banner, a writer, has claimed that many of her managers bullied her.

Monroe appeared in three films that were released in 1953 and rose as a major sex symbol and one of Hollywood's most bankable actors. The first was the Technicolor film noir Niagara, in which she portrayed a femme fatale scheming to murder her husband, played by Joseph Cotten. By then, Monroe and her make-up artist Allan "Whitey" Snyder had created their "trademark" make-up style: dark arched brows, pale skin, "glistening" red lips, and a beauty symbol. Niagara was one of Monroe's most overtly sexual films, according to Sarah Churchwell. Monroe's body was only covered by a sheet or a towel in some scenes that were considered shocking by modern viewers. The film's most notable scene is a 30-second long shot behind Monroe, where she can be seen walking with her hips swaying, which was heavily used in the film's promotion.

When Niagara was announced in January 1953, women's clubs protested it as immoral, but audiences embraced it, but it became extremely popular. Though Variety called it "clichéd" and "morbid," The New York Times wrote that "the falls and Miss Monroe are something to see" as well as Monroe's assertion that she is "not the perfect actress" at this point, but she can still be seductive, even as she walks." Monroe continued to be noticed by wearing revealing clothing, most notable at the Photoplay awards in January 1953, where she received the "Fast Rising Star" award. William Travilla's "sunburst" waist-tight, deep decolleté gold lamé dress, but not seen in the film, would be a hit. Joan Crawford, a veteran actress who has been propelled by such images, has described the act as "unbecoming an actor and a lady."

Although Niagara made Monroe a sex symbol and established her "look" in her second film of 1953, the satirical musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes cemented her screen persona as a "dumb blonde." The film, based on Anita Loos' novel and its Broadway version, focuses on two "gold-digging" showgirls played by Monroe and Jane Russell. Monroe's role was originally intended for Betty Grable, the twentieth century's most popular "blonde bombshell"; Monroe was quickly eclipsing her as a woman with both male and female audiences.

She and Russell pressed their hand and footprints in wet concrete outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in June as part of the film's public relations campaign. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was announced shortly after and became one of the year's most significant box office hits. The New York Times and William Brogdon of Variety all praised Monroe, especially when she said she appeared on "Diamonds Is a Girl's Best Friend"; according to the latter, she "did not have the ability to sex a song as well as point out the scene's eye values."

Monroe made her television debut in the Jack Benny Show in September, portraying Jack's fantasy woman in "Honolulu Trip." In her third film of the year, How to Marry a Millionaire, she co-starred Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall. Monroe was a nasve model who teams up with her friends to find rich husbands, reitering the popular Gentlemen Prefer Blondes formula. It was Fox's second film to be released in CinemaScope, a widescreen print that Fox hopes would bring audiences back to theaters as television was starting to cause damage to film studios. Despite mixed reviews, Monroe's film was her best box office success at that time in her career.

In both 1953 and 1954, Monroe was included in the annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, and Fox historian Aubrey Solomon became the studio's "best asset" alongside CinemaScope. In December 1953, Monroe's position as a leading sex symbol was announced when Hugh Hefner introduced her on the front and as centerfold in the first issue of Playboy; Monroe did not consent to the publication. The front page featured a photograph taken of her at the Miss America Pageant parade in 1952, and the centerfold included one of her 1949 nude photographs.

Monroe had risen to become one of the top performers of 20th century-Fox, but her deal had not changed since 1950, implying that she was paid much less than other actors of her stature and was unable to choose her projects. Darryll F. Zanuck, the studio's chief executive, had a strong personal dislike of her and did not believe she would be paid in other roles. Zanuck, the studio's founder, had already decided that Fox should focus solely on entertainment to increase revenues, noting on the development of any "serious films." When Monroe refused to begin shooting yet another musical comedy, The Girl in Pink Tights, he suspended her in January 1954.

This was front-page news, and Monroe retaliated immediately to combat negative coverage. On January 14, she and Joe DiMaggio were married at the San Francisco City Hall. They travelled by car to San Luis Obispo, and then honeymooned outside Idyllwild, California, in Marilyn's lawyer, Lloyd Wright's mountain lodge. They flew to Japan on January 29, 1954, 15 days later, combining a "honeymoon" with his service to his former San Francisco Seals coach Lefty O'Doul to help with training Japanese baseball teams. She and Jean O'Doul, Lefty's wife, travelled to Korea, where she appeared in a USO exhibition, performing songs from her films for over 60,000 US Marines over a four-day period. She was named "Most Popular Female Star" by Photoplay after returning to the United States. Monroe signed with Fox in March, with the promise of a new deal, a guarantee of $100,000, and a leading part in the Broadway revival of The Seven Year Itch's film version.

The western River of No Return, Otto Preminger's last film that Monroe had shot before the suspension was released in April 1954. The actress played second to the scene and the CinemaScope process, but audiences loved it, so she called it a "Z-grade cowboy movie in which the acting came second to the stage and the CinemaScope process." There's No Business Like Show Business, which she deeply disliked, but the studio demanded she do for dropping The Girl in Pink Tights, her first film after she was suspended. It was unprofitable upon its debut in late 1954, with Monroe's appearance being portrayed as vulgar by several commentators.

Monroe began filming Billy Wilder's comedy The Seven Year Itch in September 1954, starring Tom Ewell as a woman who becomes the object of her married neighbor's sexual fantasies. Although the film was shot in Hollywood, the studio decided to promote advance notice by staging the shooting of a scene in which Monroe is standing on a subway grate with the air blowing up her white skirt. The shooting lasted several hours and attracted nearly 2,000 spectators. Since being launched in June 1955, the "subway grate scene" became one of Monroe's most popular, and The Seven Year Itch became one of the year's biggest commercial successes.

Monroe's publicity stunt placed him on foreign front pages, and it also marked the end of her marriage to DiMaggio, who had been enraged by it. His zeal and control attitude had harmed the union from the start; he was also physically abused. Monroe, who went from NYC to Hollywood in October 1954, filed for divorce after only nine months of marriage.

Monroe and photographer Milton Greene left Hollywood for the East Coast in November 1954, where she and photographer Milton Greene formed Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP), which later became "instrumental" in the studio's demise. Monroe said she was "tired of the same old sex roles" and that she was no longer under Fox's employment as it had not fulfilled its obligations, such as giving her the promised pay. In January 1955, she and Fox were locked in a year-long court contest. Monroe was largely mocked by the media, and she was parodied in the Broadway play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Jayne Mansfield, a smutty actress who starts her own production company, appeared in (1955).

Monroe, the founder of MMP, migrated to Manhattan and spent 1955 studying acting. At Constance Collier's Actors Studio, run by Lee Strasberg, she took classes and attended workshops on method acting. She grew close to Strasberg and his wife Paula, receiving private lessons at their house due to her insecurity and fear, and then became a family member. Natasha Lytess, the Strasbergs' old acting coach, was swapped with Paula; the Strasbergs retained a major influence for the remainder of her career. Monroe also started psychoanalysis, as Strasberg believed that an actor must confront their emotional traumas and use them in their performances.

Despite the ongoing divorce process, Monroe maintained her friendship with DiMaggio; she also dated actress Marlon Brando and playwright Arthur Miller. She was first introduced to Miller by Elia Kazan in the early 1950s. Monroe and Miller's affair became more serious after 1955, when her divorce was finalized and she separated from his wife. The studio advised Miller to leave the show because the FBI had probed her for alleged communism and had been subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, but Monroe refused. Because of her friendship, the FBI obtained a file on her.

Monroe and Fox have signed a new seven-year deal together, as MMP will not be able to fund films alone, and the studio was keen to have Monroe back in them. Fox will pay her $400,000 to make four films and also granted her the freedom to choose her own scripts, producers, and cinematographers. Each completed film for Fox will be allowed to film one film with MMP per film.

Monroe began in 1956 by announcing her victory over the twentieth century-Fox. The news has overwhelmingly praised her decision to challenge the studio; Time called her a "shrewd businesswoman"; and Look predicted that her victory would be "an example of the person against the herd for years to come." In comparison, Monroe's friendship with Miller culminated in some pessimistic remarks, including Walter Winchell's assertion that "America's most popular blonde moving picture star is now the darling of the left-wing intelligentsia."

Monroe began filming Bus Stop, her first film under new circumstances in March. Chérie is a saloon singer whose aspirations of fame are shattered by a nasve cowboy who falls in love with her. She developed an Ozark accent, selected costumes and makeup that lacked the glamor of her earlier films, and hired mediocre singing and dancing for the role. Despite initially questioning Monroe's acting abilities and knowing of her tumultuous reputation, Broadway director Joshua Logan agreed to direct.

Monroe was "technically in charge" as the head of MMP, occasionally making decisions on cinematography, and with Logan adapting to her constant lateness and perfectionism, which culminated in Idaho and Arizona. Logan's opinion of Monroe changed, and he later compared her to Charlie Chaplin in her ability to mix comedy and tragedy.

Monroe and Miller were married at the Westchester County Court in White Plains, New York, two days later, they held a Jewish reception at the home of Miller's literary agent, Kay Brown, in Waccabuc, New York. Monroe converted to Judaism after her marriage, which resulted in Egypt's ban on all of her films. The media saw the relationship as a mismatch due to Monroe's reputation as a sex symbol and Miller's portrayal as an academic, as shown by Variety's headline, "Egghead Weds Hourglass."

Bus Stop was founded in August 1956 and has since been a catalyst and commercial success. Monroe's performance "effectively disproves one and for all the belief that she is simply a glamour actress," the Saturday Review of Literature said, and Crowther wrote, "Hold on to your chairs, everyone, and get ready for a rattling surprise." Marilyn Monroe has finally established herself as an actress. For her role, she was also recognized by the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her work.

At Pinewood Studios in England, Monroe shot MMP's first independent film, The Prince and the Showgirl, in August. It was based on a 1953 stage play by Terence Rattigan and co-produced by, as well as Laurence Olivier, who co-starred Laurence Olivier. Production was complicated by controversies involving him and Monroe. Olivier, a stage actor and producer, enraged her with the sexy word "All you have to do is be sexy," and she responded with the insistence that Vivien Leigh's stage interpretation of the character. He also disliked the constant presence of Paula Strasberg, Monroe's acting coach, on camera. Monroe became uncooperative and started to arrive late, saying, "If you don't respect your artists, they can't perform well."

During the production of Monroe, the company also had other issues. Her reliance on pharmaceuticals has grown, and Spoto says she had a miscarriage. MMP should be run by She and Greene, who also disagreed on how MMP should be run. Despite the challenges, filming was completed on schedule by the end of 1956. In June 1957, the Prince and the Showgirl received mixed reviews, and it was unpopular among American audiences. It was better received in Europe, where she was named for a BAFTA and the Italian David di Donatello awards as well as the European Crystal Star award.

Monroe went on an 18-month absence from England to concentrate on family life. She and Miller split their time between New York, Connecticut, and Long Island. She had an ectopic pregnancy in mid-57 and a miscarriage a year later; the most likely symptoms were related to her endometriosis. Due to a barbiturate overdose, Monroe was also hospitalized for a brief period of time. Monroe bought his interest in the company when she and Greene were unable to resolve their differences over MMP.

In Billy Wilder's comedy on gender roles, Monroe returned to Hollywood in July 1958 to appear alongside Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Some Like It Hot is a film. Sugar Kane was considered another "dumb blonde" by the actress, but she accepted it as a result of Miller's encouragement and the offering of 10% of the film's income on top of her regular salary. The film's difficult production has since been described as "legendary." Monroe demanded hundreds of retakes, but did not recall or act as directed; Curtis said kissing her was "like kissing Hitler" due to the number of retakes.

Monroe modestly compared the production to a sinking ship, as well as an interview with her co-stars and director. "But" she was worried, "I have no phallic symbol to lose," Monroe said of her co-stars and director. Many of the issues resulted from her and Wilder, who had also a reputation for being difficult, debating how she should act. She enraged him by proposing to change some of her scenes, which in turn made her stage fright worse, and it has been suggested that she intentionally deleted several scenes in order to perform them her way.

"Anyone can remember lines, but it takes a true artist to come on the set and not know her lines, not to mention her lines, and yet give the performance she did," Wilder said. When it was first introduced in March 1959, Some Like It Hot was a critical and commercial success. Monroe's appearance earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress, prompting Variety to label her "a comedienne with the sex appeal and timing that can't be beat." In polls released by the BBC, the American Film Institute, and Sight & Sound, it has been named one of the best films ever made.

Monroe took a break until late 1959, when she appeared in the musical comedy Let's Make Love. Miller selected George Cukor to direct and Miller rewrote some of the script's, which she found weak. She took the position solely because she was late on her Fox contract. The film's development was stalled due to her frequent absences from the set. During the shooting, Monroe had an extramarital affair with her co-star Yves Montand, which was widely distributed by the media and used in the film's public relations.

Let's Make Love was unprofitable on its first attempt in September 1960. Hedda Hopper called Monroe's film "the most vulgar image she's ever seen" and "lacking" and "lacking the old Monroe dynamism." Truman Capote lobbied for Monroe to appear Holly Golightly in a film adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's, but its producers were concerned that Monroe's delay would make the project more difficult, so Audrey Hepburn took over.

Monroe's last film was The Misfits, directed by John Huston, which Miller had written to her provide her with a dramatic role. Clark Gable, Eli Wallach, and Montgomery Clift played a recently divorced woman who becomes best friends with three aging cowboys. Filming in the Nevada desert between July and November 1960 was once more difficult. Monroe and Miller's marriage was effectively ended, and he began a new one with set photographer Inge Morath.

Monroe disliked that he had based her role partially on her personal experience, and thought it was inferior to male roles. She also had trouble with Miller's habit of rewriting scenes the night before filming. Her health was also failing: she was in pain from gallstones, and her heroin use was so bad that her makeup had to be applied while still asleep under barbiturates' influence. Filming was suspended for her to spend a week in a hospital detox in August. Despite her troubles, Huston said that while Monroe was behaving she was not pretending to an emotion. It was the authentic thing. She would go deep inside herself to find it and bring it up to consciousness."

Monroe and Miller were reunited after filming ended, and she obtained a Mexican divorce in January 1961. The Misfits were released the following month, but the box office's efforts were dissatisfied. Variety's reviews were mixed, with Variety's frequent "choppy" character growth, and Bosley Crowther's description of Monroe as "unfortunately for the film's context, everything turns upon her." It has received more positive feedback in the 21st century than in the previous century. The British Film Institute's Geoff Andrews called it a masterpiece, Huston scholar Tony Tracy called Monroe's role the "most mature interpretation of her career," and The Independent's Geoffrey McNab praised her "extraordinary" portrayal of the character's "power of empathy" in her film "Growth.

Monroe was due to appear in a television version of W. Somerset Maugham's Rain for NBC, but the project fell through because the network did not want to recruit her preferred director, Lee Strasberg. She spent the first six months of 1961 occupied by health issues rather than working. She underwent cholecystectomy and surgery for her endometriosis, and she was hospitalized for depression for four weeks. DiMaggio, with whom she revived a friendship, helped her friend Frank Sinatra for several months. In 1961, Monroe returned to California permanently, purchasing a home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles, which was purchased in early 1962.

In 1962, Monroe returned to the public eye. She received a "World Film Favorite" Golden Globe Award and began shooting a film for Fox, Something's Got to Give, a tribute to My Favorite Wife (1940). MMP, produced by George Cukor, was supposed to co-produce it, as well as co-starring Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. Monroe had sinusitis days before filming began. Fox started as planned in late April despite medical advice to postpone the project.

Monroe was too ill to work for the majority of the next six weeks, but the studio pressured her by publicly claiming she was faking it. On May 19, she took a break to perform "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" at President John F. Kennedy's early birthday party at Madison Square Garden in New York. Her beauty caught her attention: a beige, skintight skirt covered in rhinestones, which made her appear nude. Monroe's trip to New York caused even more annoyance for Fox executives who had a desire for her to cancel it.

Monroe filmed a scene for Something's Got to Give in which she swam naked in a swimming pond. The press was encouraged to photograph; these were later published in Life to encourage advance notice. It was the first time a major celebrity had posed nude at a point in their career. Fox decided that even though she had been on sick leave for several days, it was still struggling with the increasing costs of Cleopatra (1963). Fox fired Monroe on June 7 and sued her for $750,000 in damages. Lee Remick had been brought to the film by Martin, but Fox sued him as well and shut down the operation. Monroe was blamed for the film's demise and began disseminating fake information about her, as well as claiming she was physically impaired.

Fox soon regretted its decision and reopened talks with Monroe later in June; a deal about a new deal that involved recommencing Something's Got to Give and a leading role in the black comedy What a Way to Go! (1964) was born later that summer. She was also planning to appear in a Jean Harlow biopic. Monroe did various press appearances, including interviews with Life and Cosmopolitan and her first photo shoot for Vogue, in order to improve her public image. She and photographer Bert Stern collaborated on two series of photographs, one of a common fashion editorial and another of her posing nude, which were released posthumously under the heading The Last Sitting.

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