09/15/2026
Margaret Hernández
Before she was Marilyn Monroe, she was Norma Jeane — an 18-year-old young woman whose famous future was still years away.
In 1944, Norma Jeane was living a life that looked nothing like the Hollywood icon she would eventually become.
She had married James Dougherty at 16 and, during the war years, took ordinary jobs while beginning to imagine a different future for herself.
Accounts of her early life describe her doing domestic work, including babysitting, before the opportunity that would change everything arrived.
In 1944, while working at the Radioplane Company in California, Norma Jeane was photographed by military photographer David Conover as part of a wartime publicity assignment.
Conover immediately noticed how naturally she responded to the camera.
Soon she was modeling.
Then came acting lessons, studio contracts and a transformation that included a new professional name:
Marilyn Monroe.
Within a few years, the young woman who had been earning modest wages during World War II was appearing in movies.
By the early 1950s, she was becoming one of Hollywood's biggest stars.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
How to Marry a Millionaire.
The Seven Year Itch.
Some Like It Hot.
Eventually, her image would become so famous that photographs of Marilyn Monroe would remain recognizable generations after her death.
But in 1944, none of that existed yet.
There was no white dress over a subway grate.
No Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
No international celebrity.
Just an 18-year-old Norma Jeane trying to earn money, learning about acting and wondering whether she might have a future in front of a camera.
The world knew her as Marilyn Monroe.
But first, she had to become her.
