Transformation

No one ever did more with a pot of bleach than Marilyn Monroe. Her platinum waves (tinted with a secret formula developed by hairstylist Gladys Rasmussen) became her trademark, along with winged liner, glistening red lips and a low-slung beauty mark. But although she spent hours in the salon chair, she didn't sweat the upkeep. "I don't mind being burdened with being glamorous and sexual," she once said. "If I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it sex than some other things they've got symbols of!"

Born in Los Angeles to a single mother, Monroe spent much of her childhood with a foster family. Although her birth certificate gives her name as Norma Jeane Mortensen, she was later called Norma Jeane Baker.