1926–1943: Childhood and first marriage Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, at
Los Angeles General Hospital in the
Boyle Heights neighborhood of
Los Angeles, California, United States. Her mother,
Gladys Pearl Baker ( Monroe), was born in
Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, into a poor American family originally from the
Midwest who migrated to
California at the turn of the century. At the age of 14, Gladys had married John Newton Baker, an abusive man nine years her senior. They had two children together, Robert and
Berniece. Gladys successfully filed for divorce and sole custody of her two oldest in 1923, but Baker kidnapped the children soon after and moved with them to his native
Kentucky. Monroe first learned about her sister at the age of 12 and met the latter for the first time in her late teens. Following the divorce, Gladys worked as a
film negative cutter at
Consolidated Film Industries. In 1924, she married Martin Edward Mortensen, but the union lasted only a few months, although they did not legally divorce until four years later. Gladys named Mortensen (misspelled
Mortenson) as Monroe's father in the
birth certificate, but most of Monroe's biographers agree that this was unlikely as their separation had taken place well before she became pregnant. According to biographers Fred Guiles and
Lois Banner, Monroe's father was likely Charles Stanley Gifford, Gladys's superior at
RKO Studios, with whom she had an affair in 1925. This was supported by a comparison conducted in 2022 between Monroe's DNA and that of one of Gifford's descendants. Although Gladys was mentally and financially unprepared for a child, Monroe's early childhood was stable and happy. Gladys placed Monroe with
evangelical Christian foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender in the suburban town of
Hawthorne. Gladys also lived there for six months until she was forced to move back to the city for employment. She then began visiting Monroe on weekends. In the summer of 1933, Gladys bought a small house in
Hollywood with a loan from the
Home Owners' Loan Corporation and moved Monroe in with her. They shared the house with lodgers, actors George and Maude Atkinson and their daughter, Nellie. In January 1934, Gladys had a
mental breakdown and was diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia. After several months in a rest home, she was committed to the
Metropolitan State Hospital. She spent the rest of her life in and out of hospitals and was rarely in contact with Monroe. Monroe became a
ward of the state; Gladys's friend Grace Goddard took responsibility over the affairs of the former and Monroe. For the next 16 months, Monroe continued living with the Atkinsons and may have been
sexually abused during this time. Always a shy girl, she developed a
stutter and became withdrawn. In the summer of 1935, she briefly stayed with Grace and the latter's husband, Erwin "Doc" Goddard, and two other families. In September 1935, Grace placed Monroe in the Los Angeles Orphans Home. The orphanage was "a model institution" and was described in positive terms by her peers, but Monroe felt abandoned. Encouraged by the orphanage staff, who thought that Monroe would be happier living in a family, Grace became her
legal guardian in 1936 but did not take her out of the orphanage until the summer of 1937. Monroe's second stay with the Goddards lasted only a few months because Doc allegedly
molested her. She then lived for brief periods with her relatives and Grace's friends and relatives in Los Angeles and
Compton. , . They married when she was 16 and divorced in 1946, when she was 20.Monroe's childhood experiences first made her want to become an actress: I didn't like the world around me because it was kind of grim ... When I heard that this was acting, I said that's what I want to be ... Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it. Monroe found a more permanent home in September 1938, when she began living with Grace's aunt Ana Lower in
Sawtelle. Monroe was enrolled at
Emerson Junior High School and went to weekly
Christian Science services with Lower. She excelled in writing and contributed to the school newspaper, but was otherwise a mediocre student. Owing to the elderly Lower's health problems, Monroe returned to live with the Goddards in
Van Nuys in about early 1941. That same year, she began attending
Van Nuys High School. In 1942, the company that employed Doc relocated him to
West Virginia. California child protection laws prevented the Goddards from taking Monroe out of state, and she faced having to return to the orphanage. To avoid this, it was decided that she leave high school and marry their neighbor, factory worker
James Dougherty, who was five years her senior. The marriage took place just after her 16th birthday, on 19 June 1942. Monroe found herself and Dougherty mismatched, and later said she was "dying of boredom" during the marriage. In 1943, Dougherty enlisted in the
Merchant Marine and was stationed on
Santa Catalina Island, where Monroe moved with him.
1944–1948: Modeling, divorce, and first film roles in 1944 at the
Radioplane Company In April 1944, Dougherty was shipped out to the
Pacific, where he remained for most of the next two years. After Dougherty left, Monroe moved in with Dougherty's parents and began a job at the
Radioplane Company, a munitions factory in Van Nuys, to help the war effort. In late 1944, she met photographer
David Conover, then working in the
U.S. Army Air Forces'
First Motion Picture Unit, who had been sent to the factory to shoot morale-boosting pictures of female workers. Although none of her pictures were used, she quit working at the factory in January 1945 and began modeling for Conover and his friends. Defying her deployed husband and his disapproving mother, she moved on her own and signed a contract with the Blue Book Model Agency in August 1945. The agency deemed Monroe's figure more suitable for
pin-up than high fashion modeling, and she was featured mostly in advertisements and men's magazines. She straightened her naturally curly brown hair and dyed it
platinum blonde. According to Emmeline Snively, the agency's owner, Monroe quickly became one of its most ambitious and hard-working models; by early 1946, she had appeared on 33 magazine covers for publications such as
Pageant,
U.S. Camera,
Laff, and
Peek. As a model, Monroe occasionally used the pseudonym Jean Norman. for a postcard photograph, |alt=A smiling Monroe sitting on a beach and leaning back on her arms. She is wearing a bikini and wedge sandals. Through Snively, Monroe signed a contract with an acting agency in June 1946. After an unsuccessful interview at
Paramount Pictures, she was given a screen-test by
Ben Lyon, a
20th Century-Fox executive. Head executive
Darryl F. Zanuck was unenthusiastic about it, but he gave her a standard six-month contract to avoid her being signed by rival studio
RKO Pictures. Monroe's contract began in August 1946, and she and Lyon selected the stage name "Marilyn Monroe". The first name was picked by Lyon, who was reminded of Broadway star
Marilyn Miller; the surname was Monroe's mother's maiden name. In September 1946, she divorced Dougherty, who had been opposed to her career. Monroe spent her first six months at Fox learning acting, singing, and dancing, and observing the film-making process. Her contract was renewed in February 1947, and she was given her first film roles, bit parts in
Dangerous Years (1947) and
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948). The studio also enrolled her in the
Actors' Laboratory Theatre, an acting school teaching the techniques of the
Group Theatre; she later stated that it was "my first taste of what real acting in a real drama could be, and I was hooked". Despite her enthusiasm, her teachers thought her too shy and insecure to have a future in acting, and Fox did not renew her contract in August 1947. She returned to modeling while also doing occasional odd jobs at film studios, such as working as a dancing "pacer" behind the scenes to keep the leads on point at musical sets. Monroe was determined to make it as an actress, and continued studying at the Actors' Lab. She had a small role in the play
Glamour Preferred at the
Bliss-Hayden Theater, but it ended after a couple of performances. To network, she frequented producers' offices, befriended gossip columnist
Sidney Skolsky, and entertained influential male guests at studio functions, a practice she had begun at Fox. She also became a friend and occasional sex partner of Fox executive
Joseph M. Schenck, who persuaded his friend
Harry Cohn, the head executive of
Columbia Pictures, to sign her in March 1948. At Columbia, Monroe's look was modeled after
Rita Hayworth and her hair was bleached platinum blonde. She began working with the studio's head drama coach,
Natasha Lytess, who would remain her mentor until 1955. Her only film at the studio was the low-budget musical
Ladies of the Chorus (1948), in which she had her first starring role as a chorus girl courted by a wealthy man. She also screen-tested for the lead role in
Born Yesterday (1950), but her contract was not renewed in September 1948.
Ladies of the Chorus was released the following month and was not a success.
1949–1952: Breakthrough years '' (1950), one of her earliest performances to gain attention from film critics When her contract at Columbia ended, Monroe returned again to modeling. She shot a commercial for
Pabst beer and posed for artistic nude photographs by
Tom Kelley for John Baumgarth calendars, using the name 'Mona Monroe'. Monroe had previously posed topless or clad in a bikini for other artists including
Earl Moran, and felt comfortable with nudity. Shortly after leaving Columbia, she also met and became the protégée and mistress of
Johnny Hyde, the vice president of the
William Morris Agency. Through Hyde, Monroe landed small roles in several films, including two critically acclaimed works. The first was
Joseph Mankiewicz's drama
All About Eve (1950), which received 14 Academy Award nominations. The film's star
Bette Davis later praised Monroe's performance, saying, "Definitely, no question, I knew she was going to make it. She was a very ambitious girl, [and] knew what she wanted [and was] very serious about it...I thought she had talent." The second film was
John Huston's noir
The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Despite her screen time being only a few minutes, Monroe gained a mention in
Photoplay and according to biographer
Donald Spoto "moved effectively from movie model to serious actress". In December 1950, Hyde negotiated a seven-year contract for Monroe with 20th Century-Fox. According to its terms, Fox could opt not to renew the contract after each year. Hyde died of a heart attack only days later, which left Monroe devastated. In 1951, Monroe had supporting roles in three moderately successful Fox comedies:
As Young as You Feel,
Love Nest, and ''
Let's Make It Legal. According to Spoto all three films featured her "essentially [as] a sexy ornament", but she received some praise from critics: Bosley Crowther of The New York Times described her as "superb" in As Young As You Feel
and Ezra Goodman of the Los Angeles Daily News called her "one of the brightest up-and-coming [actresses]" for Love Nest''. Her popularity with audiences was also growing: she received several thousand fan letters a week, and was declared "Miss
Cheesecake of 1951" by the army newspaper
Stars and Stripes, reflecting the preferences of soldiers in the
Korean War. In February 1952, the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association named Monroe the "best young box office personality". In her private life, Monroe had a short relationship with director
Elia Kazan and also briefly dated several other men, including director
Nicholas Ray and actors
Yul Brynner and
Peter Lawford. In early 1952, she began a highly publicized romance with retired
New York Yankees baseball star
Joe DiMaggio, one of the most famous sports personalities of the era. in
Clash by Night (1952). The film allowed Monroe to display more of her acting range in a dramatic role. Monroe found herself at the center of a scandal in March 1952, when she revealed publicly that she had posed for a nude calendar in 1949. The studio had learned about the photos and that she was publicly rumored to be the model some weeks prior, and together with Monroe decided that to prevent damaging her career it was best to admit to them while stressing that she had been broke at the time. The strategy gained her public sympathy and increased interest in her films, for which she was now receiving top
billing. In the wake of the scandal, Monroe was featured on the cover of
Life magazine as the "Talk of Hollywood", and gossip columnist
Hedda Hopper declared her the "cheesecake queen" turned "box office smash". Three of Monroe's films—
Clash by Night, ''
Don't Bother to Knock and We're Not Married!''—were released soon after to capitalize on the public interest. Despite her newfound popularity as a sex symbol, Monroe also wished to showcase more of her acting range. She had begun taking acting classes with
Michael Chekhov and mime
Lotte Goslar soon after beginning the Fox contract, and
Clash by Night and ''Don't Bother to Knock
showed her in different roles. In the former, a drama starring Barbara Stanwyck and directed by Fritz Lang, she played a fish cannery worker; to prepare, she spent time in a fish cannery in Monterey. She received positive reviews for her performance: The Hollywood Reporter stated that "she deserves starring status with her excellent interpretation", and Variety wrote that she "has an ease of delivery which makes her a cinch for popularity". The latter was a thriller in which Monroe starred as a mentally disturbed babysitter and which Zanuck used to test her abilities in a heavier dramatic role. It received mixed reviews from critics, with Crowther deeming her too inexperienced for the difficult role, and Variety'' blaming the script for the film's problems. '' (1952) Monroe's three other films in 1952 continued with her typecasting in comedic roles that highlighted her sex appeal. In ''We're Not Married!'', her role as a beauty pageant contestant was created solely to "present Marilyn in two bathing suits", according to its writer
Nunnally Johnson. In
Howard Hawks's
Monkey Business, in which she acted opposite
Cary Grant, she played a secretary who is a "dumb, childish blonde, innocently unaware of the havoc her sexiness causes around her". In ''
O. Henry's Full House'', with
Charles Laughton she appeared in a passing vignette as a nineteenth-century street walker. Monroe added to her reputation as a new sex symbol with publicity stunts that year: she wore a revealing dress when acting as Grand Marshal at the
Miss America Pageant parade, and told gossip columnist
Earl Wilson that she usually wore no underwear. By the end of the year, gossip columnist
Florabel Muir named Monroe the "
it girl" of 1952. At this time, Monroe became known as difficult to work with, a reputation that grew as her career progressed. She was often late or did not show up at all, did not remember her lines, and would demand several re-takes before she was satisfied with her performance. Her dependence on her acting coaches—Natasha Lytess and then
Paula Strasberg—also irritated directors. Monroe's problems have been attributed to a combination of perfectionism, low self-esteem, and stage fright. She disliked her lack of control on film sets and never experienced similar problems during photo shoots, in which she had more say over her performance and could be more spontaneous instead of following a script. The first was the
Technicolor film noir Niagara, in which she played a
femme fatale scheming to murder her husband, played by
Joseph Cotten. By then, Monroe and her make-up artist
Allan "Whitey" Snyder had developed her "trademark" make-up look: dark arched brows, pale skin, "glistening" red lips and a
beauty mark. According to Sarah Churchwell,
Niagara was one of the most overtly sexual films of Monroe's career. In some scenes, Monroe's body was covered only by a sheet or a towel, considered shocking by contemporary audiences.
Niagaras most famous scene is a 30-second
long shot behind Monroe where she is seen walking with her hips swaying, which was used heavily in the film's marketing. " in the trailer for the 1953 film,
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes When
Niagara was released in January 1953,
women's clubs protested it as immoral, but it proved popular with audiences. While
Variety deemed it "clichéd" and "morbid",
The New York Times commented that "the falls and Miss Monroe are something to see", as although Monroe may not be "the perfect actress at this point ... she can be seductive—even when she walks". Monroe continued to attract attention by wearing revealing outfits, most famously at the
Photoplay Awards in January 1953, where she won the "Fastest Rising Star" award. A pleated "sunburst" waist-tight, deep décolleté gold
lamé dress designed by
William Travilla for
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but barely seen at all in the film, was to become a sensation. Prompted by such imagery, veteran star
Joan Crawford publicly called the behavior "unbecoming an actress and a lady". While
Niagara made Monroe a sex symbol and established her "look", her second film of 1953, the satirical musical comedy
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, cemented her screen persona as a "
dumb blonde". Based on
Anita Loos'
novel and
its Broadway version, the film focuses on two "gold-digging"
showgirls played by Monroe and
Jane Russell. Monroe's role was originally intended for
Betty Grable, who had been 20th Century-Fox's most popular "
blonde bombshell" in the 1940s; Monroe was fast eclipsing her as a star who could appeal to both male and female audiences. As part of the film's publicity campaign, she and Russell pressed their hand and footprints in wet concrete outside
Grauman's Chinese Theatre in June.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was released shortly after and became one of the biggest box office successes of the year. Crowther of
The New York Times and William Brogdon of
Variety both commented favorably on Monroe, especially noting her performance of "
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"; according to the latter, she demonstrated the "ability to sex a song as well as point up the eye values of a scene by her presence". and
Lauren Bacall in the film
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) In September, Monroe made her television debut in the
Jack Benny Show, playing Jack's fantasy woman in the episode "Honolulu Trip". She co-starred with Grable and
Lauren Bacall in her third movie of the year,
How to Marry a Millionaire, released in November. It featured Monroe as a naïve model who teams up with her friends to find rich husbands, repeating the successful formula of
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It was the second film ever released in
CinemaScope, a widescreen format that Fox hoped would draw audiences back to theaters as television was beginning to cause losses to film studios. Despite mixed reviews, the film was Monroe's biggest box office success at that point in her career. Monroe was listed in the annual
Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll in both 1953 and 1954, She began a more serious affair with playwright
Arthur Miller. Their relationship became increasingly serious after October 1955, when Monroe's divorce was finalized and Miller left his wife Mary Slattery. The studio urged her to end it, as Miller was being investigated by the
FBI for allegations of
communism and had been
subpoenaed by the
House Un-American Activities Committee, but Monroe refused. The relationship led to the FBI opening a file on her. After years of investigation, the FBI found no evidence linking Marilyn Monroe to the Communist Party of the United States, concluding, "Subject's views are very positively and concisely leftist; however, if she is being actively used by the Communist Party, it is not general knowledge among those working with the movement in Los Angeles." By the end of the year, Monroe and Fox signed a new seven-year contract, as MMP would not be able to finance films alone, and the studio was eager to have Monroe working for them again. Fox would pay her $400,000 to make four films, and granted her the right to choose her own projects, directors and cinematographers. She would also be free to make one film with MMP per each completed film for Fox.
1956–1959: Critical acclaim and marriage to Arthur Miller '' (1956) marked a departure from her earlier comedies. Monroe began 1956 by announcing her win over 20th Century-Fox. On February 23, 1956, she legally changed her name to
Marilyn Monroe. The press wrote favorably about her decision to fight the studio;
Time called her a "shrewd businesswoman" and
Look predicted that the win would be "an example of the individual against the herd for years to come". In contrast, Monroe's relationship with Miller prompted some negative comments, such as
Walter Winchell's statement that "America's best-known blonde moving picture star is now the darling of the left-wing intelligentsia." In March, Monroe began filming the drama
Bus Stop, her first film under the new contract. She played Chérie, a saloon singer whose dreams of stardom are complicated by a naïve cowboy who falls in love with her. For the role, she learned an
Ozark accent, chose costumes and makeup that lacked the glamor of her earlier films, and provided deliberately mediocre singing and dancing.
Broadway director
Joshua Logan agreed to direct, despite initially doubting Monroe's acting abilities and knowing of her difficult reputation. The filming took place in Idaho and Arizona, with Monroe "technically in charge" as the head of MMP, occasionally making decisions on cinematography and with Logan adapting to her chronic lateness and perfectionism. The experience changed Logan's opinion of Monroe, and he later compared her to
Charlie Chaplin in her ability to blend comedy and tragedy. at their wedding, June 1956On June 29, 1956, Monroe and Miller were married in a four-minute civil ceremony at the Westchester County Court in
White Plains, New York; two days later they had a
Jewish ceremony at the home of
Kay Brown, Miller's literary agent, in
Waccabuc, New York. With the marriage, Monroe
converted to Judaism, which led Egypt to ban all of her films. Due to Monroe's status as a sex symbol and Miller's image as an intellectual, the media saw the union as a mismatch, as evidenced by
Varietys headline, "Egghead Weds Hourglass".
Bus Stop was released in August 1956 and became a critical and commercial success.
The Saturday Review of Literature wrote that Monroe's performance "effectively dispels once and for all the notion that she is merely a glamour personality" and Crowther proclaimed: "Hold on to your chairs, everybody, and get set for a rattling surprise. Marilyn Monroe has finally proved herself an actress." She also received a
Golden Globe nomination for
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Musical or Comedy for her performance. and prompted
Variety to call her "a comedienne with that combination of sex appeal and timing that just can't be beat". It has been voted one of the
best films ever made in polls by the
BBC, the
American Film Institute, and
Sight & Sound.
1960–1962: Career setbacks and personal difficulties in ''
Let's Make Love'' (1960), which she agreed to make only to fulfill her contract with Fox After
Some Like It Hot, Monroe took another hiatus until late 1959, when she starred in the musical comedy ''
Let's Make Love''. She chose
George Cukor to direct and Miller rewrote some of the script, which she considered weak. She accepted the part solely because she was behind on her contract with Fox. The film's production was delayed by her frequent absences from the set. During the shoot, Monroe had an affair with co-star
Yves Montand that was widely reported by the press and used in the film's publicity campaign. ''Let's Make Love'' was unsuccessful upon its release in September 1960. Crowther described Monroe as appearing "rather untidy" and "lacking ... the old Monroe dynamism", and Hedda Hopper called the film "the most vulgar picture she's ever done".
Truman Capote lobbied for Monroe to play Holly Golightly in
a film adaptation of ''
Breakfast at Tiffany's'', but the role went to
Audrey Hepburn as its producers feared that Monroe would complicate the production. ,
Eli Wallach,
Montgomery Clift, and
Clark Gable in
The Misfits (1961).
The Misfits was the final completed film for Monroe and Gable, who both died within two years. The last film Monroe completed was
John Huston's
The Misfits (1961), which Miller had written to provide her with a dramatic role. She played Roslyn, who has just received a
quickie divorce in
Reno, Nevada, and befriends three aging cowboys, played by
Clark Gable,
Eli Wallach and
Montgomery Clift. The filming in the Nevada desert between July and November 1960 was difficult. Monroe and Miller's marriage was effectively over, and he began a relationship with on-set photographer
Inge Morath. Monroe resented that he had based Roslyn partly on herself and thought the character inferior to the male roles. She also struggled with Miller's habit of rewriting scenes the night before filming. Her health was also failing: she was in pain from
gallstones, and her drug addiction was so severe that her makeup usually had to be applied while she was still asleep under the influence of barbiturates. In August, filming was halted for her to spend a week in a hospital
detox. Despite her problems, Huston said that when Monroe was acting, she "was not pretending to an emotion. It was the real thing. She would go deep down within herself and find it and bring it up into consciousness." Monroe and Miller separated after filming ended, and she obtained a
Mexican divorce in January 1961.
The Misfits was released the following month, failing at the box office. Its reviews were mixed, with
Variety complaining of frequently "choppy" character development, and Bosley Crowther calling Monroe "completely blank and unfathomable" and writing that "unfortunately for the film's structure, everything turns upon her". It has received more favorable reviews in the 21st century.
Geoff Andrew of the
British Film Institute has called it a classic, Huston scholar Tony Tracy called Monroe's performance the "most mature interpretation of her career", and Geoffrey McNab of
The Independent praised her "extraordinary" portrayal of the character's "power of empathy". '' in May 1962. She was absent for most of the production due to illness and was fired by Fox in June 1962, two months before her death. Monroe was next to star in a television adaptation of
W. Somerset Maugham's "
Rain" for
NBC, but the project fell through as the network did not want to hire her choice of director, Lee Strasberg. She did not film any new projects in 1961 but instead focused on her health. She had surgery for her endometriosis and gall bladder problems, and underwent four weeks of hospital treatment for depression. She first admitted herself to the
Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, but was erroneously placed on a ward meant for people with
psychosis, where she was locked in a padded cell and not allowed to move to a more suitable ward or leave the hospital. After three days she was able to move to the more suitable
Columbia University Medical Center with the help of her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio, with whom she rekindled a friendship. In later 1961, she dated
Frank Sinatra for several months, and returned to live in California, where she purchased a house at
12305 Fifth Helena Drive in
Brentwood, Los Angeles. Monroe returned to the public eye in the spring of 1962. She received a "World Film Favorite" at the
19th Golden Globe Awards and began to shoot a film for Fox, ''
Something's Got to Give, a remake of My Favorite Wife'' (1940). It was to be co-produced by MMP, directed by George Cukor and to co-star
Dean Martin and
Cyd Charisse. Days before filming began, Monroe caught
sinusitis. Despite medical advice to postpone the production, Fox began it as planned in late April. Monroe was too sick to work for most of the next six weeks, but despite confirmations by multiple doctors, the studio pressured her by alleging publicly that she was faking it. On May 19, she took a break to sing "
Happy Birthday, Mr. President" on stage at President
John F. Kennedy's early birthday celebration at
Madison Square Garden in New York. She drew attention with her costume: a beige, skintight dress covered in rhinestones, which made her appear as if she were nude. Monroe's trip to New York caused even more irritation for Fox executives, who had wanted her to cancel it. (left) and
John F. Kennedy (center, rear) Monroe next filmed a scene for ''Something's Got to Give
in which she swam naked in a swimming pool. To generate advance publicity, the press was invited to take photographs; these were later published in Life
. This was the first time that a major star had posed nude at the height of their career. When she was again on sick leave for several days, Fox decided that it could not afford to have another film running behind schedule when it was already struggling with the rising costs of Cleopatra'' (1963). On June 7, Fox fired Monroe and sued her for $750,000 in damages. She was replaced by
Lee Remick, but after Martin refused to make the film with anyone other than Monroe, Fox sued him as well and shut down the production. The studio blamed Monroe for the film's demise and began spreading negative publicity about her, even alleging that she was mentally disturbed. Fox soon regretted its decision and reopened negotiations with Monroe later in June; a settlement about a new contract, including recommencing ''Something's Got to Give
and a starring role in the black comedy What a Way to Go! (1964), was reached later that summer. She was also planning on starring in a biopic of Jean Harlow. To repair her public image, Monroe engaged in several publicity ventures, including interviews for Life
and Cosmopolitan and her first photo shoot for Vogue. For Vogue
, she and photographer Bert Stern collaborated for two series of photographs over three days, one a standard fashion editorial and another of her posing nude, which were published posthumously with the title The Last Sitting''. == Death and funeral ==