Hollywood, California - Marilyn Monroe's hometown of Hollywood kicks off a series of special events on Monday marking the movie icon's birth 100 years ago.

Fans plan to sing Happy Birthday – echoing Marilyn Monroe's famed sultry serenade to President John F. Kennedy – at the historic Chinese Theatre, where Monroe's handprints are immortalized alongside Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) co-star Jane Russell.

One hundred roses and a cake will be placed at the site, which is a symbol of Hollywood's golden age and a popular tourist hotspot.

Tributes to Tinseltown's legendary daughter began on Sunday, with the Academy Museum opening Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon, an exhibit celebrating her film career and life cut short.

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After shooting to superstardom in the 1950s, the actor and model died of an overdose at her Brentwood home in August 1962, aged 36.

The Academy Museum will host special screenings of her prolific filmography in June, including The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Niagara (1953), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Misfits (1961).

The exhibit, which runs until February 2027, includes hundreds of original pieces – such as Monroe's famed pink dress worn during her iconic performance of Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

On June 4, Julien's Auctions will sell off almost 200 pieces of Monroe memorabilia as part of its special 100 Years of Marilyn sale.

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The items include unpublished photographs, a script with notes from her final production, the unfinished short film Something's Got to Give, and personal items such as handwritten recipes and her Elizabeth Arden lipstick.

Born in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926, Monroe had an unstable childhood spent between orphanages and foster homes. She married for the first time at age 16.

Her first brush with show business was in 1944. Monroe was working in a factory when a photographer came to capture photos of women working on production lines during World War II.

Launching into the world of modeling soon after, she divorced her husband and made a history-defining decision: dyeing her brown hair platinum blonde.

By age 30, Monroe had established herself as a global star.

Behind the scenes, she founded her own production company, attended the prestigious Actors Studio in New York, and defied the studios.

In the 1950s, while under contract with 20th Century Fox, she refused to act in a musical adaptation of The Girl in Pink Tights after deeming the script mediocre and her salary, which was three times less than that of co-star Frank Sinatra, unfair.

More than half a century before the #MeToo movement shook the global entertainment industry, Monroe denounced the Hollywood "wolves" preying on female talent.