The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe

Norma Jeane Signs with 20th Century-Fox

She’d heard it from so many photographers, she had to wonder if it was possibly true: “You are made for the movies, Norma Jeane.” Indeed, every man who ever took her picture seemed to want to encourage her into the film industry. It wasn’t so far-fetched a notion, actually. After all, she was stunning in photographs, her unique essence easily captured by the camera lens. The thought of how her look might translate onto the big screen was a tantalizing one. Still, it was a daunting proposition, especially since she had virtually no acting experience—not even in school plays, where so many professional actresses are able to at least claim some minor experience.

“I don’t even know if I can act,” she told her Aunt Ana when the two of them discussed the possibility. “Honey, you have been acting your entire life,” Ana, who was always very intuitive, told her. “You know what I mean, don’t you?” It was true. She had spent her whole life trying to fit in, trying to be better—hoping to be someone who would be accepted. “You can do whatever you set your mind to,” Ana had repeatedly told her. “You know, the initials for Christian Science—C.S.—also mean something else.” Norma Jeane had to laugh. She had heard this from Ana a thousand times. “Common sense,” she said, finishing the woman’s thought. “That’s right,” Ana told her, “and my common sense tells me that if you want to act, you’ll act.”

Inspired by Ana and the enthusiastic approval of so many others she’d talked to about it during the early months of 1946, Norma Jeane Mortensen began to envision a future for herself in Hollywood. Years later, she would say, “I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.’ ”

Prior to Norma Jeane’s final decision to divorce Jim, her modeling agent, the very efficient Emmeline Snively, had already begun to look into the possibility of film opportunities for her client. One thing led to another and soon Norma Jeane had an appointment to meet with Ben Lyon, who worked as a recruiter for new talent and director of casting at 20th Century-Fox Studios. Of course, Norma Jeane was extremely nervous, but she managed to screw up the courage to meet with the movie executive on July 17, 1946. He gave her a few pages of the script to Winged Victory, a 1944 film based on a successful Moss Hart Broadway play. Norma Jeane managed to get through the reading. Not much is known about it, but she must have been fairly good because Lyon arranged for her to have a film test.

Two days later, Norma Jeane found herself on the 20th Century-Fox lot, on the set of a new Betty Grable movie called Mother Wore Tights, where she would make her screen test. In 1946, Fox boasted an impressive list of actresses and actors already under contract. A short list of these luminaries on the lot at that time would include Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, Tyrone Power, Betty Grable, Anne Baxter, Rex Harrison, Maureen O’Hara, and Vivian Blaine.

Cinematographer Leon Shamroy would film Norma Jeane’s silent screen test. After being fitted into a floor-length crinoline gown, she was told to stand on a set in front of a camera and execute a few simple moves: saunter back and forth, sit on a stool, walk toward a window on the stage set. While she stood before a movie camera for the first time, as nervous and embarrassed as she was, Norma Jeane was suddenly transformed into a woman completely at ease, enormously self-assured, and, more important, radiant in her unrestrained beauty. “I thought, this girl will be another Harlow,” Leon Shamroy once recalled of the test. “Her natural beauty plus her inferiority complex gave her a look of mystery. I got a cold chill. This girl had something I hadn’t seen since silent pictures. She had a kind of fantastic beauty like Gloria Swanson, and she got sex on a piece of film like Jean Harlow. Every frame of the test radiated sex. She didn’t need a sound track, she was creating effects visually. She was showing us she could sell emotions in pictures.” It became clear that the studio was interested in her when they asked her to do another screen test, this time in Technicolor. It was just a matter of paperwork before she would sign a deal.

Darryl Zanuck, head honcho at Fox, was not quite as effusive as everyone else who saw Norma Jeane’s test, though. (Interestingly, this man would never be a fan of hers—even when she was making a fortune for his company.) However, at the beginning, he decided she had enough potential to be signed to a contract—seventy-five dollars a week for six months with an option for the studio to renew at that point for another six, but at double the salary. She would be paid this amount whether she worked or not. It wasn’t much, but it was a start, and Norma Jeane was thrilled.

Of course, no one was happier about this sudden turn of events in Norma Jeane’s life than her “Aunt” Grace, always Norma Jeane’s protector and encourager. She wasn’t a star yet, but she’d come far in a short time. At this time, she was just twenty—a year too young to sign a legal contract in California. Therefore, it seemed only fitting that the woman who would cosign the contract with her, on August 24, 1946, would be—Grace Goddard.

Just before the contract with 20th Century-Fox was finalized, Norma Jeane Dougherty was called into Ben Lyon’s office. There was a problem: her name. Lyon explained that, in his opinion, her last name was too difficult to pronounce. “People are going to wonder if it’s doe-herty, or do-gerty… or, I don’t know,” he said, “but it has to be changed. It’s too much like a child’s,” he told her. “We need something that will offset your vulnerability but will have some class to it.” How did she feel about that? Norma Jeane didn’t really know how to respond. She knew she was divorcing Jim anyway, so she certainly saw no reason to stay wedded to his last name. She agreed. Eventually, she and Lyon settled on Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn after 1920s Broadway actress Marilyn Miller, an actress he said Norma Jeane reminded him of, and also someone he had dated; and Monroe after her mother’s family name.

Norma Jeane wasn’t sure about the proposed name. However, Lyon was so enthusiastic, she couldn’t disagree. “Well,” she finally concluded with an amused glint in her eyes, “I guess I’m Marilyn Monroe.” ^*