Her early death made her immortal, and her personification of sex and femininity, which was certainly contemporary at the time, quickly became a myth. She was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles under the name Norma Jeane as the illegitimate child of Gladys Pearl Mortensen. She was discovered as a model at the age of 19, and in 1946 she received her first film contract from 20th Century Fox. From then on, the now blonde young actress called herself Marilyn Monroe.
After various smaller roles, she posed naked for the new Playboy magazine in 1953, which, contrary to all expectations, additionally fueled her career. In the same year, she made her breakthrough in Hollywood alongside Joseph Cotton in Niagara. Big hits like The Seven Year Itch (1955, starring the iconic scene of her skirt being blown up by subway exhaust air) and Some Like It Hot (1959, starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon) followed. In the 1950s she rose to become the uncrowned queen of American show business.
The sex symbol becomes a thing
But Monroe’s worldwide popularity also had its downsides. Her balancing act between a public art object and the real Norma Jeane led to massive self-doubt. Visits to the psychiatrist, binge drinking and pill abuse increased. Stories about her three failed marriages and various alleged affairs, including with Elvis Presley and President John. F. Kennedy, as well as his brother Robert, filled the tabloid page. The image of the “blonde silly” clung to her permanently.
In an interview, she expressed frustration: “The misery is, a sex symbol becomes a thing. I hate just being a thing.” Eventually, the studio bosses terminated Monroe’s contract. In her mansion in Brentwood, the celebrity neighborhood in west Los Angeles, she died alone of an overdose of sleeping pills, naked, lying on her stomach, the phone still in her hand. The exact circumstances are still unclear to this day, officially it is called suicide. Above all, however, their relationships with the Kennedy brothers have caused wild speculation to this day.
The “most desirable woman of the 20th century” became a lucrative business post mortem. In the ranking of the highest-earning dead superstars, she dropped out of the top ten just the year before last. According to a list by the American business magazine Forbes, the exceptional musician and (moderate) actor Prince occupies a top position, from October 2020 to October 2021 alone he “earned” around 120 million US dollars.
Michael Jackson with 75 and Elvis Presley with 30 million dollars follow in further places, a little behind Bob Marley with 16 and John Lennon with twelve million dollars annual income. Although the Monroe has been dead for six decades, her name still makes around ten million dollars a year. If you want to advertise with the Monroe on posters, you have to pay. In particular, cult films such as “Some Like It Hot” or “Blondes Prefer” continue to bring a lot of money into the box office.
Ten trillion dollar fortune
After Monroe’s death, New York drama teacher and paternal friend Lee Strasberg was appointed as the childless star’s executor. But he only gained access to it after the death of Monroe’s mother, Gladys, in 1984. Since Strasberg had also died by then, his third and last wife, Anna, inherited the estate.
In 2011, Authentic Brands Group (ABG) acquired the lucrative rights to the Marilyn Monroe brand. Company boss Jamie Salter reportedly paid the heirs $30 million for it. And he was always proud of his coup. “We want to move away from the previous cheap kitsch and junk with Marilyn’s likeness on mugs, T-shirts and keychains,” Salter explained. Those who spoke to him said it was usually no more than five minutes before he said, “I own Marilyn Monroe.”
However, he is no longer the owner of the brand. Three years ago, global investment firm Blackrock bought ABG for $875 million. The former employer of opposition leader Friedrich Merz is a major shareholder in thousands of companies. The trademark rights of Michael Jackson and Muhammad Ali also belong to the empire. Overall, Blackrock manages assets of around ten trillion dollars. For comparison: According to the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the assets of all (!) financial institutions in Germany amount to around 22 trillion US dollars.