Marilyn Monroe

In this March 1953 publicity photo provided by Running Press, Marilyn Monroe receives an award from Photoplay magazine at the Beverly Hills Hotel, in Beverly Hills, Calif. She is named “Fastest Rising Star of 1952,” and her choice of attire overshadows the event. The entire gown was made from “one complete circle of fabric.”

Hollywood marks the 50th anniverary of the death of the iconic star on August 5, 2012.

The former Norma Jean Baker modeled and starred in 28 movies grossing $200 million. Sensual and seductive, but with an air of innocence, Monroe became one of the world's most adored sex symbols. She died alone by suicide, at age 36 in her Hollywood bungalow.

In this undated publicity photo courtesy Running Press, Marilyn Monroe is shown in the first photo taken of her in the famous white dress from the "The Seven Year Itch." For a brief scene in "The Seven Year Itch," in September 1954, her character strolls on a Manhattan street on a stifling summer evening. When a subway rattles beneath her, Marilyn stands astride a sidewalk vent to catch a cool breeze that swirls her skirt up around her waist.

Monroe passed away a half-century ago this week, a murky death that remains one of Hollywood's most tantalizing mysteries. But look around: Her legend lives on, more vibrantly than ever. In a twist she surely would have appreciated, this 1950's bombshell has become a 21st-century pop culture phenom.

In this June 2, unknown year, file photo, Marilyn Monroe smiles in a car after arriving tousled from an all-night plane flight from Hollywood to Idlewild Airport, in New York. She said she planned to rest in New York before going to England to make a new movie with Sir Laurence Olivier. Sidestepping questions as to whether she and playwright Arthur Miller plan to wed, she said: "No comment, we're really good friends."

The photograph is included in a new 2012 book, "Marilyn in Fashion," published by Running Press.