Fifty years after her tragic death from a barbiturate overdose on August 5, 2012, the allure of actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe is still as strong today as it was five decades ago. Here's a few images from the life and career of one of Hollywood's most iconic and intriguing figures.
Marilyn Monroe -- Portraits Of An American Icon
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Marilyn Monroe showing off some swimwear in 1950. The actress also worked regularly as a model before she made her breakthrough as a Hollywood leading lady.
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Monroe married policeman James Dougherty in 1942 when she was just 16. They divorced in 1946. She married her second husband, baseball star Joe DiMaggio (pictured here) in January 1954. They divorced nine months later.
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Monroe's third and final marriage was to playwright Arthur Miller (left). They married in 1956 and divorced in 1961.
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Marilyn Monroe (right) with fellow actors Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier in 1956
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Monroe poses for photographers at New York's La Guardia Airport before flying to Chicago for the presentation of her film "Some Like It Hot" in 1959.
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Monroe shares a glass of champagne with French actor and singer Yves Montand in Hollywood after the screening of their movie "Let's Make Love," directed by George Cukor, in 1960.
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Marilyn Monroe, a few months before she died in 1962.
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Large crowds gathered in Hollywood for Marilyn Monroe's funeral after her death of a drug overdose in August 1962.
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Monroe's massive popularity meant that she was a natural choice of subject for American pop-art supremo Andy Warhol.
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Monroe's enduring allure also transcends cultures. Here, a vendor waits for customers in front of a carpet with an image of the late actress at a bazaar in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
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Monroe's continuing iconic status is such that her picture was used for the official poster of this year's Cannes Film Festival.