What you need to know this instant.  Marilyn Monroe: Her Most
Iconic Looks  Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the passing
of Marilyn Monroe. At the time of her death at the age of 36,
Marilyn was one of the most famous women in the world and the
definition of the word "bombshell." (Seriously, she reached sex
symbol status only imaginable if Angelina Jolie and Scarlett
Johansson became one super-human.) In the intervening decades,
Marilyn's influence as a cultural icon hasn't wavered.  Born
Norma Jeane Mortenson (a redhead!) in 1926, Marilyn's early life
was troubled. With her father absent and her mother suffering
from mental illness, she bounced around foster homes until
marrying a marine at 16. She was 20 years old when she signed a
contract to become an actress for 20th Century Fox, dyeing her
hair to that now-signature platinum shade and changing her named
to Marilyn Monroe.  She exploded into international celebrity in
the early '50s with films like How to Marry a Millionaire and
Gentlemen Prefer Blon