Image via Unsplash.com- Jarvik Joshi

How Hollywood Icon Marilyn Monroe Was Discovered Working In A WWII Weapons Factory

The legendary beauty was working an average job when a photo of her ended up leading to fame and fortune

Andrew Martin
3 min readAug 6, 2022

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60 years after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains one of the most iconic figures in American history. The Hollywood actress and pinup model was known for her bottle blonde hair and stunning beauty, and is still used as a standard for sex symbols to this day. However, before all of her fame, she was an average California girl who was only discovered after a photograph of her helping build a drone at her job in a World War II munitions factory was published in a magazine and got the attention of national photographers and modeling agencies.

Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926, was raised in the Los Angeles area — spending much of her childhood in orphanages and foster care. Married at the age of 16, she obtained a job in a factory helping make weaponry for the United States during World War II. It was there that she was accidentally discovered, which set her off on a meteoric rise to fame.

The influx of women workers during the war was considered an unprecedented phenomenon. More women joined the workforce at the time to replace the numerous soldiers fighting overseas…

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Andrew Martin

Dabbler in history, investing & writing. Master’s degree in baseball history. Passionate about history, diversity, culture, sports, film and investing .