Marilyn lands her first film

Landing her first film contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1946, she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe, bleached her hair blonde and was paid the sum of $125.00 a week. Her stage name came from actress Marilyn Maxwell's first name and her Grandmother's last name Monroe. Her first film role was in the 1947 Betty Grable vehicle, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, but by the time the film was edited Marilyn's bit part only made it as far as the cutting room floor. The roles she would play over the next several years would be small, but would give her time to develop her acting craft. Then in 1950, she was offered a small role in the John Huston film The Asphalt Jungle. Although it was a small part, it was influential and helped her with her next small role in All About Eve with Bette Davis. Twentieth Century-Fox was impressed with their young starlet and signed her to a seven year contract.

She played in a variety of films working her way up to top billing when Fox gave her the lead role in Niagara, a film about a scheming wife with a plot to murder to husband to run off with her lover. The film made Marilyn an overnight success and Fox exploited their sexy star in her next film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with brunette bombshell, Jane Russell. Between these two films, Marilyn Monroe secured star status and was awarded her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1954, shortly after Niagara and Gentlemen, she married baseball star Joe DiMaggio. While she loved Joe immensely, he was not interested in the glamorous lifestyle and wanted Marilyn to quit acting. Their marriage, lasting only nine months, ending in divorce under grounds of "career conflicts."

Quickly becoming a box office draw she was cast opposite Fox's other leading queen, Betty Grable in How To Marry A Millionaire. While the film drew more rave reviews for Grable and co-star Lauren Bacall it peaked the movie audience's interest in Marilyn. Her next role was The Seven Year Itch, opposite Tom Ewell and would showcase her talent for comedy. Despite the fact that she had become Fox's reigning queen on the lot, Marilyn was becoming bored with her "light roles" and began demanding more complex roles. When she didn't appear on the set for the filming of The Girl in Pink Tights or How To Be Very, Very Popular, and was suspended from the studio.

Marilyn moves to New York ->