Letter from the Rectory - June 2026
Dear Friends,
100 years ago, on 1 st June, Norma Jeane Mortenson was born in Los Angeles. Marilyn Monroe grew up with none of the trappings of luxury and fame she’d one day enjoy. Thousands of books have been written about her, indeed no other entertainment personality has been covered in literature more: over 4,000 distinct titles, including over 200 full-length biographies, as well as over 30 films and television movies about her life. Yet she died a tragic death aged just 36 in 1962.
Her biological father, Charles Stanley Gifford, never publicly acknowledged her during his lifetime, though Marilyn tried to contact him over the years. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker was a film cutter who struggled to make ends meet. She didn’t have the money to take care of her daughter, so she shuttled her between orphanages and foster homes. After her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1934, a family friend Grace Goddard took charge of Marilyn’s upbringing. In her unfinished autobiography, Marilyn wrote, ‘Aunt Grace and I would stand in line for hours. … When I looked up at her, she would grin at me and say, “Don’t worry, Norma Jeane. You’re going to be a beautiful girl when you grow up”.’
The glamour of the silver screen helped Marilyn Monroe get through it all. The idyllic films of Golden Age Hollywood inspired her childhood fantasies, giving her hope that a better, brighter future lay ahead. She loved movies, watching them while her guardians were at work. It was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953 that solidified Marilyn’s iconic status with her performance of ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’. Her signature breathy speaking voice was apparently a tactic a speech therapist trained her to adopt to overcome a childhood stutter. While she was filming her final movie, Something’s Got to Give, her stutter returned: 20th Century Fox’s response … was to fire her.
Many of us are exceedingly fortunate to have enjoyed a stable home life and upbringing, and perhaps take it for granted. Despite all the complications of her life, it was extraordinary that Marilyn Monroe would go on to occupy such a place on the world stage given the earlier part of her life. That must have partly been due to ‘Aunt’ Grace Goddard.
A kind word can be profoundly powerful. In Colossians 3:12, the apostle Paul commends his readers to clothe themselves with ‘compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience’ – advice as relevant today as it ever was in a world crying out for little acts of kindness.
James