Berniece Baker Miracle

Berniece Baker Miracle (born July 30, 1919) is an American centenarian and author, known for her memoir My Sister Marilyn (1994) about her half-sister, actress Marilyn Monroe.

Berniece Baker Miracle
Born
Berniece Inez Gladys Baker

(1919-07-30) July 30, 1919
Venice, California, U.S
Notable work
My Sister Marilyn (1994)
Spouse(s)
Paris Miracle
​
​
(m. 1938; died 1990)​
Children1
Parent(s)Jasper Newton Baker
Gladys Pearl Baker
RelativesMarilyn Monroe
(half-sister)

Biography

Berniece Inez Gladys Baker was born in Venice, California in July 1919. Her parents, Gladys Pearl Baker and Jasper Newton "Jap" Baker (1886–1951), were married in 1917 and had their first child in 1918, Robert Kermit "Jackie". Following the divorce, Jasper kidnapped Berniece and her brother and raised them in his native Kentucky.[1] Gladys soon remarried and gave birth to a third child, Norma Jean Baker.[2] In 1933, Berniece's brother died from kidney failure.[3] Two years later, she attended Pineville High School and married Paris Miracle (1918–1990) in 1938.[4] Their only child, Mona Rae Miracle, was born on July 18, 1939.

During the pregnancy, Berniece received a letter from her mother, informing her of Norma Jean.[5][6] The half-sisters met in 1944, after exchanging letters and pictures.[7] At the same time, Norma Jean began a modeling career. She became an actress under the stage name Marilyn Monroe and died in 1962, leaving Berniece $10,000 in her final will.[8][9][10] Along with Monroe's ex-husband Joe DiMaggio and her business manager Inez Melson, Berniece arranged the funeral, choosing the casket and dress.[11] In an interview with ina.fr, she stated:[12]

"I don't think she committed suicide. It could have been an accident, because I had just talked to her a short time before. She told me what she had planned to do, she had just bought a new house and she was working on the curtains of the windows. She had so many things to look forward to and she was so happy."

Throughout her life, Berniece avoided the media and worked as a manufacturing inspector, book keeper and costume designer. She turned 100 in July 2019.[13]

My Sister Marilyn

My Sister Marilyn: A Memoir of Marilyn Monroe was published on June 1, 1994 (on Monroe's birthday and 50 years after the half-sisters first met). The book was co-authored with her daughter Mona, and tells the story of Berniece's rare meet-ups with Monroe, up until her death.[14][15] It also addresses the mental issues of their mother Gladys, and the sisters’ consequently troubling childhoods, both lacking a mother figure:[16]

"We share the same mother, who early in our lives was diagnosed as mentally ill. We grew up feeling abandoned and, though both of us were told we were pretty and talented, we still needed courage and strength. We got that from each other."

The memoir features exclusive photographs and received positive reviews by outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, who wrote, "... this portrait of Marilyn is irreplaceable."[17][18] It remains the only authorized biography of Monroe's family.

See also

References
  1. Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2009). The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-55095-6.
  2. Geiger, Ruth-Esther (1995). Marilyn Monroe (in German). Rowohlt. ISBN 978-3-499-50507-2.
  3. Leaming, Barbara (2010). Marilyn Monroe: A Biography. Crown. ISBN 978-0-307-55777-3.
  4. Lyons, Beverley (2015-02-25). "Scots stage star gets approval from Marilyn Monroe's niece to play the icon". Daily Record. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  5. Vriesema, Ingmar (2016). Geschwister berühmter Menschen: Maja Einstein, Chris Jagger, Hugo Maradona, Ottla Kafka & viele mehr (in German). Kein & Aber AG. ISBN 978-3-0369-9331-7.
  6. Morgan, Michelle (2012). Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed: New edition: revised and expanded. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-1-78033-129-4.
  7. Rollyson, Carl (2014). Marilyn Monroe Day by Day: A Timeline of People, Places, and Events. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-3080-4.
  8. "A close look into family life of late Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe". BHW. 2018-02-16. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  9. Ott, Tim. "How Marilyn Monroe's Childhood Was Disrupted by Her Mother's Paranoid Schizophrenia". Biography. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  10. Kashner, Sam. "The Things She Left Behind". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  11. Brozan, Nadine (1994-06-01). "Chronicle (Published 1994)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  12. "Berniece Baker Miracle talks about her sister Marilyn Monroe". YouTube. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
  13. "Happy 100th Birthday Berniece Baker Miracle". 2019-07-30. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  14. "A história de vida de Marilyn Monroe na era #MeToo". Máxima (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  15. "mona r. miracle – My Sister Marilyn". www.monaraemiracle.com. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  16. Miracle, Berniece Baker; Miracle, Mona Rae (2012). My Sister Marilyn: A Memoir of Marilyn Monroe. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-4759-6809-5.
  17. Churchwell, Sarah (2005). The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1-4668-2594-9.
  18. "My Sister Marilyn: A Memoir of Marilyn Monroe". EW.com. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
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