Skip to Content

Arts Intel Report

Marilyn Monroe: Celluloid Dream

Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, 1955.

Mar 12–25, 2026
11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019, United States

Marilyn Monroe was born 100 years ago, and since 1950, when she made big splashes in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve, the world hasn’t stopped obsessing. There were the photographers: Sam Shaw, Eve Arnold, and Bert Stern. And the directors: Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, and John Huston. There were the impersonators: Michelle Williams, Ana de Armas, and Kelli Garner. And, of course, the men: husbands James Dougherty, Joe DiMaggio, and Arthur Miller, but also John F. (and Robert) Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, and Yves Montand. Following a complicated upbringing and lifelong struggle with depression, the actress and sex symbol, born under the name Norma Jeane Mortenson, died of a drug overdose at 36. In honor of Monroe’s centenary, MoMA is screening 13 of her films—and one she inspired. —Jeanne Malle

Photos: Courtesy Alamy/20th Century Studios