Long before the age of Instagram, Marilyn Monroe was the original influencer, her life in the spotlight captured flawlessly in a series of iconic images. And though she would have turned 92 this month—the same age as Queen Elizabeth—the vast majority of those photos reveal she was every bit as in control of her image as the most astute of today's Insta-stars. With her trademark risqué looks, the actor and model stole the hearts of stars and fans alike—be it atop a moving car, opening the 1952 Miss America pageant (though she was not a contestant, she nonetheless “got the lion's share of the cheers”), or stepping onto the red carpet in one of her signature strapless or low-cut gowns.
Onscreen, from Some Like It Hot to The Seven Year Itch and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Monroe defined the role of the blonde bombshell—a part she embodied just as much off-screen. Take her 1955 appearance at a Madison Square Garden fundraiser, scantily clad in a ringmaster-style corset, she took laps of the venue astride an elephant—much to the delight of the adoring crowd. Or in 1954, when she played usherette for the evening at the premiere of East of Eden, raising funds for the Astor Theatre Actors' Studio.
Even when surrounded by adoring fans and peers, she stood alone. She was the polar opposite of the demure glamour of Audrey Hepburn—who, despite Truman Capote's bid for Monroe, ultimately took the role of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Monroe's star quality was such that not even her fellow film stars could deny it. See pictures from any number of glamorous parties she attended, where even the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Sir Laurence Olivier can be seen gazing adoringly at the starlet (Bogart was famously caught staring at Monroe's décolletage right next to his wife, Lauren Bacall, in 1953). Of course, we now know that Monroe was more complex than the pictures suggest—troubled, empowering, vulnerable, mysterious. She held the world in her thrall yet, in her own words, was passed between powerful men “like meat”. For all the iconic images, Monroe remains an enigma.
On what would have been her 92nd birthday, Vogue looks back through the archives to uncover rare photographs of the Hollywood screen siren at her scene-stealing best, from performing for the troops in Korea to stepping into a taxi, smile beaming from ear to ear.
