She is just utterly beautiful!

This photo was taken in February 1949 on the set of the last Marx Brothers film, "Love Happy." Marilyn had a dynamite walk-on as Groucho's client with the line "Mr. Grunion, can you help me? Some men are following me," as she sashays off screen. Marilyn was the mistress of the sexy walk-on. Great!

Marilyn Monroe was such a beauty,
I reckon a lot celebrities today envy her style.
Say Madonna for example, took after Marilyn's style and then Christina Aguilera.

Marilyn didn't try to tan like all other celebrities today, she loved her naturally fair skin and to add to that, she loved being as real as possible.

She is my style Icon,
its sad that she is now dead,
but she will be remembered for a long long time to come.

x

I think Marilyn would have been destroyed by the media if she lived in these times. She would have been no more than a Britney Spears. When she started going off the deep end, they would have used her to sell tabloids. I bet even Dr. Phil would have tried to devour the carcass just as he did to Britney.

I worked as an usher in a theatre when MM had a minor role in "The Asphalt Jungle," which was playing at the time. A number of men were returning day after day to see it. When I asked one why, he said, "To see her, the blonde in the black gown." When MM appeared in the scene where the light was behind her you can sense the electricity in the theatre atmosphere. It was the same every evening when that scene came on. That was the weirdest sensation I ever experienced working as an usher, and there can be a lot of weird experiences in a theatre when the lights go out!

For me, the attraction has always been more than the physical beauty. Something about the vulnerability and, well I really can't put into words, the feeling that she would be a woman that "needed me"! Silly as that sounds, and I really don't care what she was like in real life, the feeling she projected was such a strong and overpowering mixture of emotions that it could hit most men deep inside their beings. Gee, that sounds pretentious doesn't it.

I do so like the Marilyn - before she went platinum!

Even in her most artificial roles and posed photographs, there was a sense of candor and vulnerability about her that I found utterly enchanting and disarming.

Even in this photo, she's styled, coiffed, tweezed, and posed, but her face looks totally open and guileless. I just want to give her a hug.

Except that "Marilyn" herself was just another Hollywood creation, an imitation of the many platinum blondes that had gone before. That it took such a toll on her does not make her movies any better, just more prone to over-valuation.

We can't really tell from publicity photos and stills that are often airbrushed, but from her movies and some of the much later pictures (I'm thinking from the Norman Mailer book in the 1970s) she doesn't have these moles all over her chesticular region.

There is no doubt from contemporary accounts that Marilyn was a very striking beauty/personality. She photographs well also, and so I think we have to disregard how her legs or curvy body may look with today's standards. I don't doubt that if present today as a 20 year old she'd be turning heads wherever she goes.

Couldn't disagree more. She is extremely lifted and separated from the other bombshells. No comparison.

From her army of imitators to her unmistakable aura, this was a one-of-a-kind. Her early death kept her that way.

The fact she was basically messed up does not detract, since the public never saw it. She was breathtakingly stunning in her last unmade movie outtakes. She had a lot more mileage in her physically than she did emotionally.

Sorry, I'll take early 1960's Marilyn. See her in stills from the never finished "Something's Got to Give", she looks absolutely contemporary. She's dated here... stuck in the 40's.

It's interesting how many of these actress from the 40's and 50's got younger looking in the 1960's, with looser hair and sleeker clothes. Doris Day is another good example.

The Misfits was the only movie I liked her in, both character and looks. Otherwise, she's a self parody. I think that her fame was a result of her rather prolific set of celebrity romances, including adulterous, and her early death. Beyond that, not much to separate her from the other bombshells.

Absolute Physical Beauty.

I have had the experience more than once of showing "Some Like It Hot" to students and listening to them giggle over Marilyn's fleshy thighs in her shorty nightgown. That tells us little about Marilyn or the 1950s and a great deal about our own time.

I'm scrolling down doing my daily read. I see this beauty. "No way," I say to myself, "that cannot be her? She's so wholesome and bright in this pic!"

Such a lovely woman and if you look close, this young beauty isn't using any external suspension. She just defied gravity with healthy milk-fed female curves. Oh if only today's young women would compare themselves to this they'd feel great and look better.

Then I scroll to the next photo. Anyone else notice? From Bombshell to board in a few quick keystrokes! LOL the woman in the next pic is a scientist with zero curves in the 20s style, short boyish hair, and a serious expression. You could not find two more radically different women without adding racial differences!

Marilyn, I'm sure you were a firebrand and a selfish woman as so many beautiful women are, but you still deserved better than you got.

I knew I was in dangerous territory criticizing Marilyn. I certainly do not think she was fat but for a movie star (even in the 50's) she is on the heavy side. I just don't think she deserves the reputation of being possibly one of the greatest beauties of the twentieth century. I seriously doubt that Marilyn would "stop traffic" if she walked down the street today.

I think Marilyn was at her best with Tom Ewell in The Seven Year Itch (1955) and she had great legs. If we saw this girl walking down the street today she would stop traffic. Curves are good.

Not taking anything away from Hepburn but she had no figure. Maybe it's women you're not into. Real women have curves. Curves and softness are what make women so special.

What a ripper. TCM had "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" on and I looked up to see Marilyn dancing next to Jane Russell. The comparison was startling, must have sent Jane running for the vodka bottle, and she was no dud herself. I wonder what is wrong with a person who critiques MM or women with curves as being chunky-fat, even. Look at that beautiful God-given chest. The stars/starlets of today pay to have a rack like that sitting on top of their parking meter-style bodies. MM drove men to frenzy, too bad she didn't find someone who loved her enough to support her, rather than beat her.

Wow. I've always thought she was a beautiful woman, but this picture is the most beautiful that I've ever seen of her. She just looks so young and happy and real. Today, her chest would need to have implants in order to achieve that gravity-defying beach ball look that's so popular -- her look here would be declared "droopy".

I can certainly see that her face is the same as it was in later years. It's amazing how much different she looks without the trademark bleached hair and with muted makeup.

The poor thing was beautiful when she didn't have two-pound lash extensions, three pounds of makeup and heavy barbiturate use weighing those eyelids down. When the above caused her to give us those sultry bedroom eyes, how sad that that's when everyone swooned.

But I think she is prettier here and in other early pictures -- with a real smile that made her eyes light up. With a natural face and a natural figure.

And again with the weight comments. Why the obsession here? Here, I thought that fat people didn't exist "back in those times."

Although I'm a big fan of other classic movie actresses (Esp Audrey Hepburn) I never really saw what the big deal was about Marilyn.

In the famous photo of her with her dress being blown in the air, her legs look very chunky, especially her knees.

The photo above looks like it could have come from a Lane Bryant catalog.

It's possible I don't like her because of the dumbbell character she played in most of her movies but I think she is way overrated.

I'm shocked. I didn't recognize her. She looks nothing like she would a few years later. Was the transformation scalpel-assisted?

[I doubt it. - Dave]

Hi, my first post here, yay.

I wonder if the telephone book is a clue to what was going on? She played a telephone operator in her first film, which was released in 1947 -- "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim." Perhaps this is a publicity tie-in. Or not. Either way, I wonder why the cover of the book is ripped up.

She has over 10 beauty marks (that I can see)!!

Her face changes between 1947 and 1950; her nose narrows, her cheeks become more defined, and her chin evens out. Check out her Army blanket photos for a view of Marilyn at this age without makeup. Her face is startlingly androgynous at this point - but not three years later, when she has much more stereotypically feminine features.

So this absolutely, heart-stoppingly gorgeous woman still isn't good enough for someone, and has to be changed to be acceptable. You have to ask yourself what they were thinking.

Thank you for posting this. She was so beautiful before Hollywood made her over with the bleached-out hair and inch-thick makeup. She had a natural beauty that just shines in this picture. No skin and bones here either, like we see today.

If they made the B-17 at Boeing, where did they build this bombshell?

1947: When Va-Va met Voom.

If only the women of today could have half the vibe she did then. (OK, maybe some do, but what a wonderful world this would be!) Great photo by the way!!