#james dougherty

[ladybegood]

Marilyn Monroe with her first husband James Dougherty

[manyother]

Wedding photo: James Dougherty and Norma Baker in 1942.

[worldmusicandcinema]

Marilyn Monroe and the men in her life.

James Dougherty

James Dougherty On June 19, 1942, at just 16 years old, Marilyn married her neighbor James Dougherty, a Los Angeles police officer. Her Daddy, as he affectionately nicknamed him, joined the Navy early on. The young woman felt abandoned once again in her life and the divorce would come in September 1946. Marilyn's first husband confessed many years later that he never stopped following each step of the actress's career.

[masteringmarilyn]

Soon after marrying James Dougherty, Norma Jeane got a collie called Muggsy. The dog died no long after Marilyn began her modelling career.

[ladybegood]

Marilyn Monroe and James Dougherty on their wedding day, 1942

[pastfutureforeverclub]

JAMES DOUGHERTY

JAMES DOUGHERTY

1921-2005

Husband of Marilyn Monroe

            JamesDougherty was born in Texas, his family moved to Arizona and suffered greatly during the Great Depression and had to live in a tent. Dougherty went to school with actress Jane Russell and went on to become a police officer.

            He was working night shifts at Lockheed Aircraft, when he met Marilyn Monroe (known then as Norma Jean Baker). Monroe had to choose between moving back to an orphanage or getting married, she chose marriage.

            Dougherty and Monroe married in 1942, she dropped out of high school and became a housewife. They moved to Santa Catalina Island, where he joined the Navy and in 1944 he was posted to the South Pacific. During this time Monroe was noticed by photographer David Conover, she signed a contract with a modelling agency and then later with 20th Century Fox. Pursuing a film career, 20th Century Fox told Monroe that she couldn’t be married if she wanted to succeed. Dougherty was dismissive of her ambitions and she divorced him in 1946.

            In 1947, he remarried to Patricia Scoman and they had three children and then married Rita Lambert in 1974. Dougherty died in 2005, aged 84.

#jamesdougherty #marilynmonroe #normajeanbaker  

[dear-missmonroe]

Norma Jeane Baker, future film star Marilyn Monroe, with her first husband, Merchant Marine James Dougherty in Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, circa 1943. Dougherty was stationed on the island's boot camp at the time. In the background is the famous green pleasure pier.