1950s

• 1 January: Marilyn begins having an affair with Elia Kazan.
• 16 January: Marilyn appears in LIFE for a piece entitled Apprentice Goddesses.
• 22 January: Arthur Miller arrives in Los Angeles to meet with his friend, Elia Kazan. During this visit, he meets Marilyn for the first time.
• January: Marilyn does costume tests for As Young As You Feel.
• 23 February: Marilyn sells her mink from Johnny Hyde in order to help Natasha Lytess with her financial troubles.
• 10 February: Kazan returns to New York.
• 29 March: Marilyn’s White Sox baseball spring training photos are published.
• 29 March: Marilyn appears at the Academy Awards ceremony where she presented the award of Best Sound Recording to Thomas Moulton for All About Eve.
• 5 April: Marilyn does costume tests for Love Nest.
• 11 April: Marilyn gets a new contract with Fox and begins taking a course in Backgrounds of Literature with teacher Claire Soule at UCLA.
• 12 April: Marilyn does costume tests for Love Nest.
• 24 April: Marilyn attends the 20th Century Fox Baseball Tournament at the Cheviot Hills ballpark.
• May: Hometown Story is released.
• 7 May: Marilyn and Elia Kazan have dinner at Charles Feldman’s home.
• 8 May: Marilyn asks The William Morris Agency for a loan so she can pay Natasha Lytess’s dental bill.
• 11 May: Marilyn signs a new seven-year contract with Fox and begins work on Let’s Make It Legal. Fox hires Natasha Lytess as Marilyn’s acting coach. She gets paid a total of $750 including half of Marilyn’s first-year salary.
• 1 June: As Young As You Feel released.
• 12 June: Marilyn turns twenty-five.
• 19 June: Marilyn completes hair and make-up tests for Love Nest.
• June: Marilyn visits the USS Benham ship for a special screening of The Frogmen that Twentieth-Century Fox produced about the Navy UDT Teams.
• 28 July: Marilyn attends a Fox baseball game.
• 4 August: Marilyn attends a party at the Los Angeles Farmer’s Market for cheesecake tycoon Michael Gaszynski, honoring him for being a US citizen and selling his millionth cheesecake. She is labeled Miss Cheesecake.
• 20-25 August: Marilyn travels to New York and meets Sam Shaw on this trip.
• 21 August: Fox agrees to loan Marilyn to RKO for Clash by Night.
• 24 September: Filming starts for Clash by Night.
• October: Love Nest and Let’s Make It Legal are released.
• 3 October: Marilyn is awarded “Miss Medical Center Aides”.
• 25 October: Marilyn attends the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Annual at Mocambo.
• December: Marilyn is “The Christmas Gift Every GI Would Want to Find in His Stocking.”
• 3 and 6 December: Marilyn completes costume tests for Don’t Bother to Knock.
• 26 December: Marilyn attends a private screening of The African Queen followed by dinner at Romanoff’s.

• 2 January: Marilyn has a photoshoot with Philippe Halsman and Harold Lloyd.
• 7 January: Sheilah Graham implies that it is Marilyn Monroe in the Tom Kelley photos of the blonde “in her birthday suit.”
• 11 January: Marilyn records a song called Do It Again in order to convince Darryl Zanuck that she could sing and should play the part of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
• 26 January: Marilyn does costume tests for We’re Not Married.
• January: Marilyn receives the Henrietta Award for “The Best Young Box Office Personality.”
• 8 February: Marilyn begins filming Monkey Business.
• 20 February: Marilyn attends the UCLA Junior Prom.
• 25 February: Louella Parsons reports that Marilyn and Joe had a date at Tally-Ho. Marilyn and Joe stated their first date was at Villa Nova, therefore the first date must have taken place a few days prior.
• 13 March: It is discovered that Marilyn was the nude model on a very popular calendar, photos by Tom Kelley.
• 19 March: Marilyn has another dinner with Joe DiMaggio.
• 7 April: Marilyn appears on the cover of LIFE magazine, photographed by Philippe Halsman.
• 18 April: Fox renews Marilyn’s contract.
• 28 April: Marilyn goes to the hospital with appendicitis. She has her appendix removed. She wrote a note to Doctor Rabwin, asking him not to remove her ovaries, and taped it on her belly before the surgery.
• 21 May: Marilyn does costume tests for Niagara.
• June: Marilyn begins filming Niagara. 1
• 1 June: Marilyn discovers she has the role of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She turns twenty-six. 12
• 12 June: Marilyn has a photo session with actors Nick Savano, Craig Hill, and Mala Powers for Modern Screen. 18
• 26 June: Clash by Night is released.
• 26 June: Marilyn is called to testify against Jerry Karpman and Morris Kaplan for selling fake nude photos by mail order.
• 12 July: We’re Not Married is released.
• 18 July: Don’t Bother To Knock is released.
• 3 August: Ray Anthony throws a party, organized by Fox, in Marilyn’s honor at his home.
• 21 August: Marilyn records her segment for Hollywood Star Playhouse on NBC radio which is broadcast 10 days later. She then attends the 8th Annual Charity Game at Gilmore Stadium.
• 25 August: Marilyn begins a promotional tour of Monkey Business.
• 2 September: Monkey Business is released. Marilyn is Grand Marshal in the Miss America pageant.
• 31 October: Marilyn does costume tests for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
• 12 November: Marilyn does costume tests for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
• 25 November: Marilyn does costume tests for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
• 31 December: Marilyn Monroe does costume tests for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

• 1 January: Marilyn receives the “Award of Achievement” from the Motion Picture Herald.
• 4 January: Fox suspends Marilyn for refusing to appear on the set of Pink Tights.
• 14 January: Marilyn and Joe get married in the San Francisco town hall. They spend two weeks together for a quiet honeymoon.
• 26 January: Marilyn does costume tests of There’s No Business Like Show Business.
• 28 January: Marilyn arrives in San Francisco and Joe DiMaggio arrives from New York.
• 29 January: The DiMaggios pick up their passports.
• 1 February: Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio, his friend Frank “Lefty” O’Doul and his wife Jean leave San Francisco on flight 831 of the Pan American Airlines to Tokyo, via Honolulu.
• 2 February: Marilyn and Joe arrive at Haneda International Airport of Tokyo.
• 3 February: Joe DiMaggio holds a press conference; however, Marilyn is the center of attention.
• 4 February: Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio attend a party at the Imperial Hotel.
• 5 February: Marilyn visits injured soldiers at a Tokyo Army hospital.
• 6 and 7 February: Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn visit Yokohama.
• 8 February: Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio arrive at the Itazuke Airport, Fukuoka.
• 9 February: Marilyn visits the Brady Airbase of the 315th Troop Carrier in Fukuoka.
• 13 February: Marilyn and Joe attend a baseball game at Hiroshima.
• 14 February: Marilyn and Joe tour Hiroshima.
• 15 February: Marilyn rehearses for her performances in Korea.
• 16-19 February: Marilyn visits Korea and performs for US troops. Marilyn falls ill from performing in sub-zero temperatures.
• 23 February: Marilyn and Joe fly back to the USA from Tokyo.
• 8 March: Marilyn receives the award for “Best Actress” for her roles in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, awarded by Photoplay magazine.
• 9 March: Marilyn takes part in a radio show for CBS.
• April: Marilyn begins working on her autobiography, My Story, with Ben Hecht.
• 13 April: Marilyn’s suspension with Fox ends. Two days later she returns back to the studio and holds a press conference in her dressing room as well as rehearsals with Hal Schaefer.
• 30 April: River of No Return is released.
• 18 May: Marilyn does costume tests for There’s No Business Like Show Business.
• 21 May: Marilyn is charged with dangerous driving. She paid $500 to the owner of the car she crashed.
• 23 May: Marilyn does costume tests for There’s No Business Like Show Business.
• 24 May: Marilyn and Milton Greene take photos on the set of What A Price Glory? using a costume from Song of Bernadette.
• 28 May: Marilyn begins filming There’s No Business Like Show Business.
• 1 June: Marilyn turns twenty-eight.
• 2 June: Marilyn does costume tests for There’s No Business Like Show Business.
• 28 June: Marilyn does costume tests for There’s No Business Like Show Business.
• 7 July: Marilyn receives an award from the American Legion for her commitment to Korea.
• August: Marilyn signed a seven-year contract, with a raise and a bonus of $100,000 for The Seven Year Itch.
• 8 August: Marilyn attends the wedding of Jacqui Warren Rigoni and Herb Rigoni.
• 26 August: Marilyn does costume tests for The Seven Year Itch.
• 28 August: Marilyn does costume tests for The Seven Year Itch.
• 8 September: Marilyn leaves for New York to film The Seven Year Itch.
• 10 September: Marilyn poses with Milton Greene for The Ballerina, The Gold Dress, and The Wicker sittings, some of her most famous images.
• 11 September: Joe arrives in New York. They stay at the St Regis Hotel. Between 9 and 11 September, Marilyn attends several press conferences and events.
• 12 September: Marilyn and Joe dine at El Morocco with the Greenes.
• 14 September: Marilyn poses for fashion photographer Richard Avedon for the first time.
• 15 September: In the early hours, Marilyn films the infamous The Seven Year Itch subway scene which lasted 5 hours. Later that morning she was photographed by Philippe Halsman.
• 16 September: Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio leave NYC and arrive in Los Angeles.
• 27 September: Joe DiMaggio returns to New York for work.
• 2 October: Joe DiMaggio returns to Los Angeles.
• 6 October: Marilyn announces her divorce from Joe DiMaggio. Their marriage had only lasted 9 months. He goes back to San Francisco.
• 27 October: Marilyn goes to court to apply for divorce. A temporary divorce is granted (lasts for one year) with the completion happening in 1955.
• 5 November: Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra smash their way through the apartment at 8122 Waring Avenue in Hollywood, suspecting Marilyn to be in a sexual relationship with Hal Schaefer, her vocal coach. They had the wrong apartment and woke up Hal’s neighbor, Florence Kotz, with camera flashes. Kotz filed a $2,000 claim against Sinatra and DiMaggio but received $7,500 in an out-of-court settlement.
• 7-12 November: Marilyn stays at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for gynecological surgery for her endometritis. Joe DiMaggio visits her in the hospital.
• 19 November: Marilyn watches Ella Fitzgerald perform at The Tiffany Club.
• 2 December: Marilyn and Milton Greene attend a party at Jess Rand’s home (Sammy Davis Jr’s publicist) and then go to Mocambo.
• 4 December: Marilyn attends the Palm Spring Racquet Club with Charles Feldman, Charles Farrell, and Milton Greene.
• 8 December: Marilyn attends Sammy Davis Jr’s birthday party at his home.
• 16 December: There’s No Business Like Show Business is released.
• Christmas: Marilyn spends Christmas with the Greene family.

• 7 January: Marilyn and Milton Greene hold a press conference to announce the formation of Marilyn Monroe Productions.
• 9 January: Marilyn flies to Los Angeles to re-film the subway grate scene in a studio setting.
• 15 January: Marilyn flies back to New York and moves into the Gladstone Hotel. Joe DiMaggio helps her move in.
• 4 February: Marilyn is introduced to Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. He agrees to give her private acting lessons and encourages her to seek out a psychoanalyst. Milton Greene suggests Dr. Margaret Hohenberg. She attends five sessions a week. These sessions were to help her accept her traumas in order to become a better actress.
• 14 February: Marilyn poses for Milton Greene in multiple sittings.
• 26 February: Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio attend Jackie Gleason’s party at Toot Shor’s restaurant.
• 27 February: Marilyn attends the dinner of the “Young Executives and Professionals” group for the “United Jewish Appeal” at the New York Plaza Hotel.
• March: Marilyn calls Mocambo to insist they book Ella Fitzgerald. Although she promises to attend each night, she doesn’t.
• 8 March: Marilyn poses for Milton Greene.
• 9 March: Marilyn attends a fundraising event for the Actor’s Studio which takes place after the premiere of East of Eden at the Astor Theater of New York.
• 11 March: Marilyn attends a party, held in her honor, at the Friars Club Testimonial Dinner.
• 24 March: Marilyn attends the premiere of the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• 25 – 30 March: Marilyn is photographed by Ed Feingersh in and around New York.
• 30 March: Marilyn attends a charity organized by the Ringling Brothers Circus at Madison Square Garden. She enters riding a pink elephant in front of 18,000 people. Joe DiMaggio is in attendance.
• April: Marilyn moves into a suite at the Waldorf Astoria.
• 8 April: Marilyn takes part in a live TV interview for Person to Person with Milton and Amy Greene.
• 1 June: Joe and Marilyn attend the premiere of The Seven Year Itch. Marilyn turns twenty-nine.
• 3 June: The Seven Year Itch is released.
• 27 June: Marilyn attends the play Inherit the Wind on Broadway.
• Summer: Marilyn visits her friends Norman and Hedda Rosten on Long Island and spends Labor Day weekend with them. She also stays at Richard Rodgers’ place. Eve Arnold photographs her during Marilyn’s stay there. Marilyn begins spending time with Arthur Miller who had begun the separation process from his wife.
• 6 August: Marilyn goes to Bement, Illinois accompanied by Eve Arnold. She visits the National Arts Foundation Museum, visits an Abraham Lincoln exhibition, and judges a beard contest.
• 7 September: Marilyn moves out of the Waldorf Astoria and into No 2 Sutton Place.
• 28 October: Joe and Marilyn’s divorce is finalized.
• 12 December: Marilyn attends the premiere of The Rose Tattoo. She and Arthur Miller are photographed together for the first time.
• 31 December: Marilyn signs a new contract with Fox.

• 26 January: Marilyn receives the Women’s Division of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropists at the New York Sheraton Astor Hotel.
• End of January: Arthur Miller and his wife Mary Slattery begin divorce proceedings.
• 3 February: Marilyn does costume tests for Bus Stop.
• 6 February: Marilyn and Laurence Olivier attend the play of The Diary of Anne Frank, starring Susan Strasberg at the Cort Theatre.
• 8 February: Marilyn and Milton Greene shoot The Black Sitting. She then attends the premiere of Middle of the Night.
• 9 February: Marilyn and Laurence Olivier hold a press conference at The Plaza Hotel announcing their plans for The Sleeping Prince, later renamed The Prince and the Showgirl.
• 18 February: Marilyn writes her first will.
• 22 February: Marilyn is interviewed by Elsa Maxwell at the Ambassador Hotel followed by a photo shoot with Cecil Beaton.
• 25 February: Marilyn flies back to Hollywood to begin shooting Bus Stop. They rent 595 North Beverly Glen Boulevard.
• 28 February: Marilyn is charged with three traffic violations including driving without a license. She has to pay a $55 fine.
• 1 March: Marilyn, Milton Greene, and Jack Warner announce a distribution agreement for Bus Stop.
• March: Marilyn attends a Look Magazine party at the Beverly Hills Hotel. James Cagney is photographed with Marilyn at the event.
• 3 March: Marilyn holds a press conference for Bus Stop.
• 5 March: Marilyn cuts all contact with Natasha Lytess after discovering from a friend of Arthur’s that she was writing a book about Marilyn.
• 12 March: Marilyn legally changes her legal name from Norma Jeane Mortenson to Marilyn Monroe.
• 15 March: Marilyn arrives in Arizona to begin filming Bus Stop.
• 30 March: Marilyn flies back to Los Angeles.
• 5–9 April: Marilyn is admitted to St Vincent Hospital of Los Angeles for exhaustion, burnout, acute bronchitis, and high fever. Dr. Nathan Headley treated her.
• 24 April: Marilyn resumes filming Bus Stop.
• 5 May: Marilyn is interviewed by Pete Martin.
• 6 May: Marilyn is photographed by Gordon Parks.
• 12 and 13 May: Arthur spends the weekend with Marilyn and applies for a passport, which proves difficult due to the Communist accusations held against him.
• 1 June: Marilyn turns thirty. She attends a party to welcome the Indonesian President, Soekarno. She then boarded a plane to New York. She was gifted a birthday cake by reporters.
• 2 June: Marilyn lands in New York.
• 8 June: Arthur Miller is ordered to appear in front of the House of Un-American Activities Committee in Washington DC.
• 11 June: Arthur Miller and Mary Slattery are officially divorced. He returns to New York from Reno, meeting with Marilyn.
• 19 June: Marilyn asks to have her Will changed to leave all her property to Arthur Miller and costs for her mother’s care.
• 21 June: Arthur Miller testifies at the House of Un-American Activities Committee. He also announces their engagement on television. It’s believed Marilyn didn’t agree to this but later held her own press conference that day in the lobby of her home.
• 22 June: Arthur Miller returns to New York from Washington. They hold a press conference outside of her building.
• 24 June: Marilyn and Arthur leave New York for Roxbury.
• 29 June: Reporter Mara Scherbatoff, head of Paris Match magazine, crashes her car into a tree and is taken to the hospital. The planned press conference goes ahead, with them making a statement regarding the accident, followed by their wedding and honeymoon plans. They find out afterwards that Mara died as a result of the crash. They have a civil wedding which takes place at the Westchester County Court House in White Plains.
• 1 July: Marilyn converts to Judaism to have a Jewish wedding ceremony with Arthur Miller.
• 13 July: Marilyn and Arthur Miller fly from Idlewild Airport in New York to London Heathrow so she can begin filming The Prince and the Showgirl.
• 14 July: Marilyn and Arthur arrive in England for the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl where they meet with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. After meeting with the press, the Millers go to their rented home at Parkside House in Surrey.
• 15 July: A press conference is held at the Savoy Hotel in London.
• 16 July: Another press conference is held at the Savoy Hotel in London.
• 17 July: Laurence Olivier and the Millers attend The Lyric Theatre to see Vivien Leigh perform in South Sea Bubble. After the performance, they all attend Olivier’s Lowndes Place apartment for a late dinner, returning to Parkside at 2 am.
• 18 July: Rehearsals begin for The Prince and The Showgirl.
• 20–22 July: Sometime over this weekend, Marilyn and Arthur Miller take a tour around London and meet with Dame Edith Sitwell. She is also photographed by Jack Cardiff at Parkside House.
• 24 July: Terence Rattigan hosts a party at his home in Berkshire. Marilyn and Arthur Miller arrive at 10:30 pm and leave at about 3 am.
• 7 August: Marilyn begins filming The Prince and the Showgirl at Pinewood Studios in London.
• 12 August: Marilyn and Arthur Miller are photographed going for a cycle at the back of Parkside.
• 22–24 August: Marilyn is absent from filming. The Strasbergs later recall that on August 22, Marilyn suffered from an overdose. It is believed the incident occurred after Marilyn discovered derogatory notes about her in Arthur Miller’s notebook.
• 24 August: Although off sick, Marilyn goes to London and has lunch, later meeting with Arthur. They then meet with Anthony Quayle, whom Miller wanted to star in the London production of A View From The Bridge.
• 25 August: Marilyn and Arthur Miller spend private time together at Parkside.
• 26 August: Arthur Miller returns to New York to see his children for ten days. This trip was planned weeks before the journal incident.
• 27 August: Marilyn resumes filming The Prince and The Showgirl.
• 31 August: Marilyn is absent from the set. Bus Stop is released.
• 3 September: Pete Martin’s book on Marilyn’s life is released. She is absent from the set.

• 28 January: Marilyn attends the Dime March fashion show at the Waldorf Astoria.
• 21 April: Marilyn signs a contract with Fox as she still owed them for three films. She would earn $100,000 plus 10% of net benefits. Her next movie would be Some Like It Hot.
• 28 April: Kermit Bloomgarden, a theatre producer, is photographed at the Miller’s New York apartment.
• 21 May: Arthur Miller receives the Gold Medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, which took place at the Academy Auditorium.
• 1 June: Marilyn turns thirty-two.
• 18 June: Marilyn is invoiced for prints from her photoshoot with Carl Perutz. One of the images is framed in Marilyn’s apartment.
• 2 July: Marilyn has a photo session with Richard Avedon.
• 7 July: Marilyn flies to LA from New York to start filming Some Like It Hot.
• 8 July: Marilyn lands in Los Angeles. A press conference is held at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
• 9 July: Marilyn and Louella Parsons attend a party at composer Jimmy McHugh’s home.
• 10 July: Marilyn attends the premiere of Gigi at Paramount Theatre.
• 4 August: Marilyn begins filming Some Like It Hot.
• 7 August: Marilyn learns that Arthur has won the trial in appeal.
• September: Marilyn discovers she is pregnant.
• 11 September: Marilyn shoots outdoor scenes for Some Like It Hot.
• 21 October: The cast films at the Coronado Country Club Golf Course.
• 7 November: Marilyn goes to Cedars of Lebanon hotel with the fear of a miscarriage; however, it was a false alarm. Her doctor warns her to be careful.
• 18 December: Marilyn’s miscarriage is announced.