She and the drone industry had mutual benefits.
1 June 2026 (Malta) – Today marks exactly 100 years since the birth of Marilyn Monroe. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, the legendary actress, singer, and model remains one of Hollywood’s most enduring and timeless icons. Despite her tragic death in 1962 at just 36 years old, her cultural impact and blueprint for modern fame still resonate across generations.
Fans, historians, and institutions worldwide are marking this historic centenary milestone with massive celebrations across Hollywood, Europe and scores of magazines.
My favorite article was an interview with Lawrence Schiller, now 89-year-old, the last living photographer of Monroe. He relives the last photoshoot of Marilyn – a nude photoshoot – that showed how Monroe was a shrewd controller of her image. You can read the full piece by clicking here.
But my most fascinating story appears in my monograph of the drone industry.
In 1944 Norma Jean Dougherty (wife of a young United States merchant seaman assigned overseas), the future Marilyn Monroe, was doing shifts at the Denny radio-plane factory site near the Burbank airport, working 10 hours a day for $20 a week.
These were small remote-controlled pilotless aircraft called “drones” but were intended at the time to help United States Army and Navy anti-aircraft gunners refine their targeting skills.
But during the D-Day summer of 1944, the Allies turned to high-stakes drone warfare using the Denny planes. Under the code name “Operation Aphrodite”, these radio-controlled bombers were packed with explosives and guided into the air by Allied pilots instructed to eject before their planes reached high-value targets in territory controlled by Nazi Germany.
Side note: killed on one of these treacherous missions was the older brother of John F. Kennedy, Navy aviator Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
As it happened, photographer David Conover was assigned by Army magazine “Yank” to promote the Denny radio-plane factory – dispatched by his commanding officer, none other than Ronald Reagan.
Conover spotted Dougherty and asked her to pose with the propeller of a drone. She had never posed or done any type of camera work in her life. The photographer persuaded her to model, and had her do several more photo shoots for the Denny radio-plane factory. Conover suggested they shoot morale-boosting pictures of female workers, using Dougherty.
Although none of her pictures were used, the Denny adverts were seen by a Hollywood modelling agency who signed Dougherty to a modelling contract in August 1945. The agency deemed Monroe’s figure more suitable for pin-up than high fashion modeling, and she was featured mostly in advertisements and men’s magazines.
To make herself more employable, Dougherty changed her name, straightened her hair, and dyed it blonde. According to Conover “she became one of the agencies most ambitious and hard-working models”.
It was the first stop to her career as an actress.