The self-made Marilyn Monroe

When we think of Marilyn Munro, many of us will conjure up an image of beauty, fame and tragedy. But on the centenary of her birth, we're re-evaluating that image. Speaking to Charlotte Vosper for this episode of the History Extra podcast, Lucy Bolton reveals that Munro's ascent to Hollywood icon actually took an extraordinary amount of work and effort. Together they reconsider Munro's personal and professional life, unveiling the career-driven, hard-working side to Marilyn Munro. Today, 1st of June 2026, is the centenary of Marilyn Munro's birth, and we're going to be talking all about her career, relationships, and ambitions.

But before we dive into her story, Lucy, could you sum up who Marilyn Monroe was? In a nutshell. I mean, in a nutshell, the greatest movie star of all time epitomizes Hollywood stardom and glamour, beauty, femininity, sexuality, just the most powerful star image that Hollywood ever produced. Okay, so let's start our story at the beginning. Marilyn was born in 1926.

And she had quite a difficult, unstable upbringing, didn't she? Oh yes, she really did. I mean, her mother was basically very unwell. So although initially her childhood started off quite happily, her mother suffered from severe mental illness, which led to her being taken into institutions and Marilyn as a little girl, or Norma Jean, Mortensen as she was then, being passed from foster home to care home to foster home. mean several times.

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