Some more interesting facts:

When Marilyn was small her guardian Grace was obsessed by an idea: she always told her one day she would be a movie star just like Jean Harlow

Marilyn had a half brother (Jack) and a half sister (Berniece), who were descended from her mothers first marriage

In 1953 Marilyn received her star along Hollywood's Walk of Fame and immortalised her handprints in the famous forecourt of the Grumman's Chinese Theater

In 1956 Marilyn changed her name legally into Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn's favourite perfume was Chanel No. 5

Marilyn had an inferiority complex, because of her lack of education. She tried to learn as much as possible from people she regarded as literate throughout her whole life

Marilyn was a passionate reader. She owned over 200 books (including Tolstoy, Whitman, Steinbeck, Milton and Flaubert)

Marilyn loved to make presents: once a friend mentioned he had seen something he liked, he was sure to have it in the post the following days as a present of Marilyn

For twenty years flowers were delivered weekly from Joe DiMaggio to Marilyn's burial place, just as he had promised her when she told him of William Powell's pledge to the dying Jean Harlow