Marilyn Monroe in Something's Got to GiveShe was the ultimate blonde bombshell, the 20th century's definitive sex goddess, Playboy's first cover girl, the last word when it came to cooing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" and an icon so incandescent that she is immediately identified by merely her first name: Marilyn.

Alas, the lights that burn brightest also often flame out the fastest, which is why today we mourn the passing and pay awestruck tribute to the legacy of Marilyn Monroe, who died on this date in 1962.