June 2026 At a Glance -- Star of the Month - Marilyn Monroe (100th birthday)

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TCM honors Marilyn Monroe’s centennial with Star of the Month programming airing the first three Monday nights, spotlighting iconic performances across her career, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, and The Misfits.

STAR OF THE MONTH: MARILYN MONROE

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson) June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2025) by her death in 1962.

Born in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage before marrying James Dougherty at the age of 16. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. After roles as a freelancer, she began a longer contract with Fox in 1951, becoming a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. Monroe faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photographs prior to fame, but the story resulted in increased interest in her films.

Monroe became one of the most marketable Hollywood stars in 1953. She had leading roles in the film noir Niagara, which overtly relied on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde". The same year, her nude images were used as the centerfold and cover of the first issue of Playboy. Monroe played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image, but felt disappointed when typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project but returned to star in The Seven Year Itch (1955), one of the biggest box office successes of her career.

When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe's contract, she founded her own film production company in 1954 with her friend Milton Greene. She dedicated 1955 to building the company and began studying method acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Later that year, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and her first independent production in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), for which she received a BAFTA nomination, and won the David di Donatello Award for Best Actress. She won a Golden Globe for her role in Some Like It Hot (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).

Monroe's troubled private life received much attention. Her marriages to retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio and to playwright Arthur Miller were highly publicized; both ended in divorce. On August 4, 1962, Monroe died at the age of 36 of a barbiturate overdose at her Los Angeles home. Her death was ruled a probable suicide. Monroe remains a pop culture icon, with the American Film Institute ranking her as the sixth-greatest female screen legend from the Golden Age of Hollywood. -- Wikipedia.

Star of the Month - Marilyn Monroe (Mondays)
TCM Spotlight - Disaster Films (Wednesdays)
Special Theme - Summer of Darkness (Fridays)
TCM Series - Two for One (Saturdays)

WEEKLY SHOWCASES
MUSICAL MATINEE Sat. Noon (ET)
6 - Beach Party (1963)
13 - San Francisco (1936)
20 - The Entertainer (1960)
27 - The Apple (1980)

NOIR ALLEY Sat. Midnight, Sun. 10 am (ET)
6, 7 - The Blue Dahlia (1946)
13, 14 - Blackout (1954)
20, 21 - The Man I Love (1946)
27, 28 - Stolen Face (1952)

SUMMER ROMANCE Sun. Noon (ET)
7 - Now, Voyager (1942)
14 - Twentieth Century (1934)
21 - Love Story (1970)
28 - TBA

SILENT SUNDAY NIGHTS Sun. Midnight (ET)
7 - Our Dancing Daughters (1928)
14 - A Modern Musketeer (1917)
21 - Downhill (1927)
28 - The Iron Mask (1929) (TCM Premiere)

TCM IMPORTS Sun. evening 2 am (ET)
7 - Black Moon (1975)
Sans Soleil (1983)
14 - Ariel (1989)
César (1936)
21 - My Life as a Dog (1985)
Good Morning (1959)
28 - The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993) (TCM Premiere)
Chungking Express (1994)
JUNE PREMIERES
- FEATURES
Jun 6 - The Doberman Gang, The (1972)
Jun 6 - The Daring Dobermans (1973)
Jun 11 - Reality Bites (1994)
Jun 11 - Reckless (1984)
Jun 11 - Oxford Blues (1984)
Jun 17 - Crack in the World (1965)
Jun 28 - The Iron Mask (1929)
Jun 28 - The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993)
- SHORTS
Jun 9 - Porky's Hotel (1939)
Jun 18 - Big Game Haunt (19