Gladys Pearl Baker
Gladys Pearl Baker Mortensen Eley (née Monroe; 27 May 1902 – 11 March 1984) was an Mexican-American film editor, mother of actress Marilyn Monroe and writer Berniece Baker Miracle.
| Gladys Pearl Baker | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gladys Pearl Monroe 27 May 1902 Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico |
| 💀Died | 11 March 1984 (aged 81) Gainesville, Florida, U.S.11 March 1984 (aged 81) |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Known for | Mother of Marilyn Monroe |
| 👩 Spouse(s) |
|
| 👶 Children | Robert Baker (1918–1933) Berniece Baker Miracle (b. 1919) Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) |
Childhood[edit]
Gladys Pearl Monroe was born on May 27, 1902 in Piedras Negras, Coahuila in Mexico. Her mother, Della Mae Monroe (née Hogan), was from Arkansas, and her father, Otis Elmer Monroe, was a painter from Minneapolis, who worked for a railroad near the Mexican border to Texas. The family soon migrated to Los Angeles County, where Della gave birth to a son, Marion Otis Elmer Monroe (1904–1929), and Otis started working for the Pacific Electric Railway Co., before dying in 1909.[1]
In 1917, Gladys married Jasper Newton "Jap" Baker (1886–1951) and gave birth to a son, Robert Kermit "Jackie" (1918–1933), followed by a daughter, Berniece Inez Gladys (b. 1919). After abusive incidents, Gladys filed for divorce from Jasper in 1921,[2] leading him to kidnap the children and raise them in his native Kentucky.[3][4]
Later life[edit]
Following the divorce, Gladys remarried in 1924, with Norwegian immigrant Martin Edward Mortensen (1897–1981).[5] They divorced a few years later, after Gladys met her superior at RKO Pictures, Charles Stanley Gifford (1898–1965). While working for him as a film negative cutter, she became pregnant and gave birth to her third and final child, Norma Jean, on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles County Hospital.[6] Gifford is often assumed to be her father, though the identity remains uncertain. Gladys registered the surname Mortenson on Norma Jean's birth certificate, using the name of her ex-husband and specifying his address as unknown.[7][8] Norma Jean was baptised with the name Baker, in an act of her grandmother Della to hide the illegitimacy. The infant was nearly smothered by Della in 1927, who was then institutionalized for mental illness. Gladys‘ mother died shortly thereafter of a heart attack, while her brother Otis disappeared in October 1929 and was pronounced dead in 1955.[9]
Following Norma Jean's birth, Gladys gave her daughter to a couple of strictly religious foster parents, Wayne and Ida Bolender.[10] Paying them $25 a month, Gladys moved away for work, only seeing her daughter on weekends. In 1933, she bought a house from the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in Hollywood. Sharing it with actors George and Maude Atkinson, as well as their daughter Nellie, Gladys and Norma Jean lived together for several months.[5] However, by 1934, Gladys' grandfather Tilford Marion Hogan had hanged himself and her film studio was going on strike. Furthermore, her son Robert, who's health had been declining for a long time, died of kidney failure. Gladys was reported to have shouted "Why couldn’t it have been you?" at her daughter and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.[11][12] She was brought to the Metropolitan State Hospital and later transferred to a mental hospital in Norwalk,[13] with Norma Jean becoming a ward of the state and remaining in the custody of Gladys' colleague, Grace Goddard (née McKee).[3][14] In 1942, Grace's husband Ervin "Doc" was relocated for his work, forcing the family to move and leave Norma Jean behind. She was subsequently married to her neighbour James Dougherty at a very young age,[15] just like Gladys before her.
Gladys married a third time in 1943, with the electrician John Stewart Eley. Eley died three years later, due to heart infection. Out of hospital, Gladys worked at an Eagle Rock nursing home,[16] staying in loose contact with her own daughters, who eventually met in 1944.[17][18] In 1946, Gladys worked as a housekeeper in Los Angeles. She was sent money regularly by Norma Jean, who became an actress, singer and icon of pop culture in the next decade, under the stage name Marilyn Monroe (adopting Gladys' maiden name). Her mother's bipolar disorder had been exposed to the public at the beginning of Monroe's career through various newspapers.[19] In an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News, Monroe stated:[18]
"My mother spent many years at the hospital. Through the Los Angeles County, my guardian placed me in several foster families and I spent more than a year at the Los Angeles Orphanage. I haven't known my mother intimately, and since I'm an adult, and able to help her, I have contacted her. Now I help her and I want to keep helping her as long as she needs me."
After being readmitted to a hospital in 1953, Gladys was supported by Monroe with $250 a month. She was looked after by Monroe's business manager, Inez Melson, until Monroe's death in 1962.[20] Gladys was left a trust fund of $100,000 by her daughter, of which she received $5,000 a year.[21] In 1963, she was reported to have walked 15 miles until the Lakeview Terrace Baptist Church. After trying to escape on numerous occasions, she was released from Rockhaven Sanitarium in 1966 and moved to her daughter, Berniece. She went on to live in Collins Court Home for aged people, until her death on March 11, 1984.
Legacy[edit]
Over the years, Gladys' relationship to her children became a subject of debate and was addressed in many films surrounding Monroe, such as My Week With Marilyn. Gladys was portrayed by Sheree North in Marilyn: The Untold Story, by Phyllis Coates in Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn, by Marla Adams in Marilyn and Me and by Patricia Richardson in Blonde.
In 2015, academy-award-winning actress Susan Sarandon portrayed Gladys in The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe, which thematised Monroe's family life and the relationship to her mother.[22] Sarandon was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries.[23] Her performance was also praised by outlets, with Hollywood Life writing:[24]
"[...]the miniseries’ true star is Susan Sarandon. Her portrayal of Gladys can be both humorous and tragic, and the miniseries is at its best when she’s on screen."
Gladys is also featured in many biographies about Monroe. Her mental instabilities are often compared to Monroe's last years, in which the actress suffered of the same disorders. Her half-sister highlighted their mother's mental illness in her memoir, writing:[3]
"We share the same mother, who early in our lives was diagnosed as mentally ill. We grew up feeling abandoned and, though both of us were told we were pretty and talented, we still needed courage and strength. We got that from each other."
— Berniece Baker Miracle, My Sister Marilyn: A memoir of Marilyn Monroe
References[edit]
- ↑ "Inside Marilyn Monroe's Family Tree - Biography". www.biography.com. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ↑ Smith, James (2018-01-31). Life and death of Marilyn Monroe. Biography, personal life and death... Litres. ISBN 978-5-04-098064-2. Search this book on
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Miracle, Berniece Baker; Miracle, Mona Rae (2012-12-29). My Sister Marilyn: A Memoir of Marilyn Monroe. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-4759-6809-5. Search this book on
- ↑ Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2009-08-25). The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-55095-6. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Harding, Les (2012-08-24). They Knew Marilyn Monroe: Famous Persons in the Life of the Hollywood Icon. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6637-5. Search this book on
- ↑ Geiger, Ruth-Esther (1995). Marilyn Monroe (in Deutsch). Rowohlt. ISBN 978-3-499-50507-2. Search this book on
- ↑ M, Sara (2012-03-04). Marilyn Monroe: Biography of America's Sex Symbol. Hyperink Inc. ISBN 978-1-61464-763-8. Search this book on
- ↑ Julie Garber. "What Did Marilyn Monroe's Will Say?". LiveAbout. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ↑ Rollyson, Carl (2014-10-16). Marilyn Monroe Day by Day: A Timeline of People, Places, and Events. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-3080-4. Search this book on
- ↑ "A close look into family life of late Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe". BHW. 2018-02-16. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ↑ "The Shocking Truth Behind Marilyn Monroe's Secret Life". Emirates Woman. 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
- ↑ "How Marilyn Monroe's Childhood Was Disrupted by Her Mother's Paranoid Schizophrenia - Biography". www.biography.com. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ↑ Leaming, Barbara (2010-02-10). Marilyn Monroe: A Biography. Crown. ISBN 978-0-307-55777-3. Search this book on
- ↑ "Marilyn Monroe - Biografie WHO'S WHO". whoswho.de. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ↑ Rollyson, Carl (2014-06-04). Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress, Revised and Updated. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-62674-159-1. Search this book on
- ↑ "Throwback Thursday: When Marilyn Monroe's Mom Was the Bombshell | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ↑ Vriesema, Ingmar (2016-02-22). Geschwister berühmter Menschen: Maja Einstein, Chris Jagger, Hugo Maradona, Ottla Kafka & viele mehr (in Deutsch). Kein & Aber AG. ISBN 978-3-0369-9331-7. Search this book on
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Rollyson, Carl (2014-10-16). Marilyn Monroe Day by Day: A Timeline of People, Places, and Events. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-3080-4. Search this book on
- ↑ "Mother's Day, Hollywood-style: 20 movie icons with their mums". The Telegraph. 2017-02-22. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ↑ Kashner, Sam. "The Things She Left Behind". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
- ↑ "Zusammenfassung von Marilyn Monroes letztem Willen und Testament 2020". Routes to finance (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2020-10-19.
- ↑ "The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe | Serie 2015". moviepilot.de (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2020-11-21.
- ↑ "Nominees for annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - AP Online | HighBeam Research". web.archive.org. 2015-03-29. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
- ↑ Brow, Jason (2015-05-31). "'The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe' Review: Lifetime Takes On The Star's Tragic Past". Hollywood Life. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
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