Fitting in with the pin-up figures of the day, straightening her hair and dyeing it blonde, and working harder than all her peers, Monroe became a regular feature on the covers of men’s magazines, under the name Jean Norman. The owner of the modelling agency put her onto an acting agency in 1946, and she was signed by Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century Fox Pictures, assuming the name Marilyn Monroe (because she reminded an executive of Broadway star Marilyn Miller, and Monroe was Gladys’ maiden name) and creating the look of a platinum-blonde Rita Hayworth, undergoing a rhinoplasty and a gruelling exercise regime.
