As the world marks what would have been Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday, this special edition revisits the defining moments, films and photographs that turned Norma Jeane into an icon
Buy the Marilyn Monroe 100th Birthday Special Edition here — packed with striking archive photography, a look back at the films that made her a star, and the story behind the woman who defied convention and defined an era.
She was blonde, beautiful and fiercely intelligent — a silver-screen bombshell women wanted to emulate and men wanted to date. But Marilyn Monroe was never just a look, or a pose, or a headline.
More than six decades after her death, her presence still feels immediate — reproduced on everything from T‑shirts to posters, referenced by designers, recreated by pop stars, and endlessly reinterpreted by filmmakers and photographers. Few cultural figures remain so recognisable, so copied, so debated.
And that’s precisely why, as the world marks what would have been her 100th birthday, this Daily Mirror special edition looks back at her influence on the golden age of cinema — and how she shaped it for herself, and for those who came after.
Marilyn spent just 36 years on the planet, yet became one of the most enduring cultural icons of the modern age. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, she rose from a childhood marked by poverty, foster homes and time in an orphanage to international stardom — embodying the glamour and optimism of post-war Hollywood in a Cinderella rags-to-riches story that actually happened.
She dominated the screen with magnetic presence, sang for a US President, and became immortalised for her style. She’s even responsible for what may be the most famous outfit in film history: the billowing pleated “subway” dress from *The Seven Year Itch* — an image that’s become shorthand for movie-star mythmaking itself.
But Marilyn’s legacy isn’t only about Hollywood gloss. Her name remains synonymous with beauty and vulnerability — with ambition, and with exploitation. She was celebrated, controlled, adored, misunderstood, and relentlessly consumed by the culture around her. That tension is part of why her story still compels: the skinny kid from a troubled background who turned herself into Marilyn Monroe — and paid a price for becoming the most famous woman on earth.
Inside this special edition, we trawl the archives to unearth stunning images that help tell the story of an extraordinary life, revisit the films that shot her to stardom, and explore what made her the icon she became — and why her image endures.
Don’t miss it — buy the Marilyn Monroe 100th Birthday Special Edition now for just £3.99 to relive the photos, the films and the story behind the legend. Postage and packaging applies. Available to purchase in all participating stores and supermarkets.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
