Norma Jeane Mortenson was born on June 1st, 1926, in the charity ward of Los Angeles General Hospital. At 24, her mother Gladys was already twice divorced, and estranged from the baby’s father. As a single parent, she couldn’t afford to stay home with Norma Jeane. And so the little girl went to live outside the city limits with neighbours of her ailing grandmother Della, while Gladys returned to work as a film cutter in the heart of Hollywood.
Nothing in this humble origin story would suggest that 100 years later, the world would remember Gladys’s youngest child as Marilyn Monroe, perhaps the most unforgettable movie star of all time. Although her life was often troubled and ended all too soon, her place in American history crosses boundaries of celebrity, politics, and so much more.
On June 1st, 2026, I joined others at the National Portrait Gallery in London, where a major photographic retrospective, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait, opens this week. And this was just one of many gatherings worldwide over the past few days.
Another exhibition, Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon, opened at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. Elsewhere in Marilyn’s hometown, fans joined a bus tour with LA historian and Monroe biographer, Elisa Jordan; a screening of Niagara at the Chinese Theatre; a panel discussion at Los Angeles Public Library; and a poolside party at the Avalon Hotel – formerly the Beverly Carlton, where the rising star rented an apartment in 1951 – all hosted by the Marilyn Remembered fan club.
Meanwhile, flowers were delivered to her grave in Westwood Memorial Park.
In New York the Empire State Building glowed sparkling red in Marilyn’s honour; and a plaque commemorating her iconic 1949 photo shoot with Andre de Dienes was unveiled on Tobay Beach at Oyster Bay, Long Island.
But the largest and most spectacular tribute was a parade of 1.037 Marilyns for Palm Springs Pride.
Photos by Christina House (LA Times), Ian L. Sitren, and Mario Tama (The Guardian)
Lookalikes pose by the Forever Marilyn statue in Downtown Park, Palm Springs
On social media, an unseen image of Marilyn during her 1955 visit to Bement, Illinois, was shared by Danny Pope, bespoke printer and restorer for the Eve Arnold Archive.
And the Richard Avedon Foundation posted rare outtakes from 1957.
Artists paid tribute to Marilyn…
“I first fell under her spell after reading a few biographies when I was 13,” MEMPHIS writes of his vibrant portrait (possibly inspired by Marilyn’s appearance at the 1962 Golden Globes.) “Back then, I could never have imagined that I would one day witness the centennial of her birth, let alone have the chance to visit her final resting place. That happened in 2016 and I still struggle to put into words what I felt standing there. The closest I can describe it is a profound sense of peace.”
Paris-based illustrator Olivier Coulon was inspired by cinematic moments, from the ‘I’m Through With Love’ number from Some Like It Hot (1959), to Marilyn’s dance with Eli Wallach in The Misfits (1961.)
The Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast commissioned this poster by Laura Callaghan – referencing multiple Monroe movies – for an ongoing retrospective.
And Sergio Serrano designed anniversary graphics for Marilyn Remembered and Marilyn Mexico.
Film critic and screenwriter Kim Morgan (Nightmare Alley, 2021) wrote about Marilyn for Airmail.
“It’s July 13, 1962, and there’s Marilyn Monroe on the beach in Santa Monica with a curious expression. I’m looking at her right now. Her blond hair is mussed, her face resting on her hand. She’s wearing a wool, hand-knitted Cowichan-style cardigan, an item from her own wardrobe.
The photo accompanying this article is part of the same session; however, the photo I am looking at is a different one. It’s more mysterious, and, as far as I know, one I’ve not seen reprinted often, if ever. The picture is treasured because it was a birthday present (Monroe and I share a birthday: June 1) and because this print once belonged to Barris himself. It came signed, with a stamp of his personal address in France. I don’t know if he had it hanging in his residence or not, but I like to imagine so. It’s such a beguiling shot. Monroe looks lovely, of course, but there’s something so mysterious in her bearing. She’s charming but enigmatic, a little droll perhaps, a little inside of herself with a secretive half-smile.
As photographers from Barris to Eve Arnold have said, Monroe possessed a sophisticated understanding of the camera, more so perhaps than any other model or movie star who ever lived. She was not just a genius with angles and poses and expressions but with narrative … In this photo, Monroe appears ready for the 1960s.
With these thoughts, I ask Elliott Gould, an icon of 70s cinema and beyond, and my favorite Philip Marlowe (in Altman’s The Long Goodbye) about Monroe. ‘I think she was a unique and special artist,’ he says. ‘She was so beautiful and in such a natural way. And extremely funny. My sense is she was highly intelligent and probably too intelligent for her own good in that world.’
Gould tells me how, as a teenager in the 1950s, he saw Marilyn in person. He remembers it vividly. ‘I was coming from a dance class on the west side of … Broadway, and out of a building walks this vision,’ he says. ‘She had platinum-blond hair and no makeup, a white blouse, a beige skirt, no stockings, and high-heel patent-leather shoes.’
‘She was looking for a cab,’ he continues. ‘I was way too shy [but] I’m sorry I didn’t walk up to her. I might have said: “I want to go where you’re going.”‘ Then, just days before her 100th birthday, he elucidates Marilyn’s everlasting appeal: ‘She was a radiant aspect of our nature.'”
And finally, Marilyn is Star of the Month on TCM (USA), with films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, and The Misfits screening every Monday in June.
The Marilyn Report 