Biography
 After
Jimmy left, Norma Jeane took a job on the assembly line at the
Radio Plane Munitions factory in Burbank, California. Several
months later, photographer David Conover saw her while taking
pictures of women contributing to the war effort for Yank
magazine. He couldn't believe his luck. She was a "photographer's
dream." Conover used her for the shoot and then began sending
modeling jobs her way. The camera loved Norma Jeane, and within
two years she was a reputable model with many popular magazine
covers to her credit. She began studying the work of legendary
actresses Jean
Harlow and Lana
Turner, and enrolled in drama classes with dreams of stardom.
However, Jimmy's return in 1946 meant Norma Jeane had to make
another choice- this time between her marriage and her career.
Norma Jeane divorced Jimmy in June of 1946, and signed her first
studio contract with Twentieth Century Fox on August 26, 1946.
She earned $125 a week. Soon after, Norma Jeane dyed her hair
blonde and changed her name to Marilyn Monroe (borrowing her
grandmother's last name). The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
Marilyn's first movie role was a bit part in 1947's The
Shocking Miss Pilgrim. She played
a series of inconsequential characters until 1950, when John
Huston's thriller The
Asphalt Jungle provided her with
a small but influential role. Later that year, Marilyn's performance
as Claudia Caswell in All
About Eve (starring Bette
Davis) earned her further praise. From then on Marilyn worked
steadily in movies such as:
Let's Make It Legal,
As
Young As You Feel, Monkey
Business and Don't
Bother to Knock. It was her performance
in 1953's Niagara,
however, that delivered her to stardom. Marilyn played Rose
Loomis, a beautiful young wife who plots to kill her older,
jealous husband (Joseph Cotten).
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