Irish Marilyn Monroe Fan Club

In 1949, Gladys Baker married John Stewart Eley, an electrician. However Eley neglected to inform Gladys that he was already married – his first wife living in Boise, Idaho. The couple lived in Los Angeles but Eley died just three years later of a heart infection.

During Marilyn’s career Gladys spent the majority of her time in and out of care facilities or hospitals.  Over the period of time that Marilyn was making a living as an actress, she paid for Glady’s care with her earnings. Little is known of this period of Gladys’ life due to Marilyn wanting her privacy respected.  As Marilyn’s star began to rise, she even led people to believe her mother was dead.  It wasn’t until an article appeared in the media disclosing that Gladys was alive and well, that people realised Marilyn wasn’t an orphan. Continue reading “Gladys Baker – Marilyn’s Mother – Part Three”

Who was Charles Stanley Gifford? Was it he who fathered the world’s most famous screen icon, Marilyn Monroe, as Gladys said it was, and Marilyn believed it to be? Or was it her mother Gladys’ estranged husband, Edward Mortensen, as per her birth certificate?

Over the years much has been made of the fact that Marilyn did not know who her father was, however, that would appear to be a half truth. Marilyn seemed in fact, to be quite sure about who her father was and tried to contact him on a number of occasions. Continue reading “Charles Stanley Gifford”

On her return to Los Angeles and with the beginning of her friendship with Grace McKee, Gladys Baker started going out dancing and dating, leading to the two women having a reputation amongst their male co-workers.  However, on 11th October 1924, Gladys shocked everyone when she suddenly married Edward Mortensen.  Though her new husband was very much in love with her, the same could not be said for Gladys, and soon she fell for one of her bosses at Consolisdated Films, a 25 year old divorcee named Charles Stanley Gifford.

Continue reading “Gladys Baker – Marilyn’s Mother – Part Two”

Gladys Pearl Monroe was born on 27th May 1902, to Otis and Della Monroe. Gladys had one brother named Marion and when she was a child the family moved constantly. When Gladys Pearl Monroe was just seven, Otis contracted syphillis of the brain and died in the California State Hospital for the mentally ill. At the time the family did not know that syphillis was the cause of death, thinking Otis was insane, and so began a fear within the family that insanity was a family trait. In 1910, the family settled in Los Angeles and by 1912 Della had remarried to Lyle Arthur Graves, although the marriage was short lived – they were divorced by 1914.
Continue reading “Gladys Pearl Monroe – Marilyn’s Mother – Part One”