Marilyn monroe best biography
18 Best Books About Marilyn Monroe’s Life & Loves — Get Them for Up to 57% Off Ahead of Prime Day
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One of the most iconic names, one of the most intriguing and heartbreaking stories of a star, is unequivocally Marilyn Monroe. When one thinks of Monroe, they either think of her sex icon status, her untimely death, or the tortured soul she was behind the camera. Even though she passed away in , she continues to inspire and mystify fans from all around the world over 60 years later.
Did you know she was an amazing cook? Did you know the last book she read was To Kill a Mockingbird? That she lived in London and did a love scene with Clark Gable? All of that and so much more can be found in the catalogs of biographies dedicated to the star.
Whether you want to know about her tumultuous relationships or first-hand accounts from her half-sister, we found the best books to read. From the book that the Netflix film Blonde is based on to her unfinished autobiography, these books will give you a glimpse of Monroe that you may never know existed.
Check out our top book picks on Monroe’s life, and get lost in the crazy, head-spinning world of Monroe.
A version of this article was originally published on Sept
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‘Marilyn Monroe: A Photographic Life’ by Jenna Glatzer
If you’ve truly wanted to dive into Marilyn Monroe’s world, then this bo
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography
April 7,Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto is a Cooper Square Press publication. (Originally published in )
I read biographies and memoirs on a fairly regular basis, but have not read one about Marilyn Monroe. One big reason for that is my wariness about the legitimacy of the facts. Conspiracy theories can be lucrative, and if desperate for money, the temptation to create misinformation for profit can be irresistible. But the damage is impossible to eradicate. All these speculations about Marilyn, her connections to the Kennedy’s or the mob or whatever, prompted this author to do a thorough investigation and a ton of in-depth research to write a book that tells Marilyn’s life story as accurately as humanly possible.
Another reason I chose to read this book was in preparation for the Joyce Carol Oates book- "Blonde" which has been on my TBR list for a long time.
Once I started reading, and since the book is currently in the KU program with added audio, I listened to parts of it, as well, it became obvious the author took his job very, very seriously!!
To say this biography is comprehensive is an understatement. The book moves in strict chronological order, and details both Marilyn’s personal life and her professional one and chronicles all the ups and downs in those segments of her life. The portrait of Marilyn is one of a woman who is dedicated to her craft, smarter than anyone realizes, and could brilliantly drop into character and instantly go from Norma Jean to ‘her'- the created image of Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn was also very insecure, torn by her longing for a true love and children, and still balance a successful career in a time when those aspirations were not encouraged. She was chronically late for everything- work, doctor’s appointments, classes, you name it, which is something I don’t find appealing in a person, but she seemed to have a few hang ups that kept her constantly going over her appearance bThe Best Marilyn Monroe Books to Read Before Seeing &#;Blonde&#;
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Since Marilyn Monroe‘s death, there has been no shortage of biographies, documentaries, docu-series, coffee table books, oral histories, podcasts and art created in her memory — all, in their different ways, serving as a way to better understand the inimitable icon whose life was famously shrouded in mystery.
In September, Ana de Armas will take a stab at revealing more about Monroe’s life in “Blonde,” based off of Joyce Carol Oates’ best-selling novel. The film, like the book, is a reimagined version of Monroe’s life which fuses fact and fiction to paint a portrait of what Marilyn Monroe represented during this era of Hollywood.
But behind the bombshell photos that made Monroe into the ultimate sex symbol are complex feelings, deep intelligence and a storied history that ultimately led to her untimely death at the age of
Below, check out some of the best books about Marilyn Monroe to read before watching “Blonde” this Fall. Check out more books being made into TV shows and movies here.
‘Marilyn: Norma Jeane’ by Gloria Steinem
From the feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem comes this complex portrait of Marilyn Monroe, one of the first that can be credited with changing the public perception of the historic actor and model. Through stories that had never before been told, Steinem reveals the tortured feelings and intelligence often obscured behind the photos that made Monroe into the ultimate sex symbol.
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‘Norma Jean: The Life of Marilyn Monroe’ by Fred Lawrence Guiles
Norman Mailer cites Fred Lawrence Guiles as the “chief source of fact about Marilyn,” someone whose entire life and history is often sh
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7 Essential Marilyn Monroe Books to Read After Watching Blonde
essential reading
ByNathan Smith, a culture writer specializing in film and books
In life and in death, Marilyn Monroe merchandized sex, sensuality, and stardom. Even today, she represents a visual shorthand for our idea of the ultimate celebrity. Andy Warhol’s iconic silkscreens of Monroe perhaps best captured this: visual reminders of her marketable face, femininity, and eternal fame. Now a new Netflix film, Blonde, adapts the Joyce Carol Oates novelization of Monroe’s life story to give us an unvarnished depiction of the perils of her celebrity. The film joins countless other creative efforts to understand and anatomize the movie star born Norma Jeane Mortensen, including biopics, TV series, biographies, photo books, essays, and even plays. Some have had set agendas — like biographers claiming she was murdered by the FBI or had an affair with Robert F. Kennedy — while others have leaned into the emotional depths of her short, tragic life to sketch a portrait of someone whose fame completely eclipsed their humanity. For those looking to dig deeper, here are the best books that deconstruct, analyze, and even transmogrify the star known as Marilyn Monroe.
“The sole voice of Blonde is Norma Jeane’s,” says Oates of her lauded novel, Blonde. The book is a fictional exploration of Marilyn Monroe’s life that strips away the veneer of Hollywood moviemaking and leaves the unpolished Norma Jeane searching for security and certainty. At almost 1, pages, it’s an epic work that uses the rough storyboards of Monroe’s life to create a richly humanistic and relatable narrative. But be warned that it’s also a real sober read. In it, there is Monroe’s traumatic childhood, her many abortions, suicide attempts, alcoholism and drug problems, lovers and abusers, and precarious mental health. There’s also never-ending sweat in Blonde: the sweat in trying to be Marilyn Monroe, in searching for persona