Monroe, Marilyn

From Make Me Heal

Actress Marilyn Monroe has had surgery on her chin and nose. Monroe went through plastic surgery in 1946, when she signed a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox Studios and an agent suggested Norma should become Marilyn to boost her career. After that Norma Jean Baker changed her name to Marilyn Monroe, dyed her hair and underwent rhinoplasty to make her bulbous nose more feminine and delicate.

In Bus Stop (1956), Marilyn showed critics that she could play a straight dramatic role. It was also the same year Monroe married playwright, Arthur Miller (they divorced in 1960). In 1957 Marilyn flew to Britain to film The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) which proved less than impressive critically and financially. The movie made money, but many critics panned it for being slow-moving. After a year off in 1958, Marilyn returned to the screen the following year for the delightful comedy, Some Like It Hot (1959) with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The film was an absolute smash hit, with Curtis and Lemmon pretending to be females in an all-girl band, so they can get work. This was to be Marilyn's only film for the year.

In 1960 Marilyn appeared in George Cukor's Let's Make Love (1960), with Tony Randall and Yves Montand. Again, while it made money, it was critically panned as stodgy and slow-moving. The following year Marilyn made what was to be her final film. The Misfits (1961), which also proved to be the final film for the legendary Clark Gable, who died later that same year of a heart attack. The film was popular with critics and the public alike.

In 1962 Marilyn was chosen to star in Fox's Something's Got to Give (1962). Again, Monroe's absenteeism caused delay after delay in production, resulting in her being fired from the production in June of that year. It looked as though Marilyn's career was finished. Studios just didn't want to take a chance on Monroe because it would cost them thousands of dollars in delays. Because of this, Monroe went into seclusion in her home in L.A. On August 5, 1962, Monroe's housekeeper found her dead body, nude and lying face down on her bed, apparently the victim of an overdose of sedatives. Monroe was only 36.