46 Rare Marilyn Monroe Photos Reveal Her Life Before She Was Famous
With her platinum blonde hair and signature red lipstick, Marilyn Monroe—who would be nearly 100 if she were alive today—is one of Hollywood’s most unforgettable icons. Yet, few people know what she looked like before her fame.
Born as Norma Jeane Mortenson, Monroe had a difficult childhood, moving through foster homes where she endured traumatic experiences, including abuse, which led her to develop a stutter. At just sixteen, she married, though it brought her little happiness.
Her life took a new turn in 1944 while working in a military factory. There, she met a photographer from the U.S. Army Air Force’s First Motion Picture Unit, which sparked her modeling career in pin-up ads and ultimately led to film contracts with Twentieth Century Fox and Columbia Pictures.
Monroe soon became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, instantly recognizable yet still haunted by her troubled past. She tragically took her own life in 1962, but her photos continue to cement her as a cultural icon and sex symbol. These rare vintage photos capture Norma Jeane Mortenson before she transformed into Marilyn Monroe, a reminder of the girl she was before the fame.
(h/t: all-that-is-interesting)
The future American actress Marilyn Monroe smiling as a 10-months old baby (April 1927)
A young Norma Jeane Mortenson with her mother, Gladys Baker (1929)
Norma Jeane Mortenson at five years old (1931)
An adolescent Norma Jeane Mortenson staying at her Aunt Ana’s place. Aunt Ana’s was one of the many homes she would live in through her difficult childhood as an orphan (1938)
Norma Jeane Mortenson at 14 years old. After her Aunt Ana got sick, Norma Jeane had to move in with the Goddard family. She had lived there before, but left their home when she was 11 when her legal guardian, Erwin Goddard, molested her (1940)
A teenaged Norma Jeane Mortenson (center) at an outdoor fete with a group of friends (1941)
A teenaged Norma Jeane Mortenson (center) and her friends in a rowboat (1941)
Norma Jeane Mortenson poses for a photo with a friend and her baby (1941)
Norma Jeane Mortenson at the zoo, with a hornbill on her arm (1941)
Young Norma Jeane Mortenson plays with penguins at the zoo (1941)
Norma Jeane Mortenson as a 15-year-old beauty queen. This would be her last year as a single woman (1941)
At the age of 16, Norma Jeane Mortenson married James Dougherty (June 19, 1942)
Norma Jeane Dougherty, Bridal portrait, Age 16 (1942)
Newlywed Norma Jeane Dougherty goes out for Chinese food with her family (1942)
Norma Jeane Mortenson with her husband, James Dougherty. When the pair met, he was her neighbor and five years her senior. The two had little in common. She would later say that they hardly spoke because “we had nothing to say.” (1943)
James Dougherty, now a Merchant Marine, poses with his wife outside of boot camp. After he joined the Merchant Marines, the couple became increasingly distant. In 1944, he would be sent off to the Pacific. From then on, they would rarely see one another (1943)
Norma Jeane Dougherty alone, with her husband’s boot camp in the distance (1943)
Norma Jeane Dougherty working at the Radioplane Munitions Factory. While working at the factory, Norma Jeane was spotted by an Army propaganda officer.
He took this photo of her working at her post. It was the first modelling job of her life (1945)
Shortly after her photoshoot in the factory, she quit her job and tried modelling full time (1945)
One of her first modeling shots (1945)
Early Portrait of Norma Joane (1945)
Norma Jeane posing in the gardens of the Ambassador Hotel holding the Blue Book Models life ring (1945)
An early Blue Book Modeling Agency picture of Marilyn Monroe in a white bikini (Circa 1945)
Norma Jean Began at the beginning of her modeling career (Circa 1945)
Skiing down a sand dune at a photoshoot (1945)
Posing during a Blue Book modeling shoot (1945)
Norma Jeane Dougherty gets intimately close to another model to film an ad for hair products. James Dougherty strongly disapproved of his wife’s new career. Less than a year after this photo was taken, their marriage would fall apart and the pair would get divorced (1945)
Norma Jeane becomes a “Sweater Girl.” (1945)
The Blue Book Modelling Years (Circa 1945)
Norma Jeane sitting with her legs out, wearing bikini (1945)
Douglas Airview magazine employed models to advertise its American Airlines flights. Here, Norma Jeane shows great interest in the stewardess handing milk (1945)
Norma Jeane at the pool (1945)
Norma Jeane poses in a swimsuit (Circa 1945)
A young Marilyn Monroe is a picture of joy in a white one-piece bathing suit (Circa 1945)
Norma Jeane’s first national magazine cover, in 1946 for The Family Circle, was incredibly sweet, wholesome and innocent
Posing for a postcard by the sea (Circa 1946)
The Romantic negative of Norma Jeane (1946)
Norma Jeane with yellow skirt (1946)
Yellow Skirt, Gene Hansen’s Sycamore (March 1946)
Norma Jeane in a hunting with binoculars (1946)
Posing with a puppy on a bicycle (1946)
In red sweater, Gene Hansen’s Sycamore (1946)
Norma Jeane in a red bathing suit (1946)
Floating in a pool (1946)
Norma Joane wearing a white bathing suit by a swimming pool (1946)
Sitting on a towel, hugging her knees (1946)
Norma Jeane posing in Malibu. Her lover and photographer behind the photo said “She was twenty and had never experienced the intoxication of success, yet already there was a shadow over her radiance, in her laughter” (1946)
Credits: Bored Panda
