Marilyn Monroe Trivia
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59 free Marilyn Monroe trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Marilyn Monroe trivia quiz follows Norma Jeane Mortenson from foster homes and a wartime munitions factory to the most photographed woman of the century. The early questions cover the basics most fans know: her real name, where her stage name came from, the platinum hair, the nude calendar that became the first Playboy centrefold, and the white dress over the subway grate. From there it digs into the films: Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, Bus Stop, The Prince and the Showgirl, Some Like It Hot and The Misfits, with the directors, co-stars and awards attached to each. A second strand follows the woman behind the image: the three marriages, the production company that helped break the studio system, the Actors Studio and the Strasbergs, the FBI file, the Korea USO shows, 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President', the firing from Something's Got to Give, and the night in Brentwood in August 1962. There are also questions on the Monroeisms, the lookalikes the studios manufactured, and how critics from Pauline Kael to Roger Ebert have judged her. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. Try our Classic Hollywood and Audrey Hepburn quizzes next.
30 of 59 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was Marilyn Monroe's birth name?
Norma Jeane Mortenson
Born Norma Jeane Mortenson (and baptised Norma Jeane Baker), she adopted the stage name in 1946 and made Marilyn Monroe her legal name only in 1956.
Q 02In which city was Marilyn Monroe born?
Los Angeles
She was born at Los Angeles General Hospital in the Boyle Heights district on June 1, 1926; her mother Gladys worked as a film negative cutter at Consolidated Film Industries.
Q 03Where did the 'Monroe' in her screen alias come from?
Her mother's maiden name
'Monroe' was her mother Gladys's maiden name; Fox executive Ben Lyon paired it with 'Marilyn' because she reminded him of the Broadway star Marilyn Miller.
Q 04How old was Monroe when she married her first husband, James Dougherty?
16
She married Dougherty at 16 in June 1942, weeks after her birthday; the match was arranged so she would not have to return to the orphanage when her guardians moved to West Virginia.
Q 05Monroe was discovered while working in a factory making what during World War II?
Munitions and drones
Radioplane's Van Nuys plant made munitions and target drones; photographer David Conover, sent there to shoot morale-boosting pictures of women workers, spotted her in 1944.
Q 06What was Monroe's natural hair colour before she went platinum blonde?
Curly brown
Her hair was naturally curly brown; the Blue Book Model Agency, deciding her figure suited pin-ups more than high fashion, had it straightened and bleached blonde.
Q 07Under which pseudonym were the 1949 nude calendar photographs taken?
Mona Monroe
She signed Tom Kelley's release as 'Mona Monroe' for the 1949 calendar shoot; when the photos resurfaced in 1952 she admitted posing and the candour only boosted her career.
Q 08When asked what she had on during the 1949 nude photo shoot, what did Monroe famously reply?
'I had the radio on'
Asked whether she had anything on for the calendar shoot, she replied 'I had the radio on', a quip widely reprinted in 1952 when the calendar story broke.
Q 09Monroe's 1949 nude photograph became the centrefold of the first issue of which magazine in 1953?
Playboy
Hugh Hefner's first issue of Playboy (December 1953) ran the 1949 nude as its centrefold and a Miss America parade photo on the cover; Monroe was neither asked nor paid.
Q 10Which two acclaimed 1950 films gave Monroe small but noticed early roles?
All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle
Her 1950 bit parts as Miss Caswell in All About Eve and as a crooked lawyer's mistress in The Asphalt Jungle drew notice; All About Eve went on to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Q 11Which agency executive and lover negotiated Monroe's seven-year Fox contract, dying days later?
Johnny Hyde
Johnny Hyde, a William Morris vice-president and her lover, secured the seven-year Fox contract in December 1950 and died of a heart attack days later, leaving her devastated.
Q 12In which 1953 Technicolor noir did Monroe play a femme fatale plotting to murder Joseph Cotten?
Niagara
In Niagara she plays Rose Loomis, scheming to kill her husband, played by Joseph Cotten; its famous 30-second shot of her walking away from the camera dominated Fox's marketing.
Q 13Who co-starred with Monroe as the other gold-digging showgirl in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?
Jane Russell
Q 21With which photographer did Monroe found Marilyn Monroe Productions in 1954?
Milton Greene
Milton Greene, the photographer who co-founded Marilyn Monroe Productions, was bought out by her in 1957; the move has been called 'instrumental' in the collapse of the studio system.
Q 22Under whom did Monroe study method acting at the Actors Studio in 1955?
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg taught her method acting at the Actors Studio; his wife Paula replaced Natasha Lytess as her on-set coach, and the Strasbergs became like family to her.
Q 23Which Broadway play parodied Monroe's production company, with Jayne Mansfield as a dumb actress starting a studio?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Jane Russell played Dorothy to Monroe's Lorelei Lee; the pair pressed their hand and footprints into wet concrete outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in June 1953 to promote the film.
Q 14Which song from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes did critics single out as Monroe's showpiece?
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
Her 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend' number in the pink gown was singled out as her showpiece; Variety wrote that she showed the 'ability to sex a song'.
Q 15How to Marry a Millionaire teamed Monroe with Betty Grable and which other star?
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall played Schatze Page alongside Monroe and Betty Grable; the film was only the second released in CinemaScope, Fox's widescreen weapon against television.
Q 16Fox suspended Monroe in January 1954 for refusing to shoot which musical?
The Girl in Pink Tights
She refused The Girl in Pink Tights, a musical she found inferior, and Fox suspended her in January 1954; to have it dropped she agreed to make There's No Business Like Show Business.
Q 17Which retired New York Yankees star did Monroe marry at San Francisco City Hall in January 1954?
Joe DiMaggio
The marriage lasted nine months; he later arranged her funeral and barred most of Hollywood from it.
Q 18From her 1954 Japan honeymoon, Monroe flew to which country to sing for 60,000 US Marines?
South Korea
She broke off the Japan honeymoon to perform USO shows for more than 60,000 US Marines in South Korea over four days in February 1954.
Q 19The famous subway grate scene, with Monroe's white dress blowing up, was staged for which film?
The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch (1955) staged the stunt on a Manhattan street in September 1954 before nearly 2,000 spectators; it made front pages worldwide and finished off her marriage to DiMaggio.
Q 20On which Manhattan avenue was the subway grate scene shot?
Lexington
The scene was shot at Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street in September 1954 before a crowd of nearly 2,000; the footage proved unusable and was re-shot on a Hollywood soundstage.
George Axelrod's 1955 Broadway comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? cast Jayne Mansfield as Rita Marlowe, a dumb actress who starts her own studio; Fox then groomed Mansfield and Sheree North as Monroe lookalikes.
Q 24Which playwright did Monroe marry in June 1956?
Arthur Miller
Variety's headline read 'Egghead Weds Hourglass'; the FBI opened a file on her because Miller was under investigation.
Q 25Which country banned all of Monroe's films after she converted to Judaism on marrying Miller?
Egypt
Egypt banned all of Monroe's films after her 1956 conversion to Judaism on marrying Arthur Miller; the press meanwhile treated the match as sex symbol meets intellectual.
Q 26For Bus Stop (1956), Monroe learned which regional accent to play a saloon singer?
Ozark
She learned an Ozark accent for her saloon-singer role, chose unglamorous costumes and sang badly on purpose; Bosley Crowther wrote that she 'has finally proved herself an actress'.
Q 27Who directed, co-produced and co-starred with Monroe in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)?
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier, the film's director, co-producer and leading man, infuriated her with the direction 'All you have to do is be sexy'; she retaliated by turning up late.
Q 28Which Italian award did Monroe win for The Prince and the Showgirl?
David di Donatello
Her performance won Italy's David di Donatello award for Best Foreign Actress and France's Crystal Star, and brought a BAFTA nomination, though the film flopped in America.
Q 29What was the name of Monroe's character in Some Like It Hot?
Sugar Kane
She feared Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, the ukulele-playing singer, was another dumb blonde, but took the role for 10% of the profits and on Miller's encouragement.
Q 30Which Some Like It Hot co-star said that kissing Monroe was 'like kissing Hitler' after endless retakes?
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis, her co-star as Joe and Josephine, said kissing her was 'like kissing Hitler' after a scene needed dozens of takes; he later insisted the remark was a joke.