It’s may 29, 1962 and she sings to John F. Kennedy’s birthday party. People close to him call him Jack – and so does she. Still, she is terrified and she has to drink a bit to have the courage to sing to her president.
Terrified she is, her knees feel weak. The people in the auditorium are getting up roared, they’ve been waiting for her for more than an hour. In that hour she took some pills to keep her calm and a few glasses of Dom Perignon. But still she’s wandering behind the stage, where they say to her: “Go now! You can’t let the president wait any longer!”. Someone gives her a little push and she steps up the stage. Escaping is not a possibility anymore. Marilyn steps into the bright light of the Madison Square Garden stage in New York. On her pale face she forms an insecure smile. The few steps she takes in her almost see-through dress seems to last endlessly. Her eyes look for Jack but she only sees his cigar burning in the dark. A bit shaky she takes the microphone and sings to her president.

On June 1, 1962 Marilyn was born as Norma Jeane Mortensen, without a father. He left mother Gladys when she was pregnant. Marilyn never even met her father. Marilyn’s childhood wasn’t particularly glamorous: her mother suffered from severe physiological problems en left her daughter after she was born with foster families and orphanages.
She stays with one foster family for a long time, but when Norma Jeane is sixteen the family decides to move and there’s only 2 options left for Norma Jeane: either she goes back to the orphanage or she marries the boy next door, James Dougherty. She chooses for the last option.
When James went away to fight in WO2 she starts working in at Radio Plane Munitions Factory. To get more women to work in the factories a photographer came to take some pictures one day and there he saw Norma Jeane, a lovely brunette with curls and within the next couple of years Norma Jeane’s career was launched. She was on the cover of 33 magazines. When James got back from the war his wife was occupied with her growing career and they divorced in 1946. In that same year Norma Jeane would change her name into Marilyn Monroe, dye her hair blonde and would sign her first studio contract at Twentieth Century Fox.
Marilyn had little parts in movies, but it took some years before real stardom knocked on her door. It was her performance in 1953's Niagara, however, that delivered her that stardom. Marilyn played Rose Loomis, a beautiful young wife who plots to kill her older, jealous husband. After that, great roles in movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How To Marry A Millionaire followed.

On January 14, 1954 Marilyn married baseball superstar Joe DiMaggio at San Francisco's City Hall. They had been dating for two years, after Joe asked his agent to arrange a dinner date. During their Tokyo honeymoon, Marilyn performed for the service men stationed in Korea. Her presence caused a near-riot among the troops and Joe was clearly uncomfortable with thousands of men ogling his new bride. On October 27, 1954, after nine months of marriage, Marilyn and Joe divorced. They attributed the split to a ‘conflict of careers’, and remained close friends.
In 1955 Marilyn was fed up with the dumb blonde tag she got. It sure had given her the stardom she wanted but now it was time for serious acting. She took some time off in Hollywood and moved to New York City to study under Lee Strasberg at his Actors' Studio. In 1956, Marilyn started her own motion picture company, Marilyn Monroe Productions. The company produced the movies Bus Stop and The Prince and The Showgirl. Marilyn received further recognition for 1959's Some Like It Hot, winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy. Marilyn weds playwright Arthur Miller on June 29, 1956. While they were married, Arthur wrote the part of Roselyn Taber in The Misfits for Marilyn. The marriage between Marilyn and Arthur ended on January 20, 1961, after finishing the last movie of, both Marilyn and co-star Clark Gable, The Misfits.

August 5, 1962: Marilyn, aged only 36 years old, is found dead in her Brentwood home with the phone in her hand. The world is in complete shock. How can a vibrant young woman like Marilyn Monroe be dead? On August 8, 1962, Marilyn's body was laid to rest in the Corridor of Memories, #24, at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

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