Interview with Marilyn Monroe

-What is your real name?

- My real name is Norma Jeane Mortenson.

- Where and when were you born?

- I was born on the 1^st of June 1926 in Los Angeles, California.

- Please, could you tell about your childhood?

- I was unwanted child and I had difficult childhood. I spent my childhood in foster homes and very little time with my mother, Gladys. But it was in the past.

-They say that you married your first husband very early. How old were you?

- I was just sixteen when I married my first husband James Dougherty in 1942.

- Did you work in this age? What were you?

- Yes, I worked. I took a job in an airline plant, part of the World War II factory effort, and worked first as parachute inspector, then as a paint sprayer.

- When did you begin to work as a photograph’s model?

-When the government came through to take promotional photographs of the women working in the plant they told me that I was very photogenic well. Then I took modeling course and began working part-time as a photograph’s model.

- Who did you sign your first contract with?

- I signed a one-year, $125/month contract with Twentieth Century-Fox on August 26, 1946.

- Who did suggest you to take the name Marilyn?

-Ben Lyon, casting director, suggested me to take the name Marilyn, and I added my grandmother's last name, Monroe.

- What was your first film?

- My first film was «Scudda-Hoo Scudda-Hay».

- Which films did you participate in?

- I was making a lot of films. «Niagara», «Gentlemen Prefer Blondes», «How to Marry a Millionaire», «River of No Return», and «There's No Business Like Show Business». These films were released in 1953 and 1954.

- Where did you study when you decided to become a serious actress?

- In New York, I studied at the world famous Actor's Studio, under the tutelage of Lee Strasberg.

- When was your latest film «Bus Stop» released?

- It was released in 1956.

- Did you do something else in this period of time?

- During this time period I was also forming my own production company with longtime friend Milton Greene.

- Which films did your Production make?

- My Production made «The Prince and The Showgirl», filmed in London and co-starring the great British actor Sir Laurence Olivier, also «Some like It Hot», «Let's Make Love with» and «The Misfits», written by Arthur Miller, my latest husband.

- What did you win for your film «Some like It Hot»?

- This comedy was my biggest hit; I won a Golden Globe Award for it.

- What about your performance at Madison Square Garden in May of 1962?

- Oh, it wasn't for a movie if you are talking about that. I sang a breathless version of "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy.

- Thank you for your answers, Marilyn. Good luck in your career!

Maria Bobro