June 1, 2026, marks the 100^th birthday of the late great, Norma Jeane Mortenson—more commonly known as Marilyn Monroe.

Born June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage before marrying at the age of 16, according to Wikipedia. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures.

After roles as a freelancer, she began a longer contract with Fox in 1951, becoming a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock.

Monroe became one of the most marketable Hollywood stars in 1953. She had leading roles in the film noir Niagara and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image.

She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2025) by her death in 1962.

What is less known, however, is that her famous breathy voice came as a result of her childhood stuttering. The actress stuttered as a young child and at times during high school. A speech therapist taught her how deliberate breathing prior to speaking could guide her to fluency, and the rest is history.

According to a biography of Monroe by Donald Spoto, in an early student production at the Bliss-Hayden Miniature Theater, “she knew the dialogue perfectly, but she stuttered and paused so much that she threw the other student players into total confusion.”  As she went on to win roles in movies, she tended to stutter on the first takes on the set.

But sometimes it was later takes as well, according to Spoto. Her most famous line in the movie Some Like It Hot—“It’s me, Sugar”—took forty-seven takes before she got it right.  Apparently, Marilyn had the hardest time getting out the word “Sugar.”

Monroe spoke frankly about her stutter during a rare 1960 interview found on YouTube: [1] 

“Sometimes when I’m very nervous or excited or something, I stutter. One time, they were doing a, I had a small part in a movie, and the assistant director came in and yelled at me. Oh, he talked awful.

“So, when I got into the scene, instead of my line, I said ‘Woo-wo-wo.’ And the director came up and he was furious, and he said ‘You don’t stutter!’ And I said ‘That’s what you think!’

“Oh, it’s painful, oh God!” 

Believe it or not, Monroe's stuttering would affect her life in her final days. During the filming of her last movie, the unfinished Something's Got to Give from which she was fired, the troubled actress was under so much stress from her personal life, not to mention the abuse of prescription drugs, that her stuttering returned, sometimes forcing her to not be able to deliver her lines at all.

Despite her passing more than 60 years ago, Marilyn Monroe remains one of the world’s most recognizable celebrities who stuttered.

Posted May 29, 2026