Hollywood marks Marilyn Monroe’s centenary as enduring screen icon

Hollywood marked the 100th birthday of Marilyn Monroe, one of its most famous daughters, on Monday (June 1, 2026).

More than 60 years after her tragically early death, it was time for Hollywood to speak again of the blonde icon on the centenary of her birth.

“When you think of Hollywood, you think of Marilyn, her beauty, mystery and enduring allure,” tour guide Lacey Noel told AFP at the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.

At the historic Chinese Theatre, where Monroe’s handprints are preserved alongside those of Jane Russell, her co-star in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953), fans gathered to sing “Happy Birthday”, echoing the famously sultry birthday song she once sang for President John F Kennedy.

One hundred roses and a cake were placed at the site, a symbol of Hollywood’s golden age and a popular tourist attraction.

Commemorations began on Sunday (May 31, 2026), when the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened the exhibition “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon”, telling the story of her film career and untimely death, and special screenings of Monroe’s films were scheduled throughout the month, including “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950), “Niagara” (1953), “The Seven Year Itch” (1955), “Some Like It Hot” (1959) and “The Misfits” (1961).

The exhibition will run until February 2027 and features hundreds of authentic items, some rarely shown, including the famous pink dress Monroe wore while performing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. On Thursday (June 4, 2026), Julien’s Auctions will auction almost 200 pieces of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia in a special “100 Years of Marilyn” sale.

Highlights include previously unpublished photographs, a script with notes from her final work, the unfinished short film “Something’s Got to Give”, and personal items such as handwritten recipes and the Elizabeth Arden lipstick she used.

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Monroe was born on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles. She had an unstable childhood in orphanages and foster homes, and married for the first time at 16.

She first encountered show business in 1944 while working in a factory, when a photographer came to photograph women working on production lines during World War II.

Soon afterwards, she entered modelling, divorced her husband and made a historic decision: dyeing her brown hair silver-blonde. She later signed her first contract with Fox and, by the age of 30, had established herself as a global star.

Behind her success, Monroe set up her own film production company, studied at the prestigious Actors Studio in New York and dared to challenge the power of the studios.

In the 1950s, while under contract with 20th Century Fox, she refused to appear in the musical adaptation “The Girl in Pink Tights”, judging the screenplay ordinary and her pay unfair because it was three times lower than that of her co-star, Frank Sinatra.

Monroe’s work with Fox produced some of the most famous images of all time, including the image of her appearing to hold down a white dress while standing over a New York City subway vent in “The Seven Year Itch”.

Beyond her film performances, Monroe’s fame also came from a private life that gave tabloid newspapers endless scandal, feeding public fascination and making her an archetype of 20th-century celebrity.

After her first marriage at 16, she had a brief and turbulent marriage to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, followed by a five-year marriage to Arthur Miller, the acclaimed American playwright.

But there was also talk that she may have had relationships with both John F Kennedy and his brother Robert F Kennedy, as well as with Hollywood figures such as Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.

Monroe died from a drug overdose at her home in Los Angeles in August 1962, aged just 36.