Marilyn Monroe passes her first successful screen test at Twentieth Century-Fox and is awarded a studio contract.
On July 17, 1946, Norma Jeane—newly renamed Marilyn Monroe and with her hair lightened—passed her first successful screen test at Twentieth Century-Fox and was awarded a studio contract. This moment marks her formal entry into the Hollywood studio system.
The screen test came after Monroe had begun to attract attention as a model during World War II. Studio executives saw potential in her photogenic looks and camera presence, prompting Fox to invest in her as a contract player. The adoption of the stage name "Marilyn Monroe"—combining Broadway star Marilyn Miller’s first name with her mother’s maiden name, Monroe—signaled a deliberate act of self‑reinvention in line with studio-era practices of manufacturing stars.
Historically, this contract is significant as the foundation on which Monroe built her film career. Although her early roles were small, the relationship with Fox gave her access to acting classes, on-set experience, and the publicity machinery that would gradually elevate her profile. In the context of 1940s Hollywood, where women were often typecast and tightly controlled by studio contracts, Monroe’s signing also began a long negotiation between her desire for serious roles and the industry’s interest in her as a marketable "blonde bombshell." The 1946 contract thus stands as the first institutional recognition of Monroe as a potential star and the first step toward her later status as one of the most famous actresses in the world.