June 1, 1926: Marilyn and Andy

June 1, 1926, 100 years ago: Norma Jeane Mortenson is born in Los Angeles. We knew her as Marilyn Monroe. Then again, we really didn't know her at all.

Some women have tried to copy her -- and some were hired with the intent to copy her. Jayne Mansfield. Mamie Van Doren. Sheree North. Anita Ekberg. None pulled it off. Anna Nicole Smith came closer than most, with hair bleaching, the name change, the troubled marriages, and, sadly, the too-soon death.

To paraphrase Elton John: I would've liked to have known her, but I wasn't born yet. Her candle may have burned out, but the world never will forget.

On the exact same day: Andy Samuel Griffith (not "Andrew") is born in Mount Airy, North Carolina, just south of the Virginia State Line. Mount Airy became the basis for the fictional town of Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show.

One of the statues commissioned by the nostalgia network TV Land is in Mount Airy, showing Griffith as the show's Sheriff Andy Taylor, and Ron Howard, then billed as "Ronny Howard," as his son, Opie, walking toward "the ol' fishin' hole."

While Andy and Marilyn were both acting at the same time, there is no record of them ever having met. There is, however, a record of Andy meeting Marilyn's ex-husband, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. They crossed paths at a celebrity golf tournament in the 1970s or early 1980s, where DiMaggio playfully complimented Griffith on his acting.

It would have been nice to turn on the TV in 1986, and see a 60-year-old Marilyn playing an innocent woman defended by Ben on Matlock -- or even to have her be the actual killer, and have Ben expose her as such.

Alas, Marilyn died on August 4, 1962, at the age of 36, at her home in Los Angeles, 18 miles west of her birthplace, from a barbiturate overdose that may or may not have been accidental. For 20 years after her death, DiMaggio left flowers at her grave 3 times a week, until he found out that people were stealing them and selling them.

Andy died on July 3, 2012, at 86, at his home -- in Manteo, North Carolina, in the Outer Banks, 325 miles east of Mount Airy, and a short drive from where the Wright Brothers first flew.