Marilyn Monroe at 100: Celebrating the superstar's enduring legacy
Over 1,000 people gathered at a Marilyn Monroe lookalike event in Palm Springs, California, over the weekend to honor the entertainer's enduring legacy ahead of what would have been her 100th birthday.
Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles. She first burst onto the Hollywood scene with a breakout role in 1953's "Niagara" and later dominated the 1950s box office with hits such as "The Seven Year Itch" and "Some Like It Hot."
The superstar was the talk of Hollywood and so was her personal life. She first married James Dougherty in 1942, when she was just 16 years old, and the pair later divorced in 1946 after Monroe decided to pursue acting.
Monroe's next marriage was to New York Yankees star center fielder Joe DiMaggio. The couple wed in January 1954 after dating for two years, but the marriage lasted less than a year, and they divorced after nine months.
Monroe later wed the playwright Arthur Miller in 1956, and the pair later split in 1961.
A new biography, "I Wanna Be Loved By You: Marilyn Monroe: A Life in 100 Takes," out June 2, also explores Monroe's long-lasting fame and the mystery and misconceptions behind her legacy.
"I think people underestimated Marilyn. They wrote her off as a dumb blonde. I think she could have done many other types of acting if she'd lived longer," author Andrew Wilson told ABC News.
Monroe died in 1962, at the age of 36, from a drug overdose. But before her death, she started her own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, to break out of the restrictive Hollywood studio system and used her star power to support others.
"She was very much an activist," Wilson said. "She was a great supporter of [singer-songwriter] Ella Fitzgerald and also supported her gay friends."
