With a major London exhibition on her life coming up Marilyn Monroe is in the news again.

But she’s never out of it.

And hasn’t been since she first caught the eye of the world in 1950s Ashphalt Jungle.

Asphalt Jungle was a breakthrough moment for the young Marilyn. You could own this signed picture now. 

The blonde bombshell was a brunette - but you knew that didn’t you?

But did you know these amazing facts about the most collectible film star in Hollywood history.

1 - Marilyn Monroe had an English acting teacher

The subject of Monroe’s acting ability has attracted heated (rather than enlightening) debate.

Audiences loved her, that’s clear.

And, her acting teacher also rated her, though as a screen presence rather than a traditional actor.

“What she has—this presence, this luminosity, this flickering intelligence—could never surface on the stage. It's so fragile and subtle, it can only be caught by the camera. It's like a hummingbird in flight: only a camera can freeze the poetry of it."

That was the verdict of Constance Collier, born in Windsor in 1878, a veteran of the Victorian and Edwardian stage and a pioneer British film actor.

She went to Hollywood in the 1930s, and appeared on Broadway and in several films (including by fellow Brit Alfred Hitchcock) but is best known as one of the starriest acting and elocution coaches in Los Angeles.

Marilyn joined Audrey Hepburn, Vivien Leigh and Katharine Hepburn in her cast of coached actors.

Constance Collier, seen here in a 1912 production of Oliver Twist, was a well-known London stage actor.

2 - Marilyn’s success inspired a slew of copycat stars

Marilyn was very much a victim of the Studio System, but kicked hard enough against it that she won a qualified victory.

Studios all but owned their actors (and particularly actresses) when she started out in film in the early 1950s.

By the time she had a massive hit with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, had become the ultimate celebrity couple through her marriage to baseball star Joe DiMaggio, and demonstrated the adulation she inspired with a Korean military tour she could afford to break her contract and get a better deal.

The same wasn’t true of everyone though, and seeing Marilyn win plaudits and put hundreds of millions of dollars into studio balance sheets inspired studios to send their would-be stars to the salon for a platinum dye job.

Martine Carol in a 1953 studio handout shot, her image was heavily influenced by Marilyn's success. 

None of these stars shone was brightly as Marilyn, but Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, and Barbara Nochol could all fairly be called Mailyn-alikes. In the UK Diana Dors became the British Marilyn, Martine Carol was baptised “the French Marilyn Monroe) - and had a similarly difficult private life.

3 - If she had an affair with a Kennedy we don’t know for sure

It’s fairly commonly accepted that Marilyn Monroe had a romantic relationship with John F Kennedy.

Perhaps with Robert Kennedy too.

But nobody really knows for sure.

There is circumstantial evidence of some sort of liaison between the POTUS and the showgirl, but the waters are muddied by second-hand sources, gossipy claims, conspiracy theories, and even a major document forgery case (the Lawrence Cussack case).

Reportedly there are calls to Marilyn logged in the White House system, and a number of parties claim to have witnessed various interactions.

But, the strongest evidence - in the public mind - is the weakest, in that its Marilyn’s famous breathy rendition of “Happy Birthday Mr President” in the extremely indiscrete setting of Madison Square Gardens at a gala for Kennedy. This event also provides us with the only photograph of the two together.

Marilyn had a salon visit before one of the most famous moments of her public life. And, yes, you can buy the hair.

Biographers have different opinions on whether or not the two had an intimate relationship, and few believe it was anything long term, or that it ties in with Marilyn’s death.

4 - the FBI released an 85 page document on Marilyn Monroe

While JFK and Marilyn remain in the accepted-but-unproven category we do know for sure that the FBI came across the actor because they’vre released at least some of the documents they hold on her.

The FBI held between 85 and 100 pages on Marilyn. Some of it is just gossip, some is collected by surveillance, and the vast majority of it relates to her marriage to Arthur Miller.

Miller - whose plays Death of a Salesman and The Crucible are still produced today - was married to Marilyn for five years.

He was also under the spotlight of the House Unamaerican Activities Committee - the anti-communist witch-hunting vehcile of Senato Joseph McCarthy that inspired the Crucible’s retelling of the Salem witch trials story.

He wrote the screenplay for The Misfits, the John Huston-directed film that was Marilyn’s last and perhaps her best.

This album celebrates Marilyn's marriage to Arthur Miller. Though it bought her some happiness, the marriage ended in divorce and put the FBI on Marilyn's case.

5 - There’s a 26-foot tall statue of Marilyn in Palm Springs

Marilyn’s legacy in the physical world is enormous.

Amongst its most concrete manifestations is the white dress in which she stood over a subway grate in New York for a famous shot.

The dress has been sold for $4.8m (£3.9m) at auction in 2016, at the time a  Guinness World Record as the most expensive dress sold at auction.

And,the moment is memorialized in a statue called Forever Marilyn, that, at 7.9 meters (or 26 feet) is recorded as the tallest statue of a pop culture figure in the world.

An artist called Seward Johnson made the piece in 2011 and it travelled around the world before resting finally in Palm Springs.

It’s not uncontroversial. The photoshoot was reportedly so upsetting to Marilyn’s then-husband Joe DiMaggio that he assaulted her - their marriage was violently abusive - and some have objected to the statue.

A larger version was built in China, but it has been dismantled.

Buy Marilyn Monroe memorabilia today

Marilyn’s extraordinary life, reputation and legacy have made her Hollywood’s most collectible star.

You can see some of the amazing items you could own today here.

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