MARRIAGES
Here is a brief look at the men Marilyn married.
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JAMES E. DOUGHERTY | APRIL 12, 1921 - AUGUST 15, 2005
MARRIED JUNE 19, 1942 | DIVORCED SEPTEMBER 13, 1946
During this time Marilyn Monroe was known as Norma Jeane. She was 16-years-old when she married James Dougherty (aka Jimmy), who was 21-years-old. At the time Norma Jeane was living with family friend Grace McKee Goddard and her husband. The Goddard's were to relocated to West Virginia and couldn't afford to bring Norma Jeane along. She was given two choices: get married or go back to the orphanage. Norma Jeane chose to marry. Two years after they wed, Jimmy joined the merchant marines in 1944 and Norma Jeane worked at the Radio Plane Munitions factory in Burbank, California where she mounted propellors, helped make parachutes and worked on painting the side of fuselages.
In June 1946 a photographer by the name of David Conover was taking pictures for Yank Magazine of the women who were contributing to the war effort. Among those women was Norma Jeane, now 20-years-old. Conover used her for the shoot and modeling jobs starting coming her way. Norma Jeane was a very successful model and appeared on the covers of many magazines. She also enrolled in drama classes, studying the work of actresses Jean Harlow and Lana Turner. Jimmy returned home and Norma Jeane had to make another choice: her marriage or her career. Norma Jeane and Jimmy applied for a divorce in June and the divorce was finalized on September 13, 1946.
Jimmy remarried in 1947 and would go on to become a police officer with the LAPD and was one of the police officers that held back the crowd at the premiere of Marilyn's movie, "The Asphalt Jungle". Jimmy wrote books on his life with Marilyn and would appear in interviews claiming that he was the love of Marilyn's life, although Marilyn claimed their marriage was of convenience. Marilyn was furious with Jimmy in 1953 when he claimed that Norma Jeane threatened to jump off the Santa Monica Pier if he left her. In 2004's documentary, "Marilyn's Man", Jimmy claimed he invented "Marilyn Monroe" and that Fox forced them to divorce. However, there is nothing to support his claims. When Jimmy was first informed of Marilyn's death he replied with, "I'm sorry." and didn't attend her funeral. More evidence proving Marilyn's claim of their marriage being of convenience is that Marilyn did not keep one item from Jimmy, as she did with Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, as revealed by the 1999 Christie's auction of Marilyn's estate.
JOE DIMAGGIO | NOVEMBER 25, 1914 - MARCH 8, 1999
MARRIED JANUARY 14, 1954 | DIVORCED OCTOBER 27, 1954
In 1952, a year after Joe had retired from the Yankee’s; he went on an arranged dinner date with actress Marilyn Monroe. Both were at different points in their lives: DiMaggio wanted to settle down; Marilyn's career was taking off. However, they married at San Francisco City Hall on January 14, 1954, the culmination of an 18-month courtship that had captivated the nation. The American media called the event "the Marriage of the Century". It was a loving yet complex relationship, marred by conflicting personalities. They were divorced after less than a year but remained close friends after their marriage broke up. After Marilyn’s death, on August 5, 1962, Joe claimed her body and arranged her funeral. He had a dozen red roses delivered 3 times a week to her crypt for 20 years. Joe never married again.
Many biographers note that at difficult times in Marilyn’s turbulent life she would return to her always devoted, solid and caring Joe. It is even speculated that the couple were planning reconciliation prior to her untimely death. There is very little doubt that Marilyn remained the “love of his life” and that he was heartbroken and angry by her senseless death. DiMaggio died of complications on March 8th, 1999, from lung cancer at his home in Hollywood, California. He is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. - JoeDiMaggio.com
ARTHUR MILLER | OCTOBER 17, 1915 - FEBRUARY 10, 2005
MARRIED JUNE 29, 1956 | DIVORCED JANUARY 20, 1961
Marilyn met playwright Arthur Miller through a mutual friend named Elia Kazan in 1951 and in 1955 they started a public relationship. On June 29, 1956 in White Plains, New York, the couple were legally married. Two days later, the couple had a Jewish ceremony among their friends and family at the home of Miller's agent, Kay Brown. The couple went to England for a "quiet, working honeymoon" where Marilyn was to start filming The Prince and the Showgirl, but instead their "quiet time" was filled with photographers and reporters all trying to get the lastest image and scoop on the newlyweds. Marilyn and Arthur's marriage was tested when Marilyn found a notebook where Miller had written hurtful things about Marilyn's behavior on the set of her film. The couple's relationship improved once they left England and had a quick get-a-way to Jamaica.
Miller wrote the part of Roslyn Taber for Marilyn in 1961's The Misfits as a Valentine's gift. However, the couple's marriage was breaking down during the filming of the movie. Marilyn's dream of co-starring with Clark Gable had come true with The Misfits but would sadly be both Marilyn's and Gable's last completed film. Marilyn and Miller divorced on January 20, 1961 and Miller later married Inge Morath (who was the set photographer for The Misfits) in February 1962. The couple had two children; Rebecca and Daniel (who was born with down syndrome). Daniel was quickly institutionalized and excluded from Miller's personal life. Inge passed away in 2002 and in 2004 Miller (at 89-years-old) announced that he had been living with a 34-year-old artist named Agnes Barley for two years and that they intended to marry. Miller wrote his son, Daniel, into his will before he passed away at the age of 89 at his home in Roxbury of congestive heart failure on February 10, 2005.
Watch a a short documentary of Arthur Miller speaking of his marriage to Marilyn Monroe here: Part One - Part Two.
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