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Marilyn Monroe wasn't a natural blonde or an overnight success. Here are common misconceptions about the star

Picture Marilyn Monroe and what do you see? A blonde bombshell standing over a subway grate or maybe singing happy birthday to President Kennedy? That's only a fraction of the real woman. CNN's new series Reframed: Marilyn Monroe reexamines the star, revealing a new story of a complex and powerful woman ahead of her time. 

 

Here's five things people tend to get wrong about Marilyn Monroe:

 

1. Her name was Marilyn Monroe. That name is completely made up! Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Marilyn got her first name from studio exec Ben Lyon and picked Monroe herself after her mother's family. 

 

2. She was a natural blonde. Monroe's iconic platinum blonde locks are bottle-born, like many other stars' at the time. When she first began modeling, she was a curly-haired brunette, but she started lightening her hair early and quickly got hooked. 

 

3. She gained fame easily. Monroe was no overnight success. She struggled to gain a long-term contract with a movie studio. After years of hard work in the industry, she finally landed a seven-year contract with Fox in 1951. 

 

4. She was paid like a big star . In 1954, Monroe learned her costar Frank Sinatra was set to make over three times her weekly salary. Marilyn protested and stopped the production.  In her last film, "Something's Gotta Give," Monroe was set to earn $100,000 -- much less than the reported $1 million Elizabeth Taylor was making for "Cleopatra" around the same time.  

 

5. She wasn't a serious actor. Known for her iconic roles playing ditzy blondes, Monroe was anything but mindless. She sought out acting guidance from experts and even enrolled in classes with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York.

 

The next two episodes of Reframed: Marilyn Monroe air back-to-back on Sunday, January 23, at 9 p.m. ET. You can watch the first two episodes now on-demand via your cable provider and on CNNgo. 

"She was sort of the original Kim Kardashian"

Actress Amber Tamblyn, who appears in the series, chatted with Erin Burnett about Marilyn Monroe. She opened up about the sexism she experienced in Hollywood and the message of power she learned from Marilyn Monroe.

• Marilyn was a trailblazer: "I didn't know that she ran her own production company... She produced films," said Tamblyn, who starred in "House," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and 

  "Y: The Last Man."

• She was a master at branding: "She was sort of the original Kim Kardashian in the sense that she was absolutely gorgeous and she knew how to use that. And she was smart and had her own talents in her own way, on top of being a good actress. She was a fascinating woman."
• There's a lot more work that needs to be done in Hollywood today, but we are on our way: "I think that there is a deep, dark underbelly to our industry that needs to be addressed and that is systematic and foundational and that needs a lot of work, but on the other side of those things, we have Ava DuVernay, we have the most extraordinary filmmakers and producers. And we have more women than ever behind the camera as well as in front of the camera, and the makeup and diverse body of those women are no longer just white women. We are seeing a huge shift in Hollywood with the stories that are being told, and most importantly, the people who are able to tell those stories. And that's significant. I think it's really important." 

Exclusive letter from the executive producer

"Making Reframed: Marilyn Monroe has been a labour of love from start to finish," said executive producer Sam Starbuck, who led an all-female editorial team to create the series. 

 

We asked Starbuck to share exclusively with Keep Watching what she hopes people take away from the series. Here's what she said:

 

"For me, the most surprising and impressive side of Marilyn we discovered was that she knew her worth and she refused to be dominated by the male studio bosses in Hollywood. She challenged the status quo, turning the tables on them time and time again, and winning. She renegotiated her contract, set up her own production company and made her own movies. Unheard of for a woman in the 1950s!

 

She even spoke out about the abuse she had suffered, before sexual harassment was a concept. She was a whistle-blower, a powerhouse and trailblazer. Above all, in many ways, she was everywoman – her challenges and her triumphs feel modern and relatable today. I’m incredibly proud of the series we have made. I hope it’s as smart and engaging as Marilyn herself."