On what would have been her 100th birth anniversary on June 1, Marilyn Monroe’s timeless allure and captivating mystery continue to enchant audiences worldwide, cementing her status as an enduring Hollywood icon.
Key Points
- Marilyn Monroe’s magnetic appeal and beauty continue to captivate audiences over 60 years after her death.
- Her enduring mystery and widespread fan base highlight her lasting impact on popular culture.
- June 1 marks what would have been Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birth anniversary.
- Fans globally continue to celebrate the iconic actress’s life and career.
More than 60 years after she passed on, Marilyn Monroe continues hold audiences captive under her magnetic spell. Her mystery has not waned, and her beauty still finds many fans across the world.
On her 100th birth anniversary on June 1, we take a look at how fans have celebrated the icon, and also flip through some pages of her own life.
Workers push a cart with a wax figure of Marilyn Monroe down Hollywood Boulevard as they return the figure to Madame Tussauds wax museum in Hollywood on August 16, 2012.
Memorabilia belonging to Marilyn Monroe is displayed alongside a photograph during a preview ahead of an upcoming auction in Los Angeles, May 8, 2026.
Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Marilyn was the most popular sex symbol of the 1950s, right up to her death in 1962, and her outfits enhanced her image.
Diamonds may have been Marilyn’s best friend, but she did indulge in other jewellery as well.
Marilyn’s outfits, letters and other memorabilia find a place at the LA auction.
Giant figures of Marilyn Monroe are paraded through the crowd during the Carnival parade in Nice, February 16, 2013.
A giant statue of Marilyn Monroe is seen at the dump site of a garbage collecting company in Guigang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, June 18, 2014. The eight metre-tall stainless steel statue, which weighs about eight tonnes, was made by several Chinese artists for over two years, based on the famous scene from her 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch.
The statue was transported to the garbage collecting company for unknown reasons after being showed outside a business centre in the city for only six months, local media reported.
A statue of Marilyn Monroe is shown outside the now closed Happy Days Diner in Gilbert, West Virginia, May 20, 2014.
A 26-foot tall statue of Marilyn Monroe is separated for disassembly in Chicago on May 7, 2012. The sculpture Forever Marilyn by artist Seward Johnson was based on a scene from the movie Seven Year Itch.
Workers set up a giant canvas of the official poster of the 65th Cannes film festival featuring Marilyn Monroe on the facade of the Festival Palace in Cannes in 2012.
A racegoer displays a tattoo of Marilyn Monroe during Ladies’ Day at the Royal Ascot horse racing festival at Ascot, southern England, June 2013.
An aerial view is seen of several kinds of rice plants depicting a Japanese ‘Oiran’ or a traditional courtesan and Marilyn Monroe at the rice fields in the Inakadate town of Japan, Aomori prefecture, in 2013.
The annual event, known as Tanbo art or rice field art, is a project in which people plant different kinds of rice to create a giant picture in rice fields.
Snapshots from Marilyn Monroe’s life
Marilyn Monroe and then husband baseball legend Joe DiMaggio are seen in this handout image from a collection of previously unpublished photographs of Monroe in Alberta, Canada, taken in the summer of 1953.
The collection of more than 100 previously unpublished photographs of Monroe can be seen for the first time in a new book Marilyn: August 1953.
The book, published by Calla Editions, features digitally restored black and white images of a then 27-year-old Monroe.
The couple dated for two years before getting married in 1954. Unfortunately, the marriage lasted just 274 days, even though their bond continued till her death.
Joe DiMaggio never married again.
Marilyn married thrice in her life.
Before Joe DiMaggio, she married James Dougherty in 1942, when she was only 16. The marriage ended in divorce four years later, when Marilyn’s modelling career took off.
Marilyn’s third marriage was to celebrated American playwright Arthur Miller.
The marriage, which lasted five years, ended just a year before she passed away in 1962.
A photograph, which perhaps reflects her life at her peak — A lonesome star, waving out to the infatuated world.
Marilyn inspired many in her lifetime and after.
Elton John famously wrote the song Candle In The Wind, and dedicated it to her in 1973. Many years later, he rewrote the song for Princess Diana — replacing the words ‘Goodbye Norma Jeane’ to ‘Goodbye England’s Rose’ — and sang it at Diana’s funeral.
Marilyn never had children, even though she wanted a family, and suffered two miscarriages.
Marilyn’s star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
