Short History Of... - Marilyn Monroe

Episode Date: September 3, 2023

Marilyn Monroe was one of the most famous screen actors of all time. Known for her charisma and beauty, her private life and turbulent health made headlines throughout her career, and her early death cemented her iconic status.  But how was she shaped by her disrupted childhood? Did she change Hollywood – or did it destroy her? And why does her legend still inspire and exert such power, 60 years after her death?  This is a Short History Of Marilyn Monroe. Written by Kate Harrison. With thanks to Michelle Morgan, author of Marilyn Monroe – Private and Undisclosed. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is a scorching August day in 1946 on the 20th century Fox studio complex in Hollywood. A nervous 20-year-old model is led by an assistant through the blur of trucks, props and purposeful technicians. She follows her guide into a building and soon she arrives at the soundstage with its high ceilings and insulated walls. A distinguished looking man in his forties greets her. It's Ben Lyon, the studio's head of talent. Lyon has high hopes for today's screen test. You can never be sure until the camera rolls, but his record for spotting star quality is well-known in L.A.

He even signed the young Gene Harlow. But already, things are going wrong. The cameraman, Leon Shamroy, demands his model remove the thick makeup that'll look dreadful on film. But when she washes her face clean, she breaks out in red blotches. She sweats from the heat and maybe nerves, as the wardrobe mistress holds up costumes from a rail of clothes, working out what will flatter her voluptuous figure. It all feels a bit chaotic, and Lyon worries he's made a mistake. Only last year this girl was spray-painting aircraft parts on a wartime production line. But she was spotted by a photographer and now scrapes a living in L.A. posing for pin-up photos.

As he prepares his camera, Chamroy puffs on his cigar and raises an eyebrow at Lyon. This looks like a waste of everyone's time. Eventually, the newcomer steps cautiously back onto the set wearing a low-cut, long dress. Shamroy rolls his camera and calls out when it's at speed. The actress is transformed. She follows the director's orders effortlessly, moving naturally as she crosses the floor in dangerously high heels,

then pulls out a high stool and climbs onto it. She strikes a match, lights her cigarette, stubs it out, opens a fake window and gazes through it. But it's her smile that really makes the atmosphere shift. Everyone in the room is captivated, and Lion can't help but smile back. After she leaves, the film goes to the lab. Shamroy and Lion walk across the lot to a cutting room to view the newly developed material, or rushes. The reel is loaded onto the moviola machine, and the men watch on the small screen. Lion can't tear his eyes away. On film, she's even more stunning than in real life. The genuine article. She has raw sex appeal combined with a rare vulnerability.

Lion slaps Shamway on the back and hurries through the busy complex to the management offices. He walks into the boardroom without knocking. He wants his boss to agree to a contract right away before she's signed by another studio. You can trust me on this one, he reassures them. This girl is something special. When Lion calls the model to his office to offer her the contract, she's thrilled. But he tells her straight away that she'll need a brand new name. Her surname, Doherty, is hard to pronounce. She suggests her mother's maiden name, Monroe. But that sounds clumsy next to the model's first name, Norma. Lyon has an idea. As a young actor, he fell for a silver screen actress with this girl's beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair.

Her first name was Marilyn. She repeats the full name. Marilyn Monroe. They both smile. That's perfect. To be continued... years after her screen test, Monroe will be dead. Her untimely demise will cement her iconic status and spark fevered conspiracies that persist to this day. But who was she before she became Marilyn Monroe? And how was she shaped by her disrupted childhood?

Did her efforts to take control of her career change Hollywood? Or was it Hollywood that destroyed her? And why does her legend still inspire and exert such power 60 years after her death? I'm John Hopkins. From Noiser, this is a short history of Marilyn Monroe. Norma Jean Mortensen is born on June 1, 1926, at the Los Angeles General Hospital. Her 24-year-old mother, Gladys, has been married twice. But her second husband has already left, and he is not the baby girl's father. Like many in L.A., Gladys works in the movie business,

which provides something of an escape from her troubled early life. Her father died in a mental hospital when she was just seven years old, triggering a lifelong fear that insanity might one day afflict her, too. She was pregnant for the first time at 14, but by the time Norma Jean is born, Gladys has already lost contact with her two children from her first violent marriage. Within two weeks of Norma Jean's birth, Gladys has handed her baby over to foster parents. Though it means she can start earning again by returning to her old job of splicing film

negatives, For her daughter, it's the start of a long string of abandonments. Michelle Morgan has written many books about the star, including Marilyn Monroe, Private and Undisclosed. Her mother, unfortunately, had mental issues, so that meant that Norma Jean wasn't in her mother's house for very long during her childhood. She was placed in foster homes for the most part, either with friends or family or with relatives. And also at one point she was raised in an orphanage too. So she didn't really have a relationship with her mother.

In 1935, Gladys suffers a breakdown and is committed to a state hospital. But her close friend from the film studio, Grace McKee, steps in to make sure Norma Jean is looked after. And Grace's love of Hollywood soon rubs off on the little girl. soon rubs off on the little girl. Grace McKee was a big fan of the movies. She loved Jean Harlow and she would style Norma Jean's hair in the same kind of style as the movie stars. And Norma Jean would go to Grandma's Chinese Theatre

and try and fit her footprints and handprints into the cement. She would always complain because her feet were too big to go into the prints that were already there. Because Grace was such a big fan of Jean Harlow, Norma Jean became a fan too. Grace becomes Norma Jean's legal guardian. But soon afterwards, Grace falls for a charming Texan, Doc Goddard. America is in the grip of a harsh economic depression,

and the newly married couple can't afford to look after a nine-year-old girl. So Norma Jean spends nearly two years in an L.A. orphanage, sleeping in a 27-bed dormitory, and dreaming that maybe one day her unknown father will rescue her. When she's 11, she finally goes back to live with Grace and her husband, although she's still sent away several more times. Norma Jean's childhood had a tremendous effect on her whole life. She always said that she wasn't an orphan, but she was raised as a waif. And I think she carried that through to her adult life. She had issues with being left. You know, she was insecure.

She felt sometimes that if she fell in love with somebody, they were just going to leave her. When Norma Jean goes to high school, she is an average student. But her striking figure and dark, coppery hair make her stand out. She enjoys dressing up and the attention she gets from her peers. But in early 1942, a few months before her 16th birthday, yet more disruption comes her way. Grace's husband, Doc, gets a new job in another state, and the couple can't afford to take the teenager with them. It's another devastating rejection, and now she faces a tough choice.

Either she can return to an orphanage until she is 18, or she can marry her neighbor Jim Doherty. This boy next door is actually six years older than her, but though they've been on a few dates, no one expects them to marry. Norma Jean, though, can't face returning to the orphanage. So just a couple of weeks after her 16th birthday, she marries Jim, and they move in together. When he is sent overseas to fight in the Second World War in 1944, Norma Jean gets a job in the nearby radio plane factory, inspecting and folding parachutes. One day, a photographer came along by the name of David Conover, and he just took a snap

of her and said that he was working for the government and that it would cheer up the troops to have a picture of her. And then he asked her if she had a sweater and she said, well, I do in my locker. So she put her sweater on and they went outside and he took pictures of her outside the factory wall. And from then he said, well, you know, I've got friends who are photographers. Maybe they might be interested in taking some pictures of you. So she said yes. Her freshness and charisma light up every frame. they might be interested in taking some pictures of you. So she said yes. Her freshness and charisma light up every frame,

and she enjoys the work and the money that comes with it. Norma Jean puts in more effort than many models, scrutinizing the finished prints and taking advice on how to pose better. She leaves the factory and signs with the Blue Book Model Agency in August 1945, against the wishes of her husband, who is still posted in the Pacific. Modeling is a tough world. Photographers and magazine editors criticize her appearance, from her overly curly hair to her too long nose.

So she has her hair straightened and dyed blonde, and it pays off. By 1946, she's appeared on 33 different magazine covers. When her agent suggests trying to get a screen test for minor movie roles, Norma Jean goes along with it, though she doesn't mention it to Jim, knowing he'll disapprove. though she doesn't mention it to Jim, knowing he'll disapprove. Soon, she is signing her first movie contract with Fox Studios. She doesn't just leave her old name behind, she divorces Jim, too. Norma Jean has become Marilyn Monroe. But there's still a way to go before she hits the big time.

Unfortunately, they only used her a couple of times during that year, and at the end of it, they dropped her. So obviously she was gutted. So from then on, she went back to modeling. She did a little bit of time at Columbia, then she'd model again, and it was a very slow process. She would have lots of different bit parts in fluffy movies that didn't really mean anything to her like she would play maybe a secretary or the girlfriend or somebody in a restaurant or that kind of thing but it was work

and she was happy to have it and then eventually she signed a bigger contract with 20th Century Fox and started on her path to stardom. In the late 40s and early 50s, while she hopes for her big break, Monroe studies acting. But she doesn't land any roles that'll help her show off her newfound skills and struggles for money. Newly divorced, she has plenty of boyfriends. It's through an affair with an important Hollywood agent that she makes the connections that land her a handful of speaking parts, as a lawyer's mistress in The Asphalt Jungle, and as an actress in All About Eve. Jungle, and as an actress in All About Eve. Though the latter is a tiny role, she steals the scene. And while studio execs barely notice her, moviegoers do. Soon she's receiving thousands of fan letters every week. But it's now that a decision she took in her earlier modeling days

comes back to haunt her. In 1949, when her car was about to be repossessed, Monroe agreed to pose nude. The shoot was tasteful, and she even insisted the photographer's wife was present. The $50 fee went towards her bills. But three years on, when she starts to hit the big time, the photographer sells the nude photos on. Fast forward to 1952 and 20th Century Fox got word that in gas stations up and down the country, there was this calendar girl and the calendar girl could be Marilyn. So they called her into the office and asked if it was her and Marilyn said yes.

And they went crazy and said, you can't say that it was you. In the end, she went out to the journalists and said, yes, it was me and I needed the money. And that's why I did it. And she gained a lot of sympathy with many people, columnists, really hard-nosed columnists who could literally tear someone apart, actually felt sympathy for this poor lady who needed the money to pay her rent. By 1952, though, she's still only taking minor roles.

The press, and especially the gossip columns, are full of speculation about Monroe, her movies, and her relationships. She's a particular hit with US forces posted overseas, and reviewers praise her comic timing and her sex appeal. But her anxiety around her performances makes her hard to work with, and she often turns up late or demands many retakes before she's satisfied. In 1953, she's cast as a femme fatale in her first major movie role, Niagara. Playing a woman planning to kill her husband,

she finally gets to show her acting talent. Her second movie that year, in the glitzy musical comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she plays gold-digging showgirl Lorelei Lee. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was a huge deal for Marilyn's career. Her co-star at the time was going to be Jane Russell, who was another big star. She actually got a lot more money than Marilyn did. And Marilyn, unfortunately, couldn't find a dressing room for herself.

And they said to her, well, we don't know what your problem is. Just remember, you're not the star. And she said, well, whatever I am, I'm the blonde. And this is gentlemen prefer blondes. And that's how she ended up getting her own dressing room. When Marilyn found it hard to come out of the dressing room, sometimes because of stage fright, Jane Russell would quite happily go along, knock on the door,

say, come on, time to go now. And she'd take her down to set. So she really looked out for Marilyn and the two became great friends. Almost nine years after she was spotted on a factory production line, the 27-year-old actress is recognized as box office gold. Monroe is listed as one of the top 10 movie making stars and she gets to return to the location where she first dreamed of becoming an actress. After the movie had finished, Jane Russell and Marilyn went to Grandma's Chinese Theatre and they put their hand and footprints into the cement.

And it was a really big deal for Marilyn at that time. She had thought about this kind of thing since she was a kid. And the story goes that when everyone had gone home that evening, she quietly went back to the theater and just gazed. And, you know, I love that story. I think that that shows a lot of humanity and a lot of joy on her part. And after her success in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the bosses just want more of the same. But Monroe resents being typecast.

The bosses just want more of the same. But Monroe resents being typecast. First, she turns down several roles, and then dares to walk away from her contract until they improve their offer. Around now, she starts spending time with baseball superstar Joe DiMaggio, who'd seen her picture and begged friends to set up a blind date. Monroe isn't sure initially. He's 12 years her senior and doesn't care about the movies, while she has no interest in sport.

But when they meet, his good manners and maturity win her over. What they hoped would be a quick, quiet wedding at San Francisco City Hall on the 14th of January 1954 is mobbed by 500 reporters and fans. Their honeymoon is a similar story. DiMaggio has been asked to tour Japan, but it's Monroe who draws overwhelming crowds when they land at Tokyo airport. The pressures don't let up when Monroe agrees to perform for US troops in Korea, leaving her new husband on his own during their honeymoon.

She had pneumonia by the time they got back because of the conditions of the concert. It was freezing cold. She had this tiny little cocktail dress on, and so it made her very ill. But she described it as the highlight of her life, being able to entertain the soldiers. And they never forgot it either.

But DiMaggio is jealous and urges her to reduce her work commitments. As their marriage comes under pressure, so does Monroe's mental health. She turns to prescription drugs to help her sleep at night and others to wake her up

in the morning. She's often late and her perfectionism makes her difficult on set. Yet, despite her erratic behavior, her luminous on-screen presence means Fox Studios soon offer her a new contract with a $100,000 bonus. In autumn 1954, she starts filming the movie version of the Broadway play A Seven-Year Itch. It is just after midnight on September 15, 1954.

On Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, over 2,000 movie fans and news reporters wait behind barricades to catch a glimpse of their favorite star. Inside the Trans Luxe Theater, a stylist finishes drying Marilyn Monroe's white blonde curls, while the makeup artist paints her lips a peachy red. Marilyn stays statue still, but her stomach churns. She gets nervous enough on set in Hollywood, but tonight they're filming in public to help promote the movie. It means performing with a vast, unpredictable audience, and none is more unpredictable than her husband

of nine months. She knows Joe's still unhappy about the scene. She can only hope he'll stay away. The wardrobe mistress straightens Marilyn's outsized pearl earrings and pushes strappy shoes onto her feet. Finally, she's ready. She stands, letting her dressing robe fall to the floor. The effect is enough to make the crew gasp. The white dress underneath is designed to stop traffic. She nods in acknowledgement, but her throat's dry as she walks carefully down the stairs. As she reaches the lobby, she takes a deep breath

and wishes she'd taken a pill to calm her nerves. An assistant pushes open the exit door. The night air is cool and she shivers. But as she steps out, the fans roar. She smiles her famous smile, poses for photographers, hears her name called out by the adoring crowd, and somehow everything feels a little better. Director Billy Wilder nods. It's time to roll. She and co-star Tom Ewell wander along the sidewalk. She stops at her mark on the metal subway grating Below her feet, the special effects man waits for the verbal cue to turn on extra fans to generate fake breeze A gust travels through the grating, sending the pleated white skirt soaring above her head, revealing her underwear Marilyn acts out the innocent delight of her character,

ignoring the instinct to cover herself up. Her next lines are drowned out by the crowd's response. There's no way this take will be usable. The director calls cut. She prepares for another take, and another, but each time the dialogue's inaudible. Everyone around her is wrapped up in coats, but she is struggling not to shiver in her halterneck gown. Now, as she softens her gaze for yet another take, she sees Joe in the crowd, staring right at her. His face is hard with rage as the men around him ogle her.

Her skirt blocks her view as it lifts again. When the fabric falls, he's gone. She begs for a break and heads to get a coffee from the van to warm up and to look for Joe. But she can't find him anywhere. After three hours in the cold, it's a wrap, and she hurries back to her dressing room. While she's changing, Joe bursts in, slamming the door behind him. The crew outside wonder what's going on, but a little while later, they emerge and get into a cab.

A smile fades as soon as the taxi door closes. She knows the subway great image will define the movie. But right now, she's more worried about what'll happen when they're back in the privacy of their room. That night, colleagues report hearing shouting through the night. One person describes seeing bruises on Monroe's shoulders the next day And though the New York shoot makes headlines And provides possibly the most famous image of her career The entire scene has to be reshot in LA

By then, DiMaggio and Monroe's marriage is over Before they've even celebrated their first anniversary It could never have worked at that time. He was a very 1950s kind of husband in the fact that he thought that she would maybe give up her career and stay at home and cook his dinner and raise children and all that kind of thing. But she wasn't that way. She was a very modern woman and she wanted to carry on with her career. As soon as shooting wraps on the seven-year itch, Monroe files for divorce. She moves east to New York and walks out of her contract again,

saying she's tired of what she calls the same old sex roles. Then, in January 1955, she announces she's set up her own movie company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, with a photographer friend. This infuriates 20th Century Fox, and many journalists mock her for being too ambitious. But Monroe turns her back on Hollywood glamour and immerses herself in New York culture instead. Photographs show her dressing more casually in capri pants, check shirts and little or no makeup. And she finds plenty to occupy her time. She was doing acting lessons. She was going to museums. She was hanging out with, you know, poets and writers and all that kind of thing. So it was a really

joyous year for her. She was doing everything that she wanted to do. She was planning to do theatre work. Sadly, that never came to fruition, but it was nice for her to think about it and plan for it and take these lessons at the actor studio with Lee Strasberg and all these different highbrow New York actors, it was a wonderful time for her, a year of beauty. Part of her training involves intense psychoanalysis. At the Actor's Studio, students are encouraged to dig deep, to use their own past to make their performances as authentic as possible.

The hard work pays off. By the end of 1955, she's not only negotiated a much-improved contract with Fox, but also lined up two prestigious projects to produce through her own company. Both are based on stage plays. The first, Bus Stop, will bring some of the best reviews of her career, and in the second, she'll be co-starring with British acting royalty, Sir Lawrence Olivier. And her personal life looks brighter, too. She's fallen in love with one of America's most famous and respected playwrights, Arthur Miller. The two met a few years earlier, but Miller was reluctant to leave his wife and two young children.

This time, their affair is serious, and though they tried to keep it secret, by 1956, Miller's marriage is definitely over. But Arthur Miller is a controversial figure. figure. His 1953 play about the Salem witch trials, The Crucible, alluded to contemporary American attempts to root out communists and brought him to the attention of the FBI. When news of his relationship with Monroe breaks, they open a file on her, too. And it is at a hearing of the House Un-American Activities Committee, where Miller is asked to identify friends who might hold subversive beliefs, that the playwright announces very big news. He refused to name names. However, during one of the court appearances, he had asked for his passport and they said, why do you want your passport?

And he said, because I'll be going to London soon with my wife, who will be Marilyn Monroe. And so that's how it all came out to the media. It came as quite a shock to her, the way it was announced. And certainly some people since then have questioned the timing of it. But having said that, there's no mistakes that they were both very much in love at that time. And one way or another, I think marriage would have come up. The two marry in a short, secret ceremony on June the 29th, 1956, a few weeks after Monroe's 30th birthday. Two days later, the couple invites 25 guests to their wedding party just outside New York. Monroe converts to Judaism her new husband's faith to show her commitment.

And although some accounts suggest she's having second thoughts, the photographs show a beaming Monroe in a simple white dress and veil, feeding wedding cake to her tall, bespectacled new husband. One celebrated headline reads, Egghead Weds Bombshell. A fortnight later, the newlyweds fly to London, where she's going to spend the summer filming The Prince and the Showgirl. Though Monroe enjoys seeing the sights and even gets to meet Queen Elizabeth, who has also just turned 30 the production is troubled lawrence olivier patronizes monroe while her new york acting coach constantly interferes on set miller witnesses his new wife's emotional outbursts and poor timekeeping while worrying

about his own precarious financial position then just two weeks into production, Monroe makes a discovery that destroys her confidence and threatens her marriage. She finds one of her husband's notebooks lying open on a table. What he's written about her behavior is devastating. We don't know the exact words of the notebook. We do know that it was something about how disappointed he was in her and that he could no longer stick up for her on the set because of her behavior. I've spoken to so many people who witnessed the aftermath of this and it was a huge, stressful aftermath. There was massive arguments, there was breakdowns.

Marilyn was even treated for an overdose. The shoot ends and the pair return to America determined to work on their marriage. Though Monroe hadn't been ready to settle down when she married Joe DiMaggio, now she's keen to start a family with Miller. But it's far from straightforward, and she suffers a miscarriage in August 1957. As they attempt to recover, the couple commission a beautiful new family home in Connecticut, 75 miles from New York City. In 1958, Monroe accepts the role of Sugar Cane in Some Like It Hot, starring alongside Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. It's a familiar story on set. She's often late, and when she does show up,

she hasn't always learned her lines and demands take after take. But director Billy Wilder says the bad days are balanced out by the wonderful ones and the priceless screen presence. Later, she'll receive rave reviews, though Monroe describes Sugar as the dumbest blonde she's ever played. But behind the scenes, the relationship between Arthur and Monroe is souring. Though he's financially dependent on her, he's tired of her behavior. Her second pregnancy in the autumn brings out his protectiveness,

but she miscarries again just before Christmas. By 1959, Monroe is using more medication to manage her moods and insomnia. There was a huge amount of prescription drugs going on. There was a lot of stars who would have these pills from their doctors and because they were coming from doctors, they thought it was all okay. Elvis Presley was another one. They would give them out on the set, you know, oh, you're feeling a bit sleepy today, here, have this. Or, oh, you're finding it hard to sleep now, okay, have this. So they would fall into a cycle and it was very, very difficult, if not impossible, to get out of. During filming for her next movie in 1960, Monroe has an affair with her co-star Yves Montand.

And by the time she starts work on her next project, The Misfits, her marriage is all but over. The film was written by Miller, who originally planned it as a generous gift and loving tribute to his talented wife. But now it reveals something much darker. Monroe feels exposed when her husband uses painful incidents from her real life in the fictional western. The heat of the Texas location makes the shoot a trial for Monroe, though she loves working alongside her idol, Clark Gable. And while she's often kind to crew members, her drug use and health issues contribute to a miserable experience. Gable has a heart attack

and dies shortly after shooting ends on the troubled film. Marilyn was blamed for that very unfairly, I have to say. However, she was often late on set, which caused stress with almost everybody on the set. And Marilyn was sent to hospital a couple of times or she had time off because she wasn't very well. At that point, she said that she had even looked out of her window in her apartment and wondered whether she should just throw herself out.

And she wrote in her notebooks too, at times, about throwing herself off bridges. And so it was something that she thought about a lot. On the 20th of January 1961, Monroe travels to Mexico, where it's easy to get a speedy, mutually agreed divorce from Arthur Miller. She chooses the day President John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, hoping to avoid publicity. In the days that follow, her mood darkens, and she agrees to her psychiatrist's suggestion that she go into a private hospital to recuperate. But things are about to go from bad to worse it is the afternoon of sunday february the 6th 1961 and at the payne whitney clinic in new york city staff are anticipating a new admission a seclusion room has been prepared on the sixth floor of

the elegant white brick building. The window offers a good view of the grey clouds above and the east river below, but it only opens a few inches to stop patients jumping out. Though the clinic has a progressive approach to psychiatric care, few people would choose to stay here. A nurse heads down to the lobby, where marble floors and grand architecture make it feel more like a hotel than a hospital. The patient, Faye Miller, comes in from the street, swamped by a fur coat, to ward off the icy temperatures outside. But despite the fake name, the nurse recognizes her immediately. This woman is Marilyn Monroe. Security guards escort the patient towards the elevator,

and she steps in meekly. But when they get out, the nurse sees the anxiety on Ms. Monroe's wan face as a guard unlocks the door to the ward and locks it behind them once they're all inside. In the room, Marilyn resists being examined, but the doctor continues anyway. After he leaves, she looks around fearfully and asks where the call button is. The nurse reassures her she'll be checked on regularly, and the door will be locked at night. For the time being, it's a good idea for her to mingle with the other patients, play checkers, maybe try some knitting. Only now does Marilyn realize this is a psychiatric ward. She panics and begs to use a phone, but an orderly tells her there are none on this floor.

It is a lie. The nurse leaves her to settle while she prepares sedative medication. Hearing a commotion from Marilyn's room, the nurse runs back. The patient is crying out, telling them she knows there's a phone here and she needs to call someone, anyone, to get her out of here. them she knows there's a phone here and she needs to call someone, anyone, to get her out of here. Scanning the room, the nurse notices a chair on its side and a fragment of broken glass, then sees that the patient's hand is curled under the bedsheet. Pulling the covers back, she discovers that the distraught Marilyn is holding a shard against her wrist. Now the room is full of staff.

A guard pins down Marilyn's hand, removing the glass. She sobs as the doctors discuss what to do. They decide she needs a more secure room on the seventh floor. When she refuses, it takes four guards to lift her up, one holding each limb

as they carry her face down towards the elevator. On this floor, the elevator buttons have no numbers. There is another indignity ahead. Hygiene rules mean she must take a bath before switching rooms. Marilyn protests, but the nurse insists. She is as gentle as possible as she washes Marilyn, hoping to calm her down so she can get the rest she desperately needs. Monroe's ordeal will last four days. Though she originally agreed to go into hospital, the experience is not what she expected, and she is not able to communicate with the outside world. Sedated, but still terrified, she writes to New York friends, begging them to get her out.

When she hears nothing, she finally manages to make a single phone call to her ex-husband, Joe DiMaggio, in Florida. He flies to New York and arranges for her to be smuggled out of the hospital basement and taken to another medical center, where she stays for three weeks. She emerges to tell the mob of reporters that she's feeling wonderful. The truth is that her physical and mental health will trouble her all year. In LA, Monroe is treated by a different therapist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, but her friends fear she's becoming dependent. He tried to integrate her into his family so they would have dinner together or they even spent

Christmas at his house and she knew his kids. It was a very strange approach to have towards the patient and he thought that by integrating her into his family, it would mean that maybe she would feel a bit more secure. I'm not entirely sure that it did. I think maybe it just made her feel even more dependent on him because he was not only her doctor, but now masquerading as a friend, which he clearly wasn't. He was being paid. He was a professional. There are happier moments for Monroe.

Her renewed friendship with DiMaggio lifts her mood. And while Miller remarries, she briefly dates Frank Sinatra. He gives her a small white dog as a gift, whom she names Math. And in 1962, she buys a modest bungalow on Helena Drive in Los Angeles and begins to turn it into a home. In the spring, shooting starts on her next movie, Something's Gotta Give, with Dean Martin and Sid Charisse. But the old cycle starts up again, and Monroe keeps phoning in sick. The studio spreads rumors that she's faking illness, and when she does show up, she often can't remember her lines. Through it all, though, her star quality endures.

On May the 19th, she makes one of her last public appearances, one which will become part of her legend. She's invited to perform as a special guest at President Kennedy's birthday party at Madison Square Garden in New York. Her outfit draws gasps when she steps into the spotlight. The skin-tight dress is embellished with thousands of rhinestones, and its beige color makes her look naked. But it's her performance that takes the audience's breath away. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Mr. President. The president responds by saying, I can now retire from politics after having had Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.

The performance fuels rumors of a relationship with JFK, and later others will suggest that she's also involved with his brother, Robert. There's actually no proof whatsoever that they had this huge love affair, either with JFK or with Robert. There's no concrete proof. What actually happened was Marilyn met both brothers a handful of times. Once when she sang happy birthday to John. And then there is a time when she could, and I emphasize could, have had some kind of intimate relation with Jack Kennedy at the home of Bing Crosby. When Monroe returns to the set of Something's Got to Give, studio bosses organize a shoot in which she swims nude to generate publicity. But when she goes off sick yet again, 20th Century Fox decide enough's enough. They not only fire her, but also sue for half a million dollars in damages. Around this time, Monroe also learns that Arthur Miller's new

wife is pregnant. She's at her lowest ebb, but Monroe keeps working. There are photo shoots and interviews for Vogue and Cosmopolitan. She tells one journalist she feels everyone wants a chunk of her, that her every weakness is exaggerated, and that she has always known fame is fickle. And then, on the evening of August the 4th, 1962, Monroe goes to bed early. In the small hours of the morning, her housekeeper sees a light under her bedroom door. She calls to her, but when she doesn't get a response, she goes outside, breaks the window, and sees Monroe lying motionless on the bed. and sees Monroe lying motionless on the bed.

Paramedics arrive, but she is pronounced dead just before 4 a.m. on the 5th of August, 1962. She was just 36 years old. Reporters crowd outside her bungalow, and the news makes headlines around the world. The medication she'd been prescribed to help her deal with life has now brought about her early death. The official word was that Marilyn had died of a probable suicide. We do know that it was an overdose of chloral hydrate and nebutol. And the real mystery is not if she was murdered, because I truly believe that she was not. The real mystery is whether or not it was intentional

or a cry for help or that she'd forgotten how many tablets that she had taken and we'll never know. Her sudden death devastates those who were closest to her, as well as the millions who loved her work. Joe DiMaggio helps organize her private funeral on August 8, 1962. For the next 20 years, he has red roses delivered to her grave three times a week. Fans follow his example and travel from all over the world to lay their own floral tributes.

While friends and fans mourn her memory, the conspiracy theories grow. Her relationship with the Kennedys leads to theories that she was murdered to stop her speaking about them. Others suggest that though she wasn't killed, the FBI cleared her house within hours of her death, removing any evidence linked to the famous brothers. I think the biggest mystery about it is why are people so keen to see Marilyn as a victim, dumb blonde, who was passed from one brother to the other and allowed herself to be so and was then murdered. She was never bullied by men. If something was happening like with Joe DiMaggio, when he didn't like the skirt blowing scene, she walked away. He didn't like the skirt-blowing scene. She walked away.

It's now more than 60 years since Monroe died. Yet new documentaries and books continue to explore and reconsider Monroe's legacy, from her Hollywood battles to her incomparable screen presence. The image she cultivated and worked so hard to control now dominates contemporary culture. And whenever her films are shown on TV, her magnetic performances bring her countless new fans. And even though she was born almost a century ago, Marilyn Monroe remains a very modern figure, a woman who still inspires conversation and admiration. I think that what's made Marilyn an icon is that everybody sees her in different ways. There are people who love Marilyn as an actress

and there are people who love Marilyn as a person, as a trailblazer. Then there are people who just love to look at her posters and things like that. She's something for everybody. And I think the fact as well that she had such a hard life and a hard childhood and yet became this most famous woman in the world, that's so inspiring for everybody who loves her.

Next time on Short History Of, we'll bring you a short history of the Suez Canal. It's a beautiful transit. It's really surreal because you're going past towns and cities and farms and then deserts and battlefields. I remember when I did it and it was back in the 90s and the early 2000s, there were still burnt out pillboxes and tanks from the Arab-Israeli wars. And then you get in the Great Bitter Lake and it's an amazing lake. All of a sudden you're in this huge expansive area. You go anchor for a little while to wait for the convoy to pass. It's a moment to kind of catch your breath in the canal and then off you go again. And it's an amazing event to see Egypt in that way. That's next time.