Marilyn monroe

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

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I was born Norma Jean Baker on June 1, 1926 at nine am. I was named after Norma Talmadge, but not Jean Harlow. I had a rough childhood: I never knew my father. I had no stable mother figure. I went through three orphanages and more than a dozen foster homes. I was sexually assaulted twice, by my stepfather and my cousin. I was exposed to many religions including Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, and Christian Science. I was forced by Grace, later my guardian, to idolize Jean Harlow, and despite everything I was also unpopular among my peers. I ended up living with Grace Goddard, my mother's boss and best friend, after she was declared unfit to care for me. Grace married a man named Goddard, and they wanted to move away with his daughter. They could not afford to take me, so they married me off to a family friend, Jim Dougherty.

Jim went into the service during World War II, and I took a job folding parachutes. Photographers came to take pictures of us to send to the soldiers. One, David Conover, took a particular interest in me, and directed me to Snively's Modeling School. From there I met Anaré de Dienes. He and I took many photo trips together, and Jim was rightly jealous, so he filed for divorce. I signed for a year's contract (twenty-six months) with Ben Lyon who worked for Twentieth-century Fox Productions, on August 24, 1946. He was responsible for changing my name. While working at Fox, I met someone who was later to become my best friend, Allan Snyder, and got two bit roles. In August of 1947, Fox downsized and did not renew my contract. I went to the Actor's Laboratory and studied drama and met a long string of influential people...