Nearly 40 years after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains the world's most famous blonde1. Though she made just 30 movies in 15 years, she is the subject of more than 50 books, far more than any other screen star. And there has been no one like her—beautiful, sexual, and at the same time, vulnerable. This made her famous, and this brought her trouble. Even reaching amazing heights, Marilyn Monroe would find no lasting comfort or joy from either her career or her relationships. This was the tragedy2 of her brief life.
We know the many sad details—the suicide attempts, drug addiction, the affairs and failed marriages, the damaging relationships. This is a story of a poor kid who made it in Hollywood and delightedly captured3 the world, who seemed to have it all but couldn't find happiness.
The girl was born out of wedlock on June 1, 1926, in a Los Angeles hospital. She was named Norma Jean Mortenson. Shortly after Norma Jean's birth, her father sent her to a foster4 family.
On June 19, 1942, three weeks after her 16th birthday, Norma Jean married James Dougherty, a 21-year-old neighbor.
When Dougherty left in 1944, Norma Jean got a job in an army factory. One day an army photographer5 took some pictures of her. The results were so good that within months she quit her job to become a professional6 photographer's model. The 5′5" woman with a beautiful figure and dark hair became a blonde. She posed in swimsuits and shorts for hundreds of calendars7, ads, and magazines.
Not surprisingly, living so near Hollywood, the model dreamed of becoming an actress. In 1946, Norma Jean divorced8 Dougherty and won a one-year contract9 with 20th Century Fox studio. She also found herself a new name: Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn was suggested after 1920's musical star Marilyn Miller, and Monroe was the surname of Norman Jean's grandmother.
Young as she was, Marilyn had a practical understanding about the value of people who could give her powerful help. Like many young film stars of that time, she approached10 the men who could help her get work. Her most important supporter was Johnny Hyde, who truly loved her. He won her the small but memorable roles that really got her noticed —1950's The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve. Fox gave her a seven-year contract, speeded up its publicity machine, and by 1953 everybody knew her name. That year brought starring roles in Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and How to Marry a Millionaire. The three movies were all box-office success.
The darker pattern of her life, however, had already been established11. Never self-confident12, she had to use drugs for help during film shoots. Still, her anxiety13 was sometimes so intense14 she would vomit15 between scenes. One had to wonder why Marilyn kept on putting herself through the pain. The answer was that her drive to be effective on screen was as strong as her fear. There were also physical disorders16. Gradually she came to depend on a diet of pills to kill pains, to calm and excite herself.
In 1952 Marilyn began dating the country's most beloved sports hero, Joe DiMaggio, and on January 14, 1954, they married. But the brown wool suit Marilyn wore at her wedding lasted much longer than the 286-day marriage. At 39, Joe wanted a home and family and had hoped that the 27-year-old blonde star, voted by Photoplay magazine as Most Popular Actress in 1953, would quit her career to be a housewife.
It made both of them unhappy when Marilyn left Joe in Japan, on their honeymoon, to entertain17 troops in Korea. The marriage turned into one long quarrel about their totally different needs. The filming of one of Marilyn's most famous screen moments—the waving skirt scene in The Seven Year Itch18—was the last strike to the family. A jealous19 Joe watched in violent anger as his wife's skirt flew up again and again, showing her panties20 to hundreds of joyful onlookers. That night the couple fought bitterly, and within weeks Marilyn got a divorce, on October 27, 1954.
In 1956, after she made her finest performance in Bus Stop in 1955, Marilyn surprised everyone with her marriage to respectable playwright21 Arthur Miller. Because of him, Marilyn became a believer of Judaism22. Many people thought the match between “the beauty and the brain” was quite unreasonable, but Marilyn argued that if she was nothing but a stupid blonde, he wouldn't have married her.
During her marriage to Miller, she made Some Like It Hot, her most successful film ever. She miscarried23 twice. Marilyn always claimed24 she wanted a child, but when she was pregnant, she would not or could not stop drinking or taking pills.
In April 1962 she began work on Something＇s Got to Give. She looked slim25 and beautiful, but old problems had returned. She drank and used drugs. She would be hours late for filming or disappear altogether, showing up26 for 12 of 31 shooting days. She was often absent because of “illness”. On May 19th, Marilyn, who was “ill”, appeared in New York for President Kennedy's 45th birthday party. It is generally believed today that Marilyn and JFK had an affair over several years. Shortly after her 36th birthday, Marilyn was fired from the film and Something stopped production. The film was never finished.
The former pinup27 girl felt she was getting old by Hollywood standards, and was dealing with increasing pressures28. Her many biographers29 present different stories about the last two months of her life.
Whatever Marilyn was experiencing, the unchangeable fact is that on August 5, 1962, she was dead. The official report was “probable suicide30.” But from the start, things like her missing phone lists and diary, and changing accounts31 by those who found her, have fueled suspicions32 that continue to this day.
Was her death an intentional33 suicide, an accidental overdose34, or even a murder？Again there are biographers to support every theory35. As recently as 1992 there was an unsuccessful attempt to find out the truth of her death. It seems that we may never know the “last word” on Marilyn Monroe.
Yet as one of her friends and co-stars once said, “Some people, when they go, they go forever. Some people, you think about. And Marilyn was one of those who lingers36.”
在逝去了近40年后，玛丽莲·梦露依然是闻名于世的第一金发美女。尽管15年只拍了30部电影，她却是50多本著作的主角，这在影坛还无人能及。没有人像她那样集美貌性感于一身，同时却又内心脆弱，这使她声名鹊起，却又让她陷入麻烦。即使红得发紫，玛丽莲·梦露也未能从事业或爱情上得到长久的安慰或欢乐，而这正是她短暂一生的可悲之处。
大家都已经知道她许多伤感的往事——多次企图自杀、靠药物为生、绯闻、失败的婚姻以及毁灭性的关系。这是一个穷孩子的故事，她闯进好莱坞并用快乐征服了全世界；她似乎拥有了一切，却没有找到幸福。
这个小女孩是个私生女，1926年6月1日出生于洛杉矶的一家医院，取名诺玛·吉恩·莫藤森。诺玛·吉恩出生后不久，父亲就把她寄养在别人家里。
1942年6月19日，16岁生日后的第4个星期，诺玛·吉恩嫁给了21岁的邻居詹姆斯·道格迪。
道格迪1944年离家后，诺玛·吉恩找到了一份军工厂的工作。一天，一名部队摄影师拍了几张她的照片。照片效果非常不错，短短几个月后，她就辞职做了一名专职摄影模特。这位5英尺5英寸（1.65米）高、身材姣好的黑发女郎摇身一变而成金发美女。她的泳装照、内衣照出现在数以百计的挂历、广告和杂志上。
好莱坞离家近在咫尺，这位模特儿自然梦想成为演员。1946年，诺玛·吉恩与道格迪离婚，并和20世纪福克斯公司签约一年。她还有了新的名字：玛丽莲·梦露，玛丽莲取自20年代的音乐明星玛丽莲·米勒，梦露则是诺玛·吉恩祖母的姓氏。
玛丽莲虽然年轻，却深知能拉她一把的人的份量。像当时的其他年轻影星一样，她接近任何可以帮她得到角色的男人。她最重要的支持者是真心爱她的约翰尼·海德，他帮她得到了50年代影片《柏油丛林》和《彗星美人》中的角色，角色虽小，却令人难忘并使她崭露头角。福克斯又同她签了一份七年的合同，并加速运转其宣传机器，到了1953年玛丽莲·梦露的名字已经家喻户晓。这年她主演了《尼亚加拉》、《绅士喜欢金发女郎》和《愿嫁金龟婿》，三部影片票房成绩斐然。
然而，她生活中的阴暗面也成型了。她向来自卑，拍电影时只能依赖药物的帮助，有时候焦虑还严重到使她在拍片间隙呕吐的地步。人们不禁要问：玛丽莲为什么要如此折腾自己？答案就是她想在银幕上出类拔萃的愿望和她的恐惧感一样强烈，再加上身体上的不适，她渐渐就靠服用药物来止痛、镇静和使自己兴奋。
1952年，玛丽莲开始与深受大众喜爱的体育明星乔·迪马吉奥约会，并于1954年1月14日与其结婚，可这桩286天的婚姻寿命还不及玛丽莲婚礼上穿的棕色羊毛套装长。39岁的乔渴望一个家和家庭，本来希望这位27岁的金发影星（1953年《影视剧》杂志最受欢迎女演员得主），能放弃演艺生涯做一名家庭主妇。
然而在日本度蜜月期间，玛丽莲却离开乔去韩国慰问美军，这弄得两人都不愉快。由于生活理想悬殊，这桩婚姻演变为漫长的争吵，而玛丽莲所拍的最著名的银幕镜头之一 ——《七年之痒》里裙裾飘飘的形象成为这个家庭最后的一击。眼见妻子的裙裾一次又一次地飘起，内裤被成百上千名乐呵呵的看客一览无余，妒火中烧的乔火冒三丈。当天夜里这对冤家大打出手，几个星期后，1954年的10月27日玛丽莲离了婚。
1955年玛丽莲精彩绝伦地出演了《公共汽车站》，1956年，她出人意料地嫁给了深孚众望的剧作家阿瑟·米勒，而且因为他，玛丽莲信了犹太教。虽然不少人认为这一“郎才女貌”的结合不可思议，但玛丽莲却辩称：要是她只是一个一无所知的花瓶，他根本不会娶她。
和米勒结婚后，她拍了她最成功的电影：《热情似火》。玛丽莲两次流产，她声称要个孩子，可一旦真地怀了孩子，她又没有也无法停止酗酒和服药。
1962年4月她开始拍摄《双凤奇缘》。看上去她窈窕美丽，可老毛病又犯了。她酗酒服药；常常迟到几个小时才拍戏，甚至干脆不见人影，31个工作日她只有12天到场。她常常因“病”缺场，5月19日，“生病”的玛丽莲却出现在纽约肯尼迪总统45岁的生日宴会上。如今多数人都认为玛丽莲与肯尼迪有多年的暧昧关系。玛丽莲刚庆祝完36岁生日，剧组就将其解聘，《双》片也停拍，而且再也没有拍下去。
这位昔日的封面女郎感到按好莱坞的标准她已经老了，压力也与日俱增。对她生命的最后两个月，众多传记作家们有不同的说法。
无论玛丽莲当时经历了什么，1962年8月5日她的死却是不争的事实。官方报告称“可能是自杀”，但是，从一开始她的电话簿和日记就丢失了，发现她尸体的人也改变了证词，这些使怀疑论火上加油，延续至今。
她的死究竟是蓄意自杀、服药过量的意外事故、抑或谋杀？每种说法都有传记作家认同。直到1992年，还有人试图找出她死亡的真相，但无功而返。看来我们永远不会知道玛丽莲·梦露的“临终遗言”了。
不过，正如一位与她合作过的明星——也是她的朋友所说：“有的人，他们走了也就永远地走了；而有的人，他们走了你还会时常想着。玛丽莲属于后者，岁月悠悠，而她却一直在我们心中驻留。”
1. blonde n． 金发碧眼的女人
2． tragedy n． 悲剧
3． capture v． 俘获, 捕获
4． foster n． 抚养
5． photographer n． 摄影师
6． professional adj． 专业的, 职业的
7． pose v． 摆姿势
calendar n． 日历
8． divorce v． 使离婚
9． contract n． 合同
10． approach v． 接近
11． establish v． 建立
12． confident adj． 自信的
13． anxiety n． 忧虑
14． intense adj． 强烈的
15． vomit v． 呕吐
16． disorder n． 杂乱, 混乱
17． entertain v． 款待
18． itch n． 发痒
19． jealous adj． 妒忌的
20． panties n． (女式)短裤
21． playwright n． 剧作家
22． Judaism n． 犹太教
23． miscarry v． 流产
24． claim [kleim] v． (根据权利)要求
25． slim [slim] adj． 苗条的
26． show up 出现，到场
27． pinup adj． 钉在墙上的, 受欢迎的
28． pressure n． 压, 压力
29． biographer n． 传记作者
30． suicide n． 自杀
31． account n． 陈述
32． suspicion n． 怀疑
33． intentional adj． 有意图的
34． overdose n． 服药过多
35． theory n． 理论
36． linger v． 逗留，经久不消