Marilyn Monroe – Hollywood’s Most Effervescent Icon
There are some people who become famous. And then there are those who become iconic.
Marilyn Monroe was both – but perhaps what makes her story so enduring is that behind the platinum hair, the white dress and the Hollywood glamour was a woman who understood something rather beautifully about celebration. She loved champagne!
Marilyn’s relationship with champagne was well established by the 1950s. Piper-Heidsieck, in particular, was a favourite, with the Champagne house recording her famous declaration: “To Piper, my favourite.”
There is also the wonderfully Marilyn-esque story that in 1953 she said she began each day with a glass of Piper-Heidsieck. The quote has become part of the house’s history – and it feels almost impossibly appropriate for a woman whose very presence seemed to turn everyday life into theatre.
But it wasn’t only Piper.
Marilyn also had a particular fondness for 1953 Dom Pérignon, and here we have something rather more tangible than a good Hollywood story. A receipt from June 1962 records the purchase of a case of 1953 Dom Pérignon under Marilyn’s name and address. Just weeks later, that very vintage would become part of one of the most famous photographic sessions of the twentieth century.
Champagne behind the camera
In 1962, photographer Bert Stern was commissioned by Vogue to photograph Marilyn Monroe.
When Stern arrived at the Bel-Air Hotel for what became known as “The Last Sitting”, he brought 1953 Dom Pérignon with him. The champagne was not simply a prop. Marilyn drank it during the sessions, helping create an atmosphere in which the woman behind the legend could relax and reveal herself.
The resulting photographs are among the most intimate and recognisable ever taken of Monroe. There is something poignant about that. The woman the world knew as the ultimate symbol of Hollywood glamour was, in these photographs, playful, vulnerable, mischievous and entirely herself.
Champagne, Marilyn and the art of being unforgettable
A century later…
2026 marks what would have been Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday, and her connection with champagne is still very much alive. Piper-Heidsieck has marked the centenary with a limited-edition Marilyn Monroe Cuvée, celebrating the relationship between the champagne house and the Hollywood icon.
A century after her birth, Marilyn remains one of the most recognisable women in the world.
Her image continues to appear on screens, in galleries, in fashion and photography – and, rather fittingly, on champagne bottles.
So, wherever you are raising your glass, make it a moment worth remembering.
Here’s to Marilyn.
To glamour.
To courage.
To reinvention.
To the woman behind the icon.
And, naturally…
to Champagne. 🥂
Champagne & the Famous is a Champagne Direct series celebrating the people, stories and unforgettable moments that have helped make Champagne part of our cultural history.
Because some people deserve to be remembered.
And some moments deserve to sparkle.