It’s hard to picture Marilyn Monroe as anything less than the iconic, legendary, larger-than-life, outsized, flawless, ubiquitous, peerless image she has become. Even though she has been gone over 50 years, Monroe remains one of the world’s most recognizable faces. An entire generation of people have grown up since her passing who can identify her more easily than their own congressman (which is totally a good thing).

What has gotten lost in all the posters, t-shirts, calendars, make-up lines, shoes, dinnerware, and wine (yes, wine) that her likeness is used to hawk these days is the talent that Monroe possessed. She was, as the heavily beaten phrase goes, more than just a pretty face. She could sing, she could act, she could dance, and it is perfectly reasonable to believe that given time she would have made an impact as a film producer and creator as well.

Monroe had natural talent that was carefully honed over time, and her acting was earning respect from even some of the most hardened critics before her death. The other critics, the ones who didn’t like her, suffered from the terrible malady of being perpetually incorrect. It is a fact, though, that it was her looks that got her in the door in Hollywood.

During World War II, Norma Jeane Dougherty was spending her days working in a munitions factory. Her husband had shipped off to the Pacific, and she was spending time with relatives she barely knew. The Army Air Force sent a photographer to the factory where she worked to snap some shots of women munitions workers. None of the pics of Norma Jeane were used, but she had caught the modeling bug.

Even though her husband (soon to be ex-husband) disapproved, Norma Jeane began modeling and signed up with an agency. It was a break from her mundane, isolated life. It gave her the attention that she sorely lacked elsewhere. And she was genuinely good at it. Norma Jeane and the camera would become lifelong friends through thick and thin.

By early 1946, Norma Jeane had appeared on the cover of 33 magazines, all of which have long since shuttered.

Norma Jeane was ambitious, hard-working, easy to work with, and naturally beautiful. Her agents at the modeling agency decided she should take a shot at motion pictures.

Hollywood was eager to get back to the business of making movies after several lean production years during wartime. Studios were hungry for new talent, so Norma Jeane joined the cattle call. Paramount turned her down, but she got a meeting with 20th Century Fox.

She met with Ben Lyon, an executive at Fox, on July 19, 1946. Lyon spoke with Norma Jeane and quickly learned that he was dealing with a blank slate. She had no formal acting training, had never been on a movie set, and didn’t really know much about motion pictures. She had modeling experience and natural beauty, as did so many other young women who had walked into his office. She even had the stock answer that all girls gave when Lyon asked her what she wanted to do. “I want to be a film star.”

But Norma Jeane was special. And Lyon saw it. Perhaps it was her genuine naiveté. Her disarming manner, her raw charm.

Lyon had Norma Jeane do a screen test. She was filmed walking around, sitting down, lighting a cigarette, then standing again. Lyon had the test shot in color so that Norma Jeane’s beauty would shine through while her lack of film experience would not.

Fox boss Darryl Zanuck was not bowled over the way Lyon was, but he signed Norma Jeane to a six-month contract if for no other reason to keep her from being snatched up by another studio. Making $75 a week, the first months of Norma Jeane’s life in Hollywood were spent in acting, singing, and dancing classes.

Lyon liked his new discovery, but hated her name. He suggested that she change her first name to Marilyn, after Marilyn Miller, an actress Lyon was engaged to before the war but died due to poor health at the age of 37. For her last name, Norma Jeane took her mother’s maiden name, Monroe.

The newly minted Marilyn Monroe did a couple of forgotten films for Fox in 1947, and her contract was allowed to expire. She shuffled on over to Columbia and was made a girl-next-door type. Her career slowly started to gain momentum. In 1950, she nailed small roles in two big films: All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle. After that, Monroe’s career took off.

It is refreshing to look back at the early days of Marilyn Monroe to be reminded of just what it was that made her the icon she became. If she had lived, would she be as famous as she is now?

Couldn’t say, myself. But at least we can take comfort that there was a Marilyn Monroe at all, even if only for a little while.