She has one of the most famous faces in the world. More than forty years after her death, Marilyn Monroe's life and death are still in question. Her signature platinum hair and beauty mark, her famous skirt-waving scene, which she was ultimately ashamed of because no one could see the woman who was intellectual, had feelings, and worked hard behind the glitter, gold and smiles. Everyone knew this Marilyn Monroe, but did anyone know Norma Jeane Baker? Marilyn Monroe was a Hollywood icon, perhaps even a legend, but who was this luminous woman, and was she the happy woman everyone knew was capable of killing herself? On June 1, 1926, a woman named Gladys Monroe Baker had a baby girl named Norma Jeane. Gladys' mental instability led Norma Jeane to be in and out of several foster homes where she suffered mental, sexual, and physical abuse. She eventually went to live with her mother's friend, Grace Goddard, who was the only person who truly cared for Norma and inspired her in her young life. Grace told Norma how beautiful she was and that she would be an actress one day. But when Norma was only sixteen, Grace got married and had to move to the East Coast but couldn't afford to take Norma with her. Then Norma had to choose whether to return to the orphanage and foster homes or marry James Dougherty, her twenty-one-year-old boyfriend who she had only been dating for six months. The marriage was doomed from the start because James was sent to prison. The South Pacific with the Merchant Marine and Marilyn aspired to be more Mrs. Norma Jeane Dougherty. She had said, "I have too many fantasies to be a housewife... I think I'm a fantasy." After James was sent away, Norma Jeane went to help the war effort and captured David Coroner, a photo... middle of paper... Monroe was dead, at the age of thirty-six. Its light had shone brightly for many years and was suddenly extinguished. The world, in shock, began a search for answers that continues to this day. Answers that will never be found. And so the world turns without her. She was just a woman who had compassion for all living things, wanted to be loved and worked to achieve her dream and when it was achieved she only set higher goals. It is difficult to see these things in the shining Hollywood star we know as Marilyn Monroe, but from this we must remember to look beneath the glamour, the glitter, the gold and the smiles and see the person they truly are.http://www .everspiring -star.net/biography.phphttp://www.marilyncollector.com/legend/biography.htmlhttp://louisville.edu/~lagord01/moviepaper.htmlhttp://womenshistory.about.com/cs/quotes/ a/ marilyn_monroe.htm