Four Interesting Facts About Marilyn Monroe On Her 100th Birthday

June 1st, 2026 marked what would have been Marilyn Monroe’s birthday. Sadly, her life was cut short on August 4, 1962, at the age of 36, with suicide by drug overdose being the suspected cause. Because she died relatively young and only a year after her final film, there is a certain mystique about the actress that will always endure. The only Marilyn we will ever remember is the young blonde bombshell who lived a life both fascinating and tragic. Here are four interesting facts about the iconic figure.

Her First Contract Recently Sold for $76,800 at Auction

On June 4, 2026, Marilyn Monroe’s historical first movie contract, signed back in 1946 with 20th Century Fox under her birth name, Norma Jeane Dougherty, sold for a whopping $76,800 at a highly publicized Julien’s Auctions event. This was more than twice the amount it was expected to fetch. Under the terms of the 6-month contract, she was to be paid a very modest $125 a week (around $2,130 in today’s money). This dwarfed the $500,000 she would commend per film during her peak of fame in the late 1950s. The film studio head, Darryl Zanuck, wasn’t particularly impressed with the young actress’s screening test, but offered her the contract anyway to prevent rival studio RKO from signing her. It was during this signing that film director Ben Lyon told her that he disliked the name Norma Jean, leading them to pair the stage name Marilyn (after the 1920s Broadway star Marilyn Miller) with her mother’s maiden name “Monroe.”