The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Norma Jeane Mortensen: The name that Marilyn Monroe used while growing up.
• Marilyn Monroe: World Famous Movie Star
• Ida Bolender: Norma Jeane's foster mother and influence for her first 7 years. Had connections to Norma Jeane's grandmother. Ida did her best to each Norma Jeane to be a strong woman.
• Albert "Wayne: Bolender: Ida's husband. Norma Jeane would always ask him questions and call him "Daddy".
• Gladys Baker: Marilyn's mother
• Della Monroe: Norma Jeane's grandmother. Had a history of mental illness. Liked flashy clothing and jewelry, and enjoyed the night life.
• Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker: Norma Jeane's mother.
• Otis Monroe: Norma Jeane's grandfather. Died from either suicide or syphilis of the brain at age 43.
• John "Jasper" Newton Baker: Gladys' husband in which she had two children with. They divorced and he took the children to Kentucky.
• Robert Kermit "Jackie" Baker: Norma Jeane's half-brother she never got to meet. Gladys felt somewhat responsible for his death.
• Berniece Baker Miracle: Norma Jeane/Marilyn's half sister. They met as adults and had a relationship.
• Charles "Stanley" Gifford: Gladys had said that Stanley was Norma Jeane's father. However, he had never admited to this to his son, Charles Stanley Gifford, Jr. and he doubts that is true. Gladys had never waivered from this belief.
• Clara "Grace" Atchison McKee Goddard: A friend of Gladys that Norma Jeane/Marilyn considered her to be her aunt. Very strong relationship throughout the years.
• Doc Goddard: Grace's husband - he already had several children and did not want to take on the responsibility of Norma Jeane.
• Ethel Dougherty: Norma Jeane's mother-in-law and good friend of Grace Goddard.
• James "Jimmie" Dougherty: Norma Jeane's husband. They were married so she would not have to go back to the orphanage. He loved her, but she didn't love him. He joined the Merchant Marines and she began posing for pictures. He did not like her having a career, and she divorced him.
• Ben Lyon: A recruiter for new talent and director of casting at 20th Century-Fox Studios. Created the name Marilyn monroe from Norma Jeane's family name and after 1920s Broadway Actress Marilyn Miller.
• Darryl Zanuck: Head honcho at Fox, and would never be a fan of Marilyn's even when she was making him a fortune.
• Paris Miracle: Berniece's husband.
• Mona Rae Miracle: Berniece's daughter
• Emmeline Snively: One of Norma Jeane's first agents
• Margaret Cohen: Employed Gladys to take care of her daughter, Norma Jean, for approximately one year in Kentucky. Gladys later wrote to Margaret several letters which frightened her wanting to get reacquainted with her Norma Jean.
• Aunt Ana: Lived with this aunt during the transformation from Norma Jeane to Marilyn. Held her in very high opinion.
• Aunt Dora: Lived in Oregon and helped out some with Gladys after she left the first mental institution.
• Harry Lipton: Another one of Marilyn's early agents.
• Lucille Ryman: Early manager. Marilyn told lies to move in with her and John Carroll.
• John Carroll: Managed Marilyn with his wife Lucille Ryman. They liked her but could not handle her craziness.
• Joe Schenck: sixty-nine-year-old President of 20th Century Fox whom Marilyn felt like she gave up her soul to become a star.
• Harry Cohn: Columbia Pictures head that offered Marilyn her fist six-month contract.
• Norma Jeane: The birth name of Marilyn Monroe
• Grace Goddard: The most steady person throughout most of Marilyn's life who was a positive influence on her.
• John Stewart Eley: A husband of Gladys early in Marilyn's career. Marilyn did not trust him and it turns out he hand another wife in Idaho.
• Shelley Winters: Actress that Marilyn was friends with and they shared an apartment.
• Martin "Edward" Mortenson: Married Gladys for four months and listed as Norma Jeane's father on the birth certificate due to the way unwed pregnancies were looked upon.
• Inez Melson: Marilyn's business manager
• Giuseppe Paolo (Joseph Paul) "Joe" DiMaggio, Jr.: Marilyn married Joe in January 1954, even though there were many indications that the mariage would not work out - not the least of which was his unhappiness over her career. Although Marilyn was forced to leave him when he became physically abusive, their love for one another never died.
• Tom Kelley: Took pictures of "Mona Monroe" before her career took off. She wanted to be self-supporting although Johnny Hyde was willing to support her. The calendar became very famous early in her career - almost costing her the career she worked so hard for.
• Natasha Lytess: Marilyn's drama coach much of what she learned would have to be broken.
• Milton Greene: A friend she started Marilyn Monroe Productions, but later had a falling out.
• Joe Di Maggio: Famous American League baseball player and Marilyn Monroe's second husband
• Laurence Olivier: Famous British Actor that stared with her on The Prince and the Showgirl
• Tony Curtis: Co-star with her on Some Like It Hot created so much resentment it took decades for him to speak kindly of her.
• Jeanne Martin: Wife of Dean Martin and a friend to Marilyn Monroe of the set of Some Like It Hot.
• Pat Kennedy Lawford: Marilyn's good and trusted friend that would alter the course of her life - even if inadverently.
• Paula Strasberg: Lee's wife and Marilyn's acting coach replacing Natasha.
• Hal Schaeffer: Dated Marilyn during her divorce with Joe DiMaggio and after her affair with Frank Sinatra.
• Dr. Margaret Hohenberg: Marilyn's psychiatrist when she was beginning to work with Lee Strasberg.
• Dr. Marianne Kris: Marilyn's psychoanalysis recommeded by Anna Freud - daughter of Sigmund.
• Yves Montand: French actor that had an affair with Marilyn on the set of Let's Make Love.
• Dr. Ralph Greenson: Marilyn's psychiatrist in Los Angeles recommend by Dr. Kris. Many of Marilyn's friends and associates thought he had too much control over her and her career.
• Simone Signoret: Yves' wife and Marilyn was jealous of their dedication. She publically stated it was fine for her husband to have had an affair with Marilyn Monroe, but Marilyn took it too seriously.
• Della: Della Monroe Grainger - Marilyn Monroe's maternal grandmother
• Dr. Milton Wexler: A second opionion on Marilyn's diagnosis for borderline paranoid schizophrenia for Dr. Greenson. He became a pioneer in the study and treatment of Huntington's Disesase forming the Hereditary Disease Foundation.
• Douglas Kirkland: Photographer
• Michael Selsman: Marilyn's publist with Arthur P. Jacobs Company
• Ralph "Rafe" Roberts: One of Marilyn's best friends and personal masseur
• Micky Rudin: Dr. Greenson's brother in law and also Marilyn's attorney
• Bobby Kennedy: You don't know who he is? God help you.
• Pat Newcomb: Marilyn's publist worked for the Arthur P. Jacobs Company
• Pat Brennan: Friend of Pat Kennedy Lawford and spent time with Marilyn
• John Springer: Publist for Marilyn once had worked for the Arthur P. Jacobs Company
• Diane Stevens: Worked for John Springer and was interviewed for this book.
• Stacy Edwards: A sportswriter and friend of Joe DiMaggio and was interviewed for this book.
• Peter Lawford: Bobby and Jack's Brother-in-law.
• Eunice Murray: A "housekeeper/nurse" hired by Dr. Greenson to keep an eye on Marilyn and report all activity back to him.
• Frank Sinatra: Marilyn moved in with Frank after her divorce from Joe. He was also recentaly divorced. They had a love for each other, but were never in love.
• Arthur Miller: Her third husband. Pulitzer Prize winning author and play write.
• Jerry: Add a description of this character.
• Jim Dougherty
• Johnny Hyde: William Morris agent that had a relationship with Marilyn. Wanted her to marry him, but she didn't love him enough to marry him. Encouraged Marilyn to learn.
• Ida
• Dr. Greenson
• Jackie
• Ethel
• Fox
• Dr. Kris
• Jean Harlow
• Lee Strasberg: Worked with Marilyn's acting with "The Method" she also worked with a psychiatrist approved by Strasberg.
• Jasper
• Wayne
• Paula
• Rupert Allan
• Nancy Jeffrey: Norma Jeane's foster sister and was interviewed for this biography.

Quotes edit see section history

• “All she <Ida Bolender> wanted for Norma Jeane was for her to be strong. She always knew that <Norma Jeane> would have a very difficult life. She could see that her family background was not going to be helpful to her and, in fact, coudl possibly be the downfall of her. So she wasn't going to coddle her. She would say, 'The girl will face stronger foes than me, I can tell you that much. She has to be able to stand on her own. For all I know, she may hate me now, but she will be strong. She will have a good life."”

  Nancy Jeffrey

• “Well, that's the way it is, Joe. That's the field you're playing on, my friend. She's not going to give up her career any more than you wouldhave before you were ready to do it. so you have to get used to it, Joe. Or, honest to God, you're going to lose her.”

  Norman Brokaw

• “No jealousy...Don't foret how lonesome and unhappy you are - especially without her.”

  Joe DiMaggio wrote in his personal journal

• “She was dedicated to love. It's a thing schizophrenics talk about, love. They'll do anything for love and, additionally, they are totally infantile; they have no ego, no boundaries, as the rest of us have. The amazing thing about her is that she survived as long as she did. There was enough capacity for life that had she been lucky enough to find a therapist who could treat her problems, she might have...That's the tragedy. People loved her. But nobody could say no to her. No one would or could take responsibility for her. They had to cut her off or abandon her, which is the thing she expected. With Marilyn, your'e dealing with an abandoned infant who's not an infant anymore.”

  Johnny Strasberg

• “You know what it's like when you're in a car with someone and they run a red light and you know you're gonna crash but you're not driving so there's nothing you can do about it? That's how I felt that night. I felt like Marilyn was about to crash, but I was no longer in the driver's seat anymore...and there was nothing I could do about it.”

  Joe DiMaggio

• “You're a Kennedy now.”

  Pat Kennedy Lawford

• “Incidentally, 20th Century-Fox made the aborted film the following year with Doris Day and James Garner filling the Marilyn and Dean roles, and a new name, Move Over, Darling. What's funny about this finished film is that in scenes where Marilyn was dressed in the finest of cocktail dresses with the most bouffant of hairstyles, Doris is seen in blue jeans and her hair pulled back in an ordinary ponytail - thus the personality differences between two great acressses, Misses Monroe and Day.”

  J. Randy Taraborrelli

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “Yes, there was something special about me, and I knew what it was. I was the kind of girl they found dead in a hall bedroom with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand. But things weren’t entirely black—not yet. When you’re young and healthy you can plan on Monday to commit suicide, and by Tuesday you’re laughing again.”

  Highlighted by 15 Kindle customers

• life has its complex twists and turns and people don’t always get what they want—and that forgiveness is key to getting on with the business of living.

  Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers

• “You already have everything in you that you need,” Grace had told Marilyn the summer before she died. “As you see yourself, so will others. It’s not so complicated, Norma Jeane. Just believe in yourself,” she concluded, “and I guarantee that others will follow.”

  Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers

• She believed that her “now” was more important than her past and future.

  Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers

• Haspiel’s two books, Young Marilyn: Becoming the Legend and Marilyn Monroe: The Ultimate Look at the Legend.

  Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers

• “Sometimes I feel strong inside, but I have to reach in and pull it up. It isn’t easy. Nothing’s easy, as long as you go on living.”

  Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers

• Without anyone left in her world able to lift her from her darkest periods, she would spend the majority of her time alone… thinking—which was, of course, exactly what kept her in such despair.

  Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers

• “You already have everything in you that you need,” she told Marilyn, echoing an integral aspect of Christian Science. “As you see yourself, so will others. Believe in yourself,” she concluded, “and others will follow.”

  Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers

• She was a vulnerable soul, a generous spirit, and a brave soldier in a devastating battle with her own mind.

  Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers

• “When it’s just the two of you in bed in each other’s arms and it’s pitch black in the room and you put your head on his chest and hear his heart beat, that’s when you really know a man. When his heart beats for you, that’s when you really know him.”

  Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Los Angeles, CA: Norma Jeane/Marilyn was born and raised in California and in the Los Angeles Area
• Pineville, Kentucky: Where her half-sister grew up
• Berniece
• Los Angeles
• New York City
• California
• Hollywood
• Paris
• Kentucky
• Nevada
• United States
• Cal-neva
• Rock Haven Sanitarium
• San Francisco
• Palm Springs
• White House
• Madison Square Garden
• Roslyn
• England
• Mexico
• Columbia
• America
• Payne Whitney
• Pink Tights
• Ana
• Oregon
• London
• Virginia
• Washington
• San Jose
• Hawthorne
• India
• West Coast

Organizations edit see section history

• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): Investigations had been done on Marilyn Monroe
• House Un-American Activities Committee: Add a description of this organization.
• MGM Studios: Movie Studio
• Columbia Pictures: Movie Studio
• United Artists
• 20th Century Fox: Movie studio

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. J. Randy Taraborrelli (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 791.43028092

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › People, A-Z › ( M ) › Monroe, Marilyn
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Specific Groups › Women
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Arts & Literature › Actors & Actresses
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Arts & Literature › Entertainers
• Books › Entertainment