Birth of Marilyn Monroe
Birth of Marilyn Monroe
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
Marilyn Monroe Biography and Timeline
Follow Marilyn Monroe through 35 dated historical records for United States of America.
Marilyn Monroe, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
35Distinct records
1 of 1Page
1926–1962Years on this page
1926
1935
Health of Marilyn Monroe
Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was institutionalized at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk
Orphans Home
Placed in the Los Angeles Orphans Home
1944
First Motion Picture Unit
Marilyn Monroe meets photographer David Conover, who had been sent by the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU) to the factory to shoot morale-boosting pictures of female workers
Modeling
While working in a factory as part of the war effort meets a photographer and begins a successful pin-up modeling career
1945
Modeling
Signs up to the Blue Book Model Agency
1947
Dangerous Years
First appears in a film as a waitress in the drama Dangerous Years
1948
(1948
Monroes only film at Colombia is the low-budget musical Ladies of the Chorus (1948), in which she had her first starring role as a chorus girl who is courted by a wealthy man
1950
Love Happy
Has a bit part in the Marx Brothers film Love Happy. Appears in six films released in 1950. She had bit parts in Love Happy, A Ticket to Tomahawk, Right Cross and The Fireball, but also made minor appearances in two critically acclaimed films: John Hustons crime film The Asphalt Jungle and Joseph Mankiewiczs drama All About Eve
1951
Home Town Story
Has supporting roles in four low-budget films released in 1951, in the MGM drama Home Town Story, and in three moderately successful comedies for Fox, As Young as You Feel, Love Nest, and Lets Make It Legal
1952
Clash by Night
Appears Fritz Langs drama Clash by Night, for which she was loaned to RKO and featured in an atypical role as a fish cannery worker, allowing her to show more of her acting range.
Film
It was one of the first films to feature her as a "dumb, childish blonde, innocently unaware of the havoc her sexiness causes around her", marking the beginning of typecasting in her career.
Film
Monroe received positive reviews for her performance: The Hollywood Reporter stated that "she deserves starring status with her excellent interpretation", and Variety wrote that she "has an ease of delivery which makes her a cinch for popularity"
Monkey Business
Plays a secretary opposite Cary Grant in Howard Hawks screwball comedy Monkey Business.
1953
Film
Monroe continued to attract attention with her revealing outfits in publicity events, most famously at the Photoplay awards in January 1953, where she won the "Fastest Rising Star" award
1st Playboy Magazine
The first Playboy magazine is published, Marilyn Monroe is on the cover
The first Playboy magazine is published, Marilyn Monroe
The first Playboy magazine is published, Marilyn Monroe is on the cover
Film
Monroe continued to attract attention with her revealing outfits in publicity events, most famously at the Photoplay awards in January 1953, where she won the "Fastest Rising Star" award.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
It featured Monroe in the role of a naive model who teams up with her friends to find rich husbands, thus repeating the successful formula of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The second film of the year, musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, established her star image as a "dumb blonde". Monroe starred in three films released in 1953, emerging as a major sex symbol and one of Hollywoods most bankable stars.
How to Marry a Millionaire
Her third film of the year, How to Marry a Millionaire, co-starred Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall and was released in November.
Niagara
The first of these was the Technicolor film noir Niagara, in which she played a femme fatale scheming to murder her husband, played by Joseph Cotten.
1954
The Seven Year Itch
Stars in Billy Wilders comedy The Seven Year Itch, in which she starred opposite Tom Ewell as a woman who becomes the object of her married neighbors sexual fantasies
1955
Marilyn Monroe Productions
Monroe began a new Battle for control over her career and left Hollywood for the East Coast, where she and photographer Milton Greene founded their own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP)
1956
The Prince and the Showgirl
Stars in The Prince and the Showgirl, at Pinewood Studios in England, based on Terrence Rattigans The Sleeping Prince, a play about an affair between a show girl and a prince in the 1910s. Stars in Bus Stop, received a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination for her performance
1958
Golden Globe
Monroes performance in Some Like it Hot earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress, and prompted Variety to call her "a comedienne with that combination of sex appeal and timing that just cant be beat"
Some Like It Hot
Stars opposite Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Billy Wilders comedy Some Like It Hot. Monroes performance in Some Like it Hot earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress, and prompted Variety to call her "a comedienne with that combination of sex appeal and timing that just cant be beat"
1959
Lets Make Love
Retuns to Hollywood to star in the musical comedy Lets Make Love, about an actress and a millionaire who fall in love when performing in a satirical play
1960
The Misfits
The last film that Monroe completed was John Hustons The Misfits, which Miller had written to provide her with a role in a drama
1962
Death of Marilyn Monroe
Death of Marilyn Monroe
Death of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroes death was officially confirmed by Monroes physician, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, who arrived at the house at around 3:50 a.m. At 4:25 a.m., the Los Angeles Police Department is notified. Death of Marilyn Monroe, found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home by her psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson
Death of Marilyn Monroe
It was estimated that she had died between 8:30 mins 10:30 p.m., and the toxicological analysis concluded that the cause of death was acute barbiturate poisoning.
Death of Marilyn Monroe
The Los Angeles County Coroners Office was assisted in their investigation by experts from the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Team.
Death of Marilyn Monroe
as she had 8 mg of chloral hydrate and 4.5 mg of pentobarbital (Nembutal) in her blood, and a further 13 mg of pentobarbital in her liver.
Death of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroes funeral is held at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.