She starred in fewer than 25 films and died at only 36 nearly a half century ago. But Marilyn Monroe made a lasting impression …

A 2006 survey by StarPulse.com listed her as the “All-Time Style Icon of the Last Century.” In April 2010, Americans polled for Gillette named her among the world’s “Top Ten Goddesses.” The same month, British survey respondents chose her one of the “Most Seductive Women of All Time.” In July 2010, a survey for QVC found her one of the “Most Beautiful Women of the Last Century.” And in 2008 when Smithsonian magazine polled cross-country samplings of high school students and adults 45 and over, she was listed among the ten most famous Americans in history, not including presidents or first ladies.

In a short career, Monroe so embodied the beauty ideal she achieved a level of stardom even death can’t seem to dim. But fame didn’t prevent Monroe from experiencing failed relationships, miscarriages, breakdowns, exploitation, or termination from her last film. Shortly before her death, she put it all in perspective:

“Fame will go by. ‘So long, I’ve had you, Fame.’ If it goes by, I’ve always known it was fickle. So at least it’s something I experienced, but that’s not where I live.”

Others’ thoughts on the fleeting value of fame:

 “I’d rather be able to face myself in the bathroom mirror than be rich and famous.”

—Ani DiFranco, singer/songwriter

“Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.”

—Horace Greeley, newspaper editor

“It isn’t necessary to be rich and famous to be happy. It’s only necessary to be rich.”

—Alan Alda, actor

“Happy is the man who hath never known what it is to taste of fame—to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a Hell!”

—Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, novelist and poet

“Sometimes I wish I weren’t famous.”

—Tammy Wynette, singer

“Once you become famous, there is nothing left to become but infamous.”

—Don Johnson, actor

“The day will come when everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.”

—Andy Warhol, artist

“I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.”

—Ray Charles, singer/songwriter