The ultimate Fifties bombshell, Marilyn Monroe was the Playmate who enjoyed the greatest movie success.

The magazine's first cover girl and its most famous nude model of all time, Monroe appeared in Playboy's premiere December 1953 issue, her iconic 36-24-34 proportions stretched out luxuriantly on a velvet backdrop.

Monroe did not officially pose for Playboy in its inaugural issue. In actuality, the famous nude portrait had been one of many shots taken in 1949 by Hollywood photographer Tom Kelley, when Monroe was just a struggling model.

By the time that notorious nude image of Monroe landed in Hugh Hefner's hands -- purchased for a reasonable $500 -- Monroe's star had risen. In the years before her appearance in Playboy, Monroe was romantically linked to beloved all-American ballplayer Joe DiMaggio and in 1952 was featured in small but notable parts in Don't Bother to Knock and as a dim blonde secretary in Howard Hawks' zany comedy Monkey Business.

Niagara (1953)

But Monroe's real breakthrough was her 1953 appearance as a brutally sexy newlywed hatching a murder plot against her milquetoast new husband (played by Joseph Cotten) in Henry Hathaway's film noir Niagara. Monroe excelled at playing the vicious tart, inspiring director Hathaway to call her "the best natural actress I ever directed."

Though news of Monroe's nude photos came out at a potentially disastrous point in her young career -- in a notoriously judgmental industry -- Monroe exhibited a savvy ability to turn a bad situation around. Treating the nude shots with casual frankness, Monroe explained that "I was hungry" when those photos were taken.

Perhaps already bitten by the Monroe bug, the Fifties public forgave. By the time she married DiMaggio in 1954, Monroe was box office gold. Her assured handling of a potential career disaster -- a trait that would define her public image -- seemed only to further endear her to her public. Like her slyly sultry rendition of Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and her appearance in The Seven Year Itch -- in which a sudden draft lifts her white dress above her waist -- Monroe's Playboy appearance became just another chapter in the myth of Marilyn.

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