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Marilyn Monroe

American actor and star whose screen career became central to 1950s Hollywood culture. This page combines historical context with 35 matching records drawn directly from the World History Database cinema archive.

35 matching archive records 1926โ€“1962 record span Open full 2,036-record archive

Historical context

Marilyn Monroe: overview and significance

What happened?

Marilyn Monroe moved from modelling and supporting film roles into major Hollywood stardom, particularly through comedy and dramatic performances during the 1950s.

Why was it important?

Monroe became one of the most recognisable figures in twentieth-century popular culture, while her career also illustrates the pressures of the studio-era star system.

World History Database records

Marilyn Monroe timeline

The records below are selected from the 2,036-record Cinema History archive and rendered as static HTML in chronological order.

1926
1926 1st June

Birth of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Los Angeles ยท Cinema

Birth of Marilyn Monroe

1935
1935

Health of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Norwalk ยท Cinema

Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was institutionalized at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk

1935

Orphans Home

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Los Angeles ยท Cinema

Placed in the Los Angeles Orphans Home

1944
1944

First Motion Picture Unit

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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

1944

Modeling

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

While working in a factory as part of the war effort meets a photographer and begins a successful pin-up modeling career

1945
1945

Modeling

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

Signs up to the Blue Book Model Agency

1947
1947

Dangerous Years

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

First appears in a film as a waitress in the drama Dangerous Years

1948
1948

(1948

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1950

Love Happy

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1951

Home Town Story

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1952

Clash by Night

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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.

1952

Film

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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.

1952

Film

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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"

1952

Monkey Business

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

Plays a secretary opposite Cary Grant in Howard Hawks screwball comedy Monkey Business.

1953
1953 January

Film

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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

1953 1st December

1st Playboy Magazine

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

The first Playboy magazine is published, Marilyn Monroe is on the cover

1953 1st December

The first Playboy magazine is published, Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

The first Playboy magazine is published, Marilyn Monroe is on the cover

1953

Film

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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.

1953

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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

1953

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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.

1953

How to Marry a Millionaire

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

Her third film of the year, How to Marry a Millionaire, co-starred Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall and was released in November.

1953

Niagara

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1954 January

The Seven Year Itch

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1955

Marilyn Monroe Productions

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1956

The Prince and the Showgirl

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1958

Golden Globe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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"

1958

Some Like It Hot

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1959

Lets Make Love

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1960

The Misfits

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

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
1962 5th August

Death of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Cinema

Death of Marilyn Monroe

1962 5th August

Death of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Brentwood ยท Cinema

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

1962 6th August

Death of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Brentwood ยท Cinema

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.

1962 6th August

Death of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Brentwood ยท Cinema

The Los Angeles County Coroners Office was assisted in their investigation by experts from the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Team.

1962 6th August

Death of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Brentwood ยท Cinema

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.

1962 8th August

Death of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe ยท United States of America ยท Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery ยท Cinema

Marilyn Monroes funeral is held at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery

Editorial provenance

Sources and editorial review

Compiled and edited by World History Database.

Historical context is editorial material; the chronology is generated from World History Database cinema records.

Last reviewed: September 2026.

British Film Institute ยท Library of Congress ยท Academy Awards

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