Marilyn Monroe

Before she was Marilyn Monroe

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Long before Monroe becomes one of the most frequently photographed women in history, a 2-year-old Norma Jeane Baker poses in a California portrait studio in 1928.

Hollywood film cutter Gladys Baker shares a happy moment with daughter Norma Jeane, 3, in 1929. Later, the mentally unstable Gladys left the girl in a series of foster homes.

Seated behind the 12-year-old Norma Jeane in this 1938 photo is Ana Lower, a family friend she called "Aunt Ana," and one of many foster mothers she lived with as a girl.

A 14-year-old Norma Jeane poses in 1940. She is two years away from her first marriage and six years away from breaking into movies and changing her name to Marilyn Monroe.

A 15-year-old Norma Jeane (center) goes rowing with a couple of friends in 1941.

To avoid becoming a ward of the state when her foster parents leave California, Norma Jeane, 16, marries neighbor Jimmy Dougherty, 21, in 1942. They'd divorce in 1946.

Norma Jeane skis a sand dune in 1943. That year, husband Jimmy joins the Merchant Marines and goes overseas, while the future Marilyn works in a munitions factory.

In 1946, she signs with 20th Century Fox and takes this publicity pic. She renames herself after stage star Marilyn Miller and her own mother's maiden name, Monroe.

In 1947, the 20-year-old starlet spends long hours in dance and acting classes. It'll be another three years before her film career takes off with a role in "The Asphalt Jungle."

source:life