Marilyn Monroe in popular culture

As one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, Marilyn Monroe is frequently depicted and referenced in popular culture.

• 1999: E! Online's Sex Symbol of the Century;
• 1995: Empire's Sexiest Female Movie Star;
• Marian McKnight won the 1957 Miss America crown with a Marilyn act;
• 1999: People magazine's Sexiest Woman of the Century;
• 1998: Playboy's #1 Sex Star of the Century;
• The Seven Year Itch "subway grate" scene has been mimicked several times. These include Absolut vodka advertisements, Betty Boop, Donna Summer, Anna Kournikova, Geri Halliwell, Perrier, Anna Nicole Smith, The Simpsons, Pulp Fiction, Pokémon, "The House Bunny", and Tommy.

Music by Monroe

• In Ladies of the Chorus (1947), Monroe sang "Anyone Can See I Love You" and "Every Baby Needs a Da-Da-Daddy".
• In A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950), she performed "Oh! What a Forward Young Man You Are" with a choir.
• In Niagara (1953), Monroe sang "Kiss."
• In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Monroe sang "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," "Two Little Girls from Little Rock," "When Love Goes Wrong," and "Bye Bye Baby." Another song recorded but never shot called "Down Boy" was discovered in 2005.
• In River of No Return (1954), she sang "Down in the Meadow," "I'm Gonna File My Claim," "One Silver Dollar," and "River of No Return."
• In There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), she sang Irving Berlin's "Heat Wave," "Lazy," and "After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It."
• In 1954, Monroe recorded "A Fine Romance," "She Acts Like a Woman Should," and "You'd Be Surprised" on the RCA label.
• In The Seven Year Itch (1955), she sang "Chopsticks".
• In Bus Stop (1956), she sang "That Old Black Magic."
• In The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), she sang "I Found a Dream."
• In Some Like It Hot (1959), Monroe sang "I Wanna Be Loved by You," "I'm Through with Love" and "Running Wild". She also recorded a title song for the movie, but the producers used the instrumental version over the opening credits.
• In Let's Make Love (1960), she sang "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", "Incurably Romantic," "Specialization" and "Let's Make Love."

In Music

• Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
• The Misfits' "Who Killed Marilyn?" and "Die Monster Die". The band takes its name from The Misfits
• Los Prisioneros' "¿Quién mató a Marilyn?"
• Ray Anthony's "My Marilyn"
• Marilyn Manson and the name of his band is from combining "Marilyn" and Charles Manson
• Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"
• The Distillers' "Gypsy Rose Lee"
• Tori Amos's "Father Lucifer"
• Madonna's "Material Girl" music video.
• Madonna's "Vogue"
• Suede's "Heroine" on Dog Man Star
• Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Gonna be Alright"
• Robbie Williams's "The Actor"
• Norma Jean is named after her
• The Kinks' "Celluloid Heroes"
• Def Leppard's "Photograph"
• Stereophonics' "She Takes Her Clothes Off"
• Blood Brothers has two songs called "Marylin Monroe"
• The Spice Girls' "The Lady is a Vamp"
• Jay-Z's "Hollywood"
• Dan Bern's "Marilyn"
• Michael Jackson's, "Tabloid Junkie"; referenced in the line, "Heroine and Marilyn as the headline story of all your glory"
• Roland Orzabal's "Dandelion"
• Kelly Rowland's "Stole"
• Lady GaGa's "Dance In The Dark" on The Fame Monster

Film

• Insignificance: Nicolas Roeg's 1985 movie imagines four people based on Monroe, Albert Einstein, Joseph McCarthy and Joe DiMaggio crossing paths at a hotel in 1954.
• The Apartment: A man meets a girl at a bar who "looks like Marilyn Monroe", played by Joyce Jameson.
• Fade to Black: A disturbed young man with a Monroe obsession stalks a girl who looks like her.
• The Ladies Man: In this 1961 comedy, one of the girls in the boarding house clearly looks and acts like Marilyn in a scene with Jerry Lewis.
• House Bunny: Shelley on her date with Oliver.
• Pulp Fiction: Monroe look-a-like is a waitress in a 50s-themed restaurant.
• The Tigger Movie: Tigger dresses up as Monroe, and apes the skirt-blowing pose from The Seven Year Itch.
• The Shawshank Redemption: Tim Robbins's character has a poster of Monroe in his jail cell.
• Tommy: The "Eyesight to the Blind" shows a preacher that leads a cult based on Monroe.
• Wonder Boys: The jacket Monroe wore on the day she married Joe DiMaggio is stolen from a collector by Tobey Maguire's character and makes subsequent appearances in the film.

Portrayed in:

• Goodbye, Norma Jean (1976) (Misty Rowe)
• Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn (1989) (Paula Lane and Misty Rowe)
• Death Becomes Her (1992) - Marilyn is among some famous people considered dead (Stéphanie Anderson)
• Calendar Girl (1993) (Stéphanie Anderson)
• Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996) (Ashley Judd as Norma Jean, Mira Sorvino as Marilyn)
• The Island (1998) (Sally Kirkland)
• Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1998) (Kerri Randles)
• Blonde (2000) (Poppy Montgomery)

Based on her:

• Paddy Chayefsky's The Goddess (1958) played by Kim Stanley
• Happy Feet (2006) (Nicole Kidman portrays the penguin, Norma Jean)

Television

• The Critic: Jay imagines himself as a female impersonator dressed as Monroe from The Seven Year Itch
• Full House: Jesse dates a Marilyn Monroe impersonater
• The Ernie Kovacs Show: Edie Adams regularly impersonated Monroe;
• Gilligan's Island: "The Producer," Ginger impersonates Monroe;
• Gilmore Girls: Luke states "The Kennedys did not kill Marilyn."
• I Love Lucy: "Ricky's Movie Offer," Lucy glams up as Monroe;
• M*A*S*H: "Bombshells," Hawkeye and Charles start a rumor that Monroe is coming to thank the staff for caring for her cousin;
• The Name's the Same:
  • 19 November 1952 and 12 January 1954 had a contestant whose actual name was Marilyn Monroe;
  • 22 June 1954 guest Van Johnson's "secret wish" was for Marilyn to sit on his lap;
  • 31 August 1954 guest Charles Coburn's "secret wish" was to dance the rumba with her again as he did in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes;
• Saturday Night Live:
  • Mary Gross played Monroe as a recurring character (1981-1985);
  • Teri Garr played Monroe where John F. Kennedy (Joe Piscopo) tries to keep her hidden during briefings (Season 9, Episode 5);
  • Madonna recreated "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" (Season 18, Episode 11); played Monroe in a sketch (Season 11, Episode 1);
  • Charlize Theron played Monroe in a sketch of the filming of the skirt blowing scene from The Seven Year Itch (Season 26, Episode 4);
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Rosebud", Smithers imagines Mr. Burns popping out of a cake singing a breathy variation of Happy Birthday, Mr. President to him;
  • A photo slide of Burns shows him aping the skirt blowing scene from The Seven Year Itch;
  • "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" featured a Monroe robot;
  • In "Treehouse of Horror XIV", Professor Frink tells Bart and Lisa how his father "worked on the atom bomb by day, slept with Marilyn Monroe by night, and sold secrets to the Russians at lunch";
  • In the Menu of Disk 4 of the Season 6 DVD set, Moe apes the skirt blowing scene from The Seven Year Itch;
  • Marvin Monroe's first name was originally Marilyn;
• What's My Line?: 21 August 1960 guest Buddy Hackett signed in as Monroe;
• Batman: The Animated Series: Randa from "Heart of Steel" is based on Monroe;
• South Park: "Pink Eye", Mr. Garrison dressed up as Monroe from The Seven Year Itch
• Futurama: "I Dated a Robot", a teenager makes out with a "Marilyn Monrobot";
• Nip/Tuck: "Joyce & Sharon Monroe", two Monroe Lookalikes have cosmetic surgery to look more like their idol;
• New York Goes to Hollywood: Tiffany apes the skirt blowing scene from The Seven Year Itch in a commercial promoting the show
• NCIS: "Witch Hunt", Abby Sciuto dresses as Marilyn Monroe for Halloween.

Portrayed in:

• Blonde 2001 CBS miniseries (Poppy Montgomery)
• Hoover vs. the Kennedys: The Second Civil War 1987 (Heather Thomas)
• Introducing Dorothy Dandridge 1999 HBO (Kerri Randles)
• Marilyn: The Untold Story 1980 ABC (Catherine Hicks)
• Norma Jean & Marilyn 1996, HBO (Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino)
• Quantum Leap episode "Goodbye Norma Jean: April 4, 1960"
• The Rat Pack 1998 HBO (Barbara Niven)
• Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair 1993 USA (Melody Anderson)
• This Year's Blonde 1980 NBC, (Constance Forslund)
• James Dean 2001 TNT (Holly Beavon)
• The Mystery of Natalie Wood 2004 ABC (Sophie Monk)
• Red Dwarf: a character in two episodes;
• Curb Your Enthusiasm: a character in the episode "The End";
• Dark Skies: a character in the episode "The Warren Omission";
• Growing Pains: a character in the episode "Happy Halloween: Part 2";
• Zoey 101: Zoey Brookes' dresses as Marilyn Monroe for Halloween;
• The Real Ghostbusters It's hinted that the ghost haunting Janine in "Janine, You've Changed" has claimed Marilyn Monroe.

Based on her:

• Alvah Bessie's The Sex Symbol 1974 ABC with Connie Stevens and Shelley Winters
• The character of Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks is based on Marilyn Monroe

Art

Artists who have used Monroe as a basis of their work:

• Peter Blake's Marilyn Monroe Over a Painting No 1 1989-1990; Marilyn Monroe Wall No 2 and MM Red Yellow 1990; M for Marilyn Monroe and H.O.M.A.G.E. – JJ MM RR KS 1991
• Jeff Bourgeau's "You Are the One"
• Reginald Case's "Tropical Marilyn"
• Buster Cleveland's "Pop Up" 1991
• Bruce Conner's Marilyn Times Five
• Michael Martin-Daniels and Heather Martin-Daniels's "Altar to Self-Indulgence and Decadence" 1988
• Allan D'Arcangelo's "Marilyn" and "Marilyn Found" 1962
• Susan Paul Firestone's "It's Me Marilyn" 1984
• Audrey Flack's "Marilyn: Golden Girl" 1978
• Douglas Gordon's As Kurt Cobain, as Andy Warhol, as Myra Hindley, as Marilyn Monroe 1996
• Richard Hamilton's My Marilyn 1966
• Margaret Harrison's "Anonymous Was a Woman: From Rosa Luxemburg to Janis Joplin" 1977
• Ray Johnson's Dear Marilyn Monroe
• Kathleen Kondilas Franks's "Madonna and Child" 1993
• Willem de Kooning's Marilyn Monroe 1954
• Barbara Kruger's Not Stupid Enough 1997
• Jean-Jacques Lebel's "Taking a Real Good Peek at Marilyn's Amazing Offer: Mass Produced Like All Show Biz's Ice Cubes in the Shapes of Luscious Nudes" 1961
• Gina Lollobrigida's My Friend Marilyn Monroe
• Justin McCarthy's "Marilyn Monroe" 1974
• Yasumasa Morimura's After Marilyn Monroe 1996
• LeRoy Neiman's The President's Birthday 1962
• Ed Paschke's "Pink Lady 2" 1993
• Peter Phillips's "For Men Only-Starring MM and BB" 1961
• Marie Pobre's "Marilyn" 1986
• Mel Ramos's Peek-a-boo Marilyn 2002
• Rancillac's "Young Marilyn" 1991-92
• Robert Rauschenberg's "Test Stone #1" 1967
• Faith Ringgold's Marilyn Monroe 1997
• James Rosenquist's Marilyn Monroe I 1962
• Mimmo Rotella's "Marilyn Monroe" 1962
• George Segal's The Film Poster 1967
• Richard Serra's Marilyn Monroe-Greta Garbo 1981
• Roger Shimomura's "Heroine, Hammer, Hibachi" 1987
• Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych 1962
• Jeff Way's "Idol II" 1983
• Frank Xerox's "Almost a Frank Xerox" 1992

Photography

• American Photo devoted its May/June 1997 issue to her.
• Richard Avedon, Eve Arnold, George Barris, Peter Basch, Cecil Beaton, Henri Cartier-Bresson, John Bryson, Cornell Capa, Jock Carroll, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Elliott Erwitt, Robert Frank, Milton H. Greene, Ernst Haas, Philippe Halsman, Douglas Kirkland, Harold Lloyd, Inge Morath, Arnold Newman, Gordon Parks, Bert Stern, Weegee and Garry Winogrand are among those who shot Monroe. The American Masters "Marilyn Monroe: Still Life" claims she was the most photographed person in history. [1]
• Marie Claire (September 2002) of Marilyn visiting the troops in Korea: she "made even military-issue jackets sexy."
• Lindsay Lohan recreated her famous "Last Sitting" photoshoot in February 2008.
• Jade Goody dressed up as Monroe for British newspaper The Daily Star in 2009, just days before her death from cervical cancer.

Books (Poetry and Literature)

According to The Guardian, there are nearly 300 biographies on Monroe in English alone. The only volumes published while she was living was Marilyn Monroe (1961), by biographer Maurice Zolotow, and "The Marilyn Monroe Story" (1953) by Franklin and Palmer. the following are fictional takes.

• Candle in the Wind by George Bernau
• The Symbol by Alvah Bessie
• The Possibility of Dreaming on a Night Without Stars by Michael Kaufman
• The Immortals by Michael Korda
• Of Women and Their Elegance by Norman Mailer
• Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates (see also Oates' 2003 short story "Three Girls")
• Marilyn's Daughter by John Rechy
• The Death of Marilyn Monroe by Edwin Morgan
• Queen of Desire by Sam Toperoff
• The Marilyn Monroe Poem by Judy Grahn
• Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell(2008) (on the very last page, Cornwell's fictional hero-pathologist Kay Scarpetta says that Monroe was probably murdered)
• Elvis and the Blue Moon Conspiracy by Mark McGinty (2003) (Monroe's "death" is explained in the last chapter of this fictional look at JFK, Elvis and the first moon landing)
• "I Am Your Need" (short story) by Mort Castle (2001). Appears in Nations of the Living, Nations of the Dead by Mort Castle. Also appears in audio form in episode 163 of the podcast Pseudopod, performed by Ben Phillips and Sarah Tolbert.

Theater

• Marilyn (1975) ballet by Adam Darius
• Strawhead (1981) by Norman Mailer and Richard Hannum

Miscellaneous facts

• Ella Fitzgerald credited Monroe with helping her launch her mainstream career by securing her a gig at the then-segregated Mocambo. [2]
• Hugh Hefner purchased the crypt beside Monroe for himself.
• The former McNair Barracks of the Berlin Brigade has been renamed Monroe Platz
• Monroe's films made over $200,000,000 on their first run, according to her New York Times obituary.
• Tiles on the doorstep of Monroe's Brentwood home bore the Latin inscription, "Cursum Perficio," commonly translated as "My journey is over." (or "I have completed my course.").
• The Jean Louis gown in which Monroe sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy in May 1962 was sold at Christie's auction in 1999 for $1,267,500.
• Many days after Monroe's death, Mrs. Eunice Murray attempted to cash her last paycheck from Monroe, and it was declined and marked "deceased." This check, one of the last that Monroe ever wrote on her Roxbury Drive Branch account at City National Bank in Beverly Hills, is today on display at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum in Hollywood, CA.
• It has been rumored for years and reported in Ripley's Believe It Or Not that Marilyn Monroe had 6 toes on her left foot, but this was false. The rumor started after a photo shoot in 1946 on a beach in California where a clump of sand made it appear she had an extra toe.
• The punk band The Misfits derived their title after Monroe's film of the same name, due to lead singer Glenn Danzig's interest in Marilyn Monroe. The band also has a song "Who Killed Marilyn?".
• Marilyn Monroe (known as Norma Jean at the time) was the inaugural Artichoke Queen at the 1948 Castroville Artichoke Festival.

See also

• Jayne Mansfield in popular culture
• Jane Russell in popular culture

External links

• Marilyn did NOT have six toes on one foot!
• Tate Collection, Marilyn Diptych by Andy Warhol
• HEFNER TO BE BURIED WITH MONROE. Retrieved on 2007 June 24.

References

Depaoli, G. Elvis + Marilyn: 2x Immortal. Rizzoli, 1994.