What was Marilyn Monroe’s net worth and Salary?

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model, and singer with a net worth of $800 thousand at the time of her death in 1962.

During her career, Monroe earned a little under $3 million from film salary and was not particularly responsible with money, spending lavishly on others and herself.

Monroe was a blonde bombshell with over 30 acting credits to her name, including “Some Like It Hot” (1959).

She launched her own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, and served as an executive producer on “The Prince and the Showgirl.”

Marilyn was ranked #6 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 50 greatest female American screen legends, and she was featured on the Smithsonian Institution’s “100 Most Significant Americans of All Time” list.

Tragically, Marilyn’s life was cut short in August 1962 when she passed away from a barbiturate overdose at just 36 years old. Though her death was ruled a probable suicide, many believe that she was murdered due to suspicious circumstances surrounding her untimely passing.

Anna Strasberg’s Booming Empire with Marilyn Monroe’s Estate

After Marilyn Monroe’s death, her estate was worth around $370,000. Her will gave $10,000 each to her half-sister and personal assistant, and set aside $5,000 for her assistant’s child’s education. Her mother received a $100,000 trust fund. Lee Strasberg, her beloved acting coach, inherited her physical property and 75% of her intellectual property rights. The remaining 25% went to her therapist, Dr. Marianne Kris.

When Dr. Kris died in 1980, her 25% stake was given to the Anna Freud Centre for the Psychoanalytic Study and Treatment of Children in London. Lee Strasberg’s wife, Anna Mizrahi, inherited his share after he died in 1982. Anna turned Marilyn Monroe licensing into a booming empire, partnering with CMG to market her and earning millions of dollars in licensing fees. She even bought a home in Marilyn’s Brentwood neighborhood, worth $7-10 million today. In 2011, Authentic Brands Group bought Anna’s 75% stake for an estimated $20-30 million.

Marilyn’s valuable asset: her Brentwood home

Marilyn’s most valuable asset was her Brentwood home, which she bought for $77,500 just eight months before her death. She had to borrow the money for the down payment from her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio. After her death, the home was valued at $90,000, and it was the only home Marilyn ever owned.

Over the next few decades, the home had a half-dozen owners. In 1994, it sold for $995,000, and in 2017, it sold for $7.25 million.

Marilyn Monroe’s Difficult Childhood

Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles, California, on June 1, 1926, had a difficult childhood. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker, suffered from mental illness and financial problems, and Marilyn became a ward of the state after her mother had a mental breakdown. Monroe spent the following years living in foster homes, where she was sexually abused, and she became withdrawn and developed a stutter.

Monroe later lived with various relatives and her mother’s friend, Grace Goddard, who became her legal guardian. However, after Goddard’s husband molested her, Marilyn moved in with Ana Lower, Grace’s aunt, and began attending Emerson Junior High School.

Monroe returned to the Goddard home in 1941 and enrolled at Van Nuys High School, but when Goddard’s husband’s company relocated him to another state, Marilyn couldn’t go with the family due to California child protection laws. To avoid going back to the orphanage, Monroe married their neighbors’ son and dropped out of school, and the couple moved to Santa Catalina Island in 1943.

Marilyn Monroe’s Early Career

After meeting photographer David Conover while working at the Radioplane Company, Marilyn quit her job to focus on modeling. She started appearing in men’s magazines and advertisements and signed with the Blue Book Model Agency in 1945. In 1946, she signed with an acting agency and was signed to a six-month contract with 20th Century-Fox. She made her film debut in 1947’s “Dangerous Years” and appeared in “Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!” in 1948. Despite taking classes at the Actors’ Laboratory Theatre, Fox declined to renew her contract in August 1947. Monroe signed with Columbia Pictures and appeared in “Ladies of the Chorus” (1948), but her contract wasn’t renewed.

Marilyn Monroe’s Career Highlights

Marilyn Monroe began her career with roles in “All About Eve” and “The Asphalt Jungle” and signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century-Fox. In 1953, she became a Hollywood sex symbol with the thriller “Niagara” and starred in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “How to Marry a Millionaire.” Monroe’s appearance on the cover and centerfold of “Playboy” magazine’s first issue happened without her consent. Her career highlights also include starring roles in “The Seven Year Itch,” “Some Like It Hot,” and “The Misfits,” as well as a memorable appearance on “President Kennedy’s Birthday Salute.” Monroe was filming “Something’s Got to Give” in 1962 when she was fired from the film due to illness. Fox eventually signed her to a new contract that included “Something’s Got to Give” and “What a Way to Go!” Monroe posed for “Vogue” in a series of nude photos titled “The Last Sitting” that were published after her death.

Marilyn Monroe’s Turbulent Love Life and Struggles with Depression and Addiction

At the age of 16, Marilyn Monroe married James Dougherty, but they divorced four years later. She then married Joe DiMaggio, a retired baseball player, but their marriage was fraught with jealousy, control, and abuse, and they divorced after just nine months. Monroe went on to marry playwright Arthur Miller, but they too divorced after five years of marriage. Monroe was also rumored to have had romantic relationships with Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, President John F. Kennedy, and his brother Robert F. Kennedy.

Monroe struggled with depression and drug addiction, which led to her hospitalization after overdosing on barbiturates in the late 1950s. She also underwent surgery for endometriosis and cholecystectomy in 1961 and was committed to a mental asylum, from which DiMaggio helped get her released early. Rumors circulated that she was planning to remarry DiMaggio on the day of her funeral, which was held on August 8th, 1962.

The Mysterious Death of Marilyn Monroe

On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home by her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson. She had overdosed on barbiturates and chloral hydrate, and her death was ruled a probable suicide by the “Coroner to the Stars,” Thomas Noguchi. However, many questions remain about the circumstances surrounding her death.

Monroe’s housekeeper, Eunice Murray, called Greenson after seeing light coming from under Monroe’s bedroom door. Greenson arrived and broke into the room to find Monroe’s nude body. Her physician, Hyman Engelberg, pronounced her dead, and the LAPD was notified. A toxicology report showed that she had several times the lethal limit of pentobarbital and chloral hydrate in her blood and liver.

Monroe’s funeral was held on August 8, and she was entombed at the Corridor of Memories. Joe DiMaggio helped arrange the funeral and had six roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for 20 years.

Decades after her death, many questions remain. Joe DiMaggio Jr. spoke to Monroe the night of her death and said she seemed to be in a good state of mind. Greenson and Engelberg claimed they waited hours to call the police because they had to get permission from 20th Century Fox’s publicity department first. Murray was found inexplicably washing bedsheets, and her story about the time she awoke changed.

Robert Kennedy was reportedly seen at Monroe’s home the day she died and had an affair with her. Some theories suggest that Monroe was killed by the Kennedys, the FBI, the CIA, or the mafia. DiMaggio blamed the Kennedys and stated, “I always knew who killed her, but I didn’t want to start a revolution in this country.”

Marilyn Monroe’s Award Wins and Nominations

Marilyn Monroe was nominated for four Golden Globes during her career. She won World Film Favorite – Female in 1954 and 1962 and Best Actress – Comedy or Musical for “Some Like It Hot” in 1960. She also earned several other awards and nominations for her performances.

For her role in “The Prince and the Showgirl,” Monroe won Best Foreign Actress awards from the David di Donatello Awards and Crystal Star Award. She also received a BAFTA Award nomination for the same film, as well as a nomination for “The Seven Year Itch.”

Monroe won a Golden Laurel award for Top Female Comedy Performance for “The Seven Year Itch,” and “Some Like It Hot” earned her an Audience Award and Golden Train Award for Best Actress at the 1959 Faro Island Film Festival.

Monroe was posthumously inducted into the Online Film & Television Association Hall of Fame in 2013, and she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

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