Marilyn Monroe

Hollywood tends to pit women against each other, with blonde Marilyn Monroe and brunette Audrey Hepburn as an iconic example.

Both Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn managed to transcend their respective films, their images gaining a life of their own (Audrey’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s portrait, Marilyn’s dress blown from a grate below) and their private lives becoming the object of people’s obsession. Hepburn appeared as a relatable alternative to hyperfeminine starlets with hourglass figures, red lips, and luscious hair, and the women of that time embraced her. Monroe became one of the most referenced persons in pop culture and the highest-earning dead celebrities — in part because the rights to use her likeness eventually ended up in the hands of those who didn’t know and didn’t care for her, and they sold them to ABG, which simply plastered her face anywhere that paid, like Absolut Vodka or being digitally recreated to sell clothes. Today, Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn Monroe is listed alongside Botticelli's Birth of Venus, Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and Picasso's Les Demoiselle d'Avignon as one of the greatest paintings of all time, and sold for a record $195 million. That image was actively reinforced, and eventually became the most prominent thing people knew about Marilyn Monroe, instead of, let's say, how she starred in a movie that was pivotal in supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Another factor contradicting the ‘bad actress’ notion is the duality of Marilyn Monroe and Norma Jeane (Monroe's birth name). Multiple accounts of people who personally knew Norma Jeane state that Marilyn was a complete work of fiction, a persona crafted for the public.