So? He has a thing for Dead Blondes, nobody is perfect.....
The Death of Marilyn
Sometime after 10 p.m. on August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe slipped into a coma caused by an overdose of sleeping pills. She would never regain consciousness. Shortly after she was discovered, a bizarre set of activities took place in her Brentwood home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive. Some items were allegedly removed, including a diary and an incriminating note which could have far-reaching implications, if discovered. The order for their removal was believed to have come from someone in the White House, in an attempt to prevent a scandal from toppling the presidency of John F. Kennedy.
Many witnesses said they observed Marilyn being secretly taken that night by an ambulance crew to a nearby hospital before being returned again to her Brentwood home in Los Angeles. Forever steeped in mystery are the exact events that took place on the night that one of the world's leading sex symbols and movie legends died. According to some accounts, Marilyn's body was rediscovered by her house companion, Eunice Murray, and her psychiatrist, Dr. Greenson, several hours following the initial discovery of her remains.
Greenson would later tell police that Murray alerted him around 3:30 a.m. that something might be wrong with Marilyn, the morning following Marilyn's death. When he arrived at Marilyn's home, he broke into her bedroom and found her lying nude and face down in her bed. She was clutching a phone in her right hand. After a brief examination he determined that she was dead.
Exactly how and when Marilyn Monroe died sparked a debate that would last more than 40 years and generate many theories, including that of murder. Some of these theories even implicated John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert in the mysterious death.
Norma Jeane
Norma Jeane Mortenson was born at 9:30 a.m. on June 1, 1926, at California's Los Angeles General Hospital to Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker. Norma's father was identified as Edward Mortenson on her birth certificate, yet it was unlikely that he was actually her father. According to Donald H. Wolfe in The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Norma Jeane's biological father was Stanley Gifford. Gifford and Gladys worked together as film cutters for Consolidation Film Industries, where a brief relationship allegedly developed between the two. However, by the time Gladys realized she was pregnant, she was on her own.
Norma Jeane was Gladys' third child. Norma's half-brother and half-sister were from Gladys' marriage to Jasper Baker, her first husband. Norwegian immigrant Martin E. Mortenson was Gladys' second husband, whom she had walked out on after four months of a dull marriage. Norma Jeane never really knew her half brother and sister because they were in the custody of their father, Jasper Baker.
Norma Jeane's childhood was an unhappy one, characterized by neglect, a series of foster homes, alleged sexual assault and emotional heartache. Her mother began working full-time shortly after Norma Jeane's birth in an effort to make ends meet. During Gladys' absence, Albert and Ida Bolender became the first foster parents to care for little Norma. She lived with the Bolenders for a about seven years and saw her mother mostly on the weekends. The Bolenders were Christian Scientists and devoutly religious, like Norma's mother. They were extremely strict with Norma Jeane because they believed that a strong moral and religious background would benefit the impressionable little girl throughout her life.
At the age of seven, Norma lived with her mother for a brief period of time before she was admitted to a rest home in 1934. Gladys suffered from what doctors then diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. Schizophrenia, a largely inherited mental condition, ran rampant in Gladys' family. Donald H. Wolfe describes Gladys' mother, Della Monroe Grainger, as a manic depressive, and her father, Otis Monroe, also as a manic depressive. Psychosis contributed to the death of Gladys' great grandfather and the institutionalization of Gladys' maternal grandmother. Moreover, according to Kirk Wilson's book Unsolved Crimes, Norma's half brother would also be diagnosed years later with the same condition.
Following her mother's admittance, Norma Jeane lived with a close friend of her mother's named Grace McKee until Grace married in 1935. Following her stay with Grace, Norma Jeane was sent to live for two years in the Los Angeles Orphan's Home. She was then shuffled between a series of seven other foster homes before returning to live with Grace and her husband in 1941.
As an adult, she would later claim that while at one of the foster homes, she was sexually assaulted. During 1934, the foster family Norma Jeane was living with rented a room to an actor known as Mr. Kimmel. He was considered by the family to be a respectable, yet austere man. One day, he allegedly pulled the eight-year-old Norma Jeane into his room and sexually assaulted her. When she tried to tell her foster mother of Mr. Kimmel's atrocious behavior, she was rebuffed. Her foster mother refused to believe that Mr. Kimmel would do such a thing to a young and innocent girl.
Following Norma Jeane's later transformation to Marilyn Monroe, she was quoted as saying about her youth, "The world around me then was kind of grim. I had to learn to pretend in order to...I don't know...block the grimness. The whole world seemed sort of closed to me...[I felt] on the outside of everything and all I could do was to dream up any kind of pretend game."
In 1942, Grace and her husband were facing financial difficulties and decided to move to the East Coast to start a new beginning. They decided it would be best for Norma Jeane not to come, so Grace encouraged Norma Jeane to marry the son of a neighbor, 21-year-old Jim Dougherty. Following a courtship lasting only several weeks, Jim Dougherty and Norma Jeane married on June 19, 1942. Norma Jeane had only just turned 16 several weeks earlier. Although the marriage was one of convenience, she earnestly tried in the beginning to be a good wife and housekeeper. It was not a role that came naturally to her.
In 1943, Jim joined the Merchant Marines and a year later he was shipped off to New Guinea and then to the Pacific during the war. To fill the time and put extra money in her pocket, Norma Jeane worked at an aircraft and parachute-inspecting plant named Radio Plane Munitions Factory, where she inspected and painted planes. However, the job did little to ease her boredom and she grew increasingly lonely and insecure during her husband's absence. Norma Jeane began to escape into alcohol.
In mid-1944, Norma Jeane was offered an exciting break and a way to escape the humdrum life, which she was beginning to resent. An army photographer named Private David Conover was doing a piece for Yank magazine on women at work for the war effort, when he spotted the uncommon and surprisingly natural beauty of Norma Jeane. Conover paid her $5 an hour to model for him for several weeks, and the two traveled around southern California on a photo shooting session. The pictures were quickly produced and it wasn't long before she gained the attention of the Blue Book Model Agency.
Within a year Norma Jeane's popularity skyrocketed and she appeared on the covers of 33 national magazines. Her modeling career quickly became a success, but her relationship with Dougherty began to fail. Norma Jeane's fear of loneliness and boredom propelled her into several affairs during her marriage.
Although there are many reports of men who claimed to have been Norma Jeane's lover during her earlier modeling days, only a few accounts were ever substantiated. One such affair was with 32-year-old photographer André de Dienes. During a photo shoot of Norma, he became infatuated with her beauty and fell in love with her wholesomeness. According to de Dienes, he urged her to divorce her husband so that he could marry her. Norma eventually agreed to marry de Dienes, but she quickly withdrew the offer and remained married to Dougherty.
It is unclear exactly how many lovers Norma had during her first marriage. However, what was clear was that she was no longer satisfied in her marriage. According to a later interview, she claimed her marriage was neither unhappy nor painful just extremely boring. During the summer of 1946 Norma Jeane filed for divorce, an event that would be a turning point in her life.
Norma Jeane set her sights higher and began to dream of becoming a movie star.
One month after her 20th birthday, she interviewed with casting director Ben Lyon at 20th Century Fox. Several days later she was called to do her first screen test, which was followed by a contract delivered on August 26, 1946. She was offered the sum of $75 a week, to be reviewed after six months, to act for the studio.
The contract had one condition -- that she change her name from Norma Jeane Dougherty to something more catchy and alluring. At first, the studio decided to change her name to Carol Lind, however the name didn't fit her and it was eventually scrapped. Ben Lyon then suggested the name Marilyn, because it reminded him of his favorite actress Marilyn Miller. Norma Jeane was pleased with the suggestion and added the last name Monroe, which was her mother's maiden name. It was then that Hollywood launched the new face and name -- Marilyn Monroe.
Struggle to Stardom
Marilyn Monroe was determined to be a star. Even as a child she would often fantasize about it. In an interview, she stated, "I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night-there must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But, I'm not going to worry about them. I'm dreaming the hardest."
Marilyn threw herself into her acting, dancing and singing classes that were provided by the studio every day of the week. She knew that if she were to succeed, she'd have to be more than just good, she had to be the best. One of Marilyn's teachers, Phoebe Brand, told Donald Wolfe that Marilyn was "a self-conscious girl who never spoke up in class...She was extremely retiring. What I failed to see in her acting was wit, her sense of humor. It was there all the time this lovely comedic style, but I was blind to it. Frankly, I never would have predicted she would be a success."
Marilyn tried desperately to be a great actress, but it was not a skill that came easily for her. She worried that she lacked a natural talent for the art.
Almost one year to the day she signed her contract, 20th Century Fox dropped Marilyn Monroe with no explanation. Marilyn was just as quickly out of cash as she was out of a job. The situation was devastating, but she didn't let it deter her. Marilyn got involved in an important group called the Actors Laboratory, which was an oasis of Broadway talent in the midst of Los Angeles.
In Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto states that this exposure to controversial and intellectual components of New York theater and accomplished actors had an important maturing effect on her.
During the late 1940s Marilyn's career took an unlikely turn. In desperate need of money, she returned to modeling and also tried her hand at other less acceptable trades. Sometime between 1947 and the beginning of 1948, Marilyn allegedly worked as a part-time call-girl and actress in stag films. Later in her career Marilyn worried that her unconventional method of making money would be discovered and destroy her reputation.
According to a United States government memorandum issued by the FBI three years following her death, what would later be her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio attempted to buy a stag film that she had starred in during this time period. According to the memorandum, Marilyn was seen committing a "perverted act upon an unknown male." Joe DiMaggio offered $25,000 for the stag film clip, but his offer was eventually rejected by the buyer. More than 15 years later, segments of the clip showing a younger Marilyn in sexual poses were revealed to the public in the 1980 issue of Penthouse magazine.
The years following her release from her contract were not her most glamorous and were filled with self-sacrifice and pain. During this upheaval, a man purportedly climbed through her bedroom window and sexually attacked her as she lay in her bed. According to witnesses, they heard Marilyn scream and they called the police. When the police arrived, Marilyn pointed out one of the detectives as the intruder that had entered her bedroom. No one believed her story. The charges against the officer were abandoned and the assault was dismissed.
In 1948, Marilyn moved into the house of John and Lucille Carroll. John Carroll was a well-established actor and his wife Lucille was a casting director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). They helped support her emotionally and financially during her difficult transition period. Marilyn continued to model and interview at studios.
In March 1948, Marilyn was given a six-month contract with Columbia Pictures paying $75 a week, allegedly at the urging of one of Marilyn's lovers, Joe Schenck. Seventy-year old Schenck, one of the founders of 20th Century Fox Motion Picture Studios, had enormous power and influence in Hollywood throughout most of his life. The relationship proved to be beneficial to Marilyn during her most desperate times.
Under the guidance of Columbia's head drama coach Natasha Lytess, Marilyn began to develop her techniques. Eventually, she won a role in the movie Ladies of the Chorus, where she got a chance to exhibit her singing, acting and dancing skills. It was at this time that Marilyn met and fell in love with Columbia's handsome, 32-year-old director of music, Fred Karger. It was believed that he was Marilyn's first true love.
Marilyn was introduced to Fred when he was asked to advise her on musical coaching. According to Summers, Marilyn fell in love with Fred after he paid a visit to her when she fell ill. At the time, Marilyn moved from the Carrolls' home to a small, one-room apartment near the studio. Fred was surprised to see the conditions Marilyn was living in and he immediately took her to his mother's house.
Fred's mother, Nana Karger, took an intense liking to Marilyn and she brought her into her family. Nana Karger became a mother figure to Marilyn, and the two remained close for 14 years, until Marilyn's untimely death. During Marilyn's temporary stay in the house, Fred and Marilyn began their love affair.
Marilyn's love for Fred grew over the year and she dreamed of marrying him.
Fred, who was unhappily married for a second time when he met Marilyn, divorced his wife but had no intention of marrying Marilyn.
That same year, the relationship ended when they realized that the love between them was not mutual. Fred was overly critical of her and believed Marilyn would not be a suitable parent for his children from prior marriages. In an interview with Marilyn years later, she admitted that the relationship produced several pregnancies, all of which ended in abortion. Marilyn's heart was crushed after the break-up and it was difficult for her to move on, although ultimately she was forced to seek love elsewhere.
In September 1948 Marilyn's contract with Columbia was dropped six months following its activation. Once again Marilyn found herself without a job and out of money. She was so poor that she moved in with a friend and part-time lover Robert (Bob) Slatzer in an effort to consolidate living expenses. The two barely had enough money to survive. In 1949 Marilyn posed nude for photographer Tom Kelley who used the pictures in a calendar layout. The spread caused a worldwide sensation a couple years later when it developed into a scandal called "The Calendar Caper".
That same year, Marilyn auditioned for a part in an upcoming movie in the Marx Brother's film Love Happy. The part that she was auditioning for required a sexy girl, and Marilyn was asked to walk for the scene. Groucho Marx was shocked by the sex appeal that emanated from Marilyn. Kirk Wilson's book quotes Groucho describing Marilyn as being, "Mae West, Theda Bara and Bo Peep all rolled into one." She was quickly given the part. Marilyn was used for the publicity of the film and she began to gain the recognition she so desired in Hollywood.
During that same year, Marilyn began an affair with one of Hollywood's most influential and powerful agents, Johnny Hyde. Hyde was in his mid 70s and was enthralled by the young and vulnerable actress. He helped Marilyn transform her physical and public image. He knew she was destined to make it big.
Hyde convinced Marilyn to have plastic surgery on her chin to remove scars, regularly bleach her hair and, as rumor has it, to have her tubes tied so that she was unable to have children. Hyde further assisted Marilyn in obtaining a contract with the company that had two years earlier turned her away, 20th Century Fox. She received $500 a week for her role in the movie titled Asphalt Jungle. The part would lead her to more profitable extensions to her contracts and bigger roles in films.
Over the next couple of years she starred in films like All About Eve. Marilyn began to receive great reviews for her performances and her image as a sex symbol began to blossom. In Kirk Wilson's book, cinematographer Leon Shamroy stated what many men felt when they saw Marilyn on film. Shamroy said that he got the chills when he saw Marilyn on screen and that, "She had a kind of fantastic beauty.she got sex on a piece of film."
Hollywood's Leading Sex Symbol
In December 1950, Marilyn's affair with Hyde abruptly ended when he died of heart disease. Although Marilyn was having other affairs during her relationship with Hyde, she was devastated when she lost him. She treasured his support and respect.
So depressed was she that several days after his funeral, she attempted suicide by swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills. Her roommate and friend Natasha Lytess, who had once been her drama coach, found her unconscious in her bed. She immediately summoned help and Marilyn's life was saved. It was not her first or last attempt at suicide.
In 1951, Marilyn signed another six-month contract with Fox, which ultimately turned into a seven-year deal. She was also loaned to another studio to make a movie called Clash By Night, which earned her further acclaim from the press. Marilyn was on her way to fulfilling her dream of becoming a star.
That same year, Marilyn met one of America's most celebrated playwrights, Arthur Miller. Marilyn was attracted to his brilliance and Miller was attracted to her sex appeal, passion and femininity. Despite the fact that he was married with children, the two carried on a sexual relationship for several years.
Between 1951 and 1952, Marilyn starred in nine movies. With each film Marilyn got more publicity and more fans. Weekly she received several thousands of letters from admirers who flocked to see her films.
In March 1952, the saying "bad publicity is good publicity" took on new meaning when Marilyn became the object of attention in the midst of the scandalous "Calendar Caper". The pictures that were taken years earlier by Tom Kelley became a hit during the early 1950s. They adorned men's walls around the United States and Marilyn Monroe became a national sex symbol.
It wasn't long before the identity of the girl posing nude was discovered to be Marilyn. The press seized on the emerging scandal and Marilyn's career was on the verge of disaster. She knew that the uproar could lead to the cancellation of her contract with the studio and she had to figure out a way out of the mess she found herself in.
In a brilliant public relations move, Marilyn decided to come clean about the calendar and her motivation behind doing it by arranging an interview with a popular news reporter named Aline Mosby. She confided to Mosby that she posed in the nude only because she was broke and needed the money to survive. Marilyn's well-rehearsed sad story doused the scandalous flames that almost consumed her and instead lead to public sympathy nationwide. After all, who could stay angry with such a beautiful girl who was forced to exploit her body in order to survive?
Marilyn's career was taking off. The publicity won Marilyn even more fame. One month following the "Calendar Caper," Marilyn graced the cover of Life Magazine.
In June 1952, she began working on the movie Niagara. She also won a starring role in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. That same year, she was offered the role of grand marshal at the Miss America pageant. It seemed as if everything was finally going the way Marilyn had hoped.
Unhappily Married
In 1952, Marilyn's love life was also taking off. Marilyn had affairs with several people including baseball legend Joe DiMaggio and writer Bob Slatzer. The two competed for Marilyn's affections during the entire year and for a brief period Slatzer won Marilyn's affections.
On October 4, 1952, Marilyn and Bob spent the evening drinking champagne and talking before they decided to take a drive to Mexico's Rosarita Beach. According to Donald Wolfe, the two suddenly decided to get married after having drinks at the Foreign Club in Tijuana. Coincidentally, Bob and Marilyn ran into an old acquaintance named Kid Chissell who agreed to be a witness at their wedding.
The newly engaged couple found a lawyer who was willing to perform the ceremony. According to Chissell, Marilyn went to pray at a local Mexican church before the marriage ceremony began. When the couple arrived at the lawyer's office they filled out the necessary forms and were duly married.
But, Marilyn changed her mind and decided she really didn't want to be married to Bob Slatzer, so the two traveled back to Mexico and bribed the lawyer who married them to destroy the marriage certificate that had not yet been processed. The lawyer eventually agreed to destroy the only tangible evidence proving Marilyn and Bob were ever married. All in all, the marriage survived only three days.
In 1953, Marilyn returned back to work with her full vigor, winning acclaim and praise from critics for her accomplishments in Monkey Business with Cary Grant, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Jane Russell, and How to Marry a Millionaire with Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall. In June of that year, she and co-star Jane Russell received the honor of embedding their prints on the walk of fame in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.
1954 ushered in a series of abrupt changes in Marilyn's life and not necessarily for the better. After failing to appear for the shooting of The Girl in the Pink Tights, a movie that she believed was an unsuitable vehicle for her career, Marilyn was suspended from the studio. But during that time movie making was not her main priority.
After courting Marilyn for almost a year, Yankees baseball legend Joe DiMaggio wanted to marry her. They were married less than two weeks after her suspension from the studio in San Francisco, California, on January 14, 1954. It was a simple wedding with very few people in attendance. Marilyn and Joe traveled to Japan for their honeymoon, where they remained for 10 days.
Almost immediately, the marriage showed signs of distress. Allegedly, Joe was fanatically jealous of Marilyn and not just of men but of women as well. In fact, many of Marilyn's friends found Joe to be highly irritated and angered over any signs of attention Marilyn received.
Near the end of the honeymoon in Japan, Marilyn accepted a request to go on tour to perform for troops stationed in Korea. With Joe's staunch disapproval she went ahead and entertained more than 13,000 soldiers at one army base alone. While on tour, Marilyn nursed a broken thumb supposedly a result of Joe's anger at her decision to perform for the troops. It would not be the last incidence of physical abuse.
The relationship from the beginning was often overshadowed with Joe's jealousy. According to an earlier interview, Marilyn stated that jealousy was, "like salt on steak, all you need is a little bit of it." She got more than she bargained for. Friends and colleagues of Marilyn said that Joe was overtly domineering, highly critical and violent to Marilyn throughout the entirety of the relationship. Regardless, they continued to claim that they still loved each other.
That same year, Marilyn and 20th Century Fox Studios settled their dispute and Marilyn was back at work, much to Joe's dismay. She signed a contract to star in the movies There's No Business Like Show Business and The Seven Year Itch, which contained the famous scene in which she stood on top of a sidewalk grate with her skirt blowing up. Apparently, Joe was enraged by the spectacle, and rumor has it that he beat her that evening in their hotel room for being an embarrassment to him.
Marilyn had enough and in October 1954 she announced that she and Joe were to divorce. The two appeared at a court for a divorce hearing on October 27. Marilyn claimed that she wanted a divorce on the grounds that Joe was mentally cruel to her. They had only been married for nine months. Although the divorce was ultimately granted, Joe refused to give up on a relationship with Marilyn.
Following the divorce, his obsessive jealously increased steadily. He could not imagine the idea of his former wife in the arms of anyone else. One night Joe's jealousy got the better him, which ultimately led to a situation that ended in scandal and a lawsuit.
In November 1954, Joe and his new friend, Frank Sinatra, were allegedly involved in the raid of Florence Kotz's home. While Kotz was sleeping, two men broke down her door and barged into her apartment taking photographs of her as she lay in bed screaming. Minutes later the men scrambled back out of the door, purportedly in a state of confusion.
Later it emerged that the men who broke into the apartment were Joe and Frank, who were looking to catch Marilyn with a lover in the apartment. However, the two had accidentally gone to the wrong place. At the time of the break-in, Marilyn was in another apartment in the same building having dinner with friends. The blundered escapade was nicknamed "The Wrong Door Raid" and Joe and Frank found themselves in court for illegal entry and destruction of private property.
Because of the darkness, the identities of the men were not certain and the case against them quickly faded. Joe and Frank denied their guilt and the case was eventually dropped. But Kotz sued the men anyway and received an out-of-court settlement for the trouble.
Marilyn realized for the first time the extent to which her ex-husband would go to get her back. She continued to maintain a friendship with him, even though they still harbored love for one another. She knew the relationship would never work. Marilyn also secretly had her eye on someone else.
From the end of 1954 to February 1956, Marilyn "disappeared" from the public eye in an effort to escape her chaotic life in California. She temporarily lived with some friends in Connecticut and then in an apartment in New York. It was her chance to reflect on her life and reinvent herself.
During her sabbatical and suspension from the studio, she and her friend Milton Greene decided to develop Marilyn Monroe Productions. The decision was reached when Marilyn refused to star in any more movies that stereotyped her in dumb-blonde roles. She wanted to take control of her own career and take on more profound and challenging roles.
While enjoying her self-imposed exile, the relationship between playwright Arthur Miller and Marilyn became intense and they married on June 29, 1956. Marilyn and Arthur spent the weeks following their marriage in England, but their happiness was short-lived. The two frequently quarreled and Miller at one point indicated that Marilyn was like his ex-wife whom he despised.
Although happiness often eluded Marilyn, fame never did. Marilyn reconciled with 20th Century Fox and over the next several years she starred in blockbuster hits such as Some Like it Hot and The Misfits. She also starred in several movies made by Marilyn Monroe Productions, including Bus Stop and The Prince and the Show Girl. In total, between 1956 and the end of 1960 she appeared in five movies.
In 1960, Marilyn's life began to take a turn for the worse. She suffered from a series of nervous breakdowns, several failed pregnancies and a collapsing marriage. Her world began to fall apart.
Marilyn's career also became problematic because she could mentally no longer handle the stresses that disrupted her life and happiness. She was notorious for arriving late or not showing up at all during the shooting of several films. As a result, Marilyn's professional reputation, like her marriage, began to deconstruct. Finally on November 11, 1960, she and Arthur announced that they were going to divorce. The marriage lasted only four and half years. Marilyn began a downward spiral following her divorce from Arthur.
The Kennedy Connection
In the ensuing year and a half, she was in and out of psychiatric clinics seeking treatment for her diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Marilyn was also being treated for her severe addiction to barbiturates and alcohol, which she used as a vehicle to escape the severe emotional pain she suffered and to help her with her insomnia. During that time, she began to develop a professional relationship with a new psychiatrist named Dr. Ralph Greenson. It would prove to be a rather unusual relationship built on dependency and uncommon medical practices.
That same year Marilyn became involved in a highly publicized, but short-lived affair with Frank Sinatra. She also befriended several high-profile personalities during that time, including Peter Lawford, his wife Pat Kennedy, and Pat Newcomb, who became her best friend. The entire group would often spend time together, frequently attending gatherings or large parties at the Lawford and Kennedy homes. The guests were the who's who of Hollywood and at times high government officials would attend, including Robert Kennedy and his brother, then President John Kennedy. According to Tim Coates' Marilyn Monroe: The F.B.I Files, it was during these parties that Marilyn and the Kennedy brothers became acquainted during the beginning months of 1962.
According to friends of Marilyn, a relationship developed between Marilyn and the two Kennedy brothers. She was believed to have had separate affairs with the two men simultaneously. Her relationships with Robert and John, unknown to the public, became the talk of Hollywood. Marilyn was often seen dancing or in intimate conversation at private parties with Bobby or John. According to her closest friends, her heart belonged to the elder brother, John.
At the same time the FBI began to obtain information on Marilyn, which was assimilated into an ever-growing file on her activities. There was also rumor that criminal organizations, such as the Mafia took an interest in Marilyn, especially in her affairs with the Kennedy brothers. Marilyn didn't realize just how deeply involved she was in a very dangerous game with dangerous people.
In 1962, Marilyn moved into a new home, a Mexican style bungalow in Brentwood, California. She purposely moved to be close to the Lawford home and her psychiatrist, Greenson, whom she saw on a daily basis. Marilyn's depression and anxieties began to worsen, despite the therapy. On several occasions she accidentally overdosed on sleeping pills and had to be revived. In fact, her stomach had been pumped for drugs frequently over the last few years.
Marilyn became extremely dependent on Dr. Greenson and would continuously consult with him on her increasingly complicated and troublesome life. Taking care of Marilyn became a full-time job for her psychiatrist and he employed a live in companion for Marilyn named Eunice Murray.
According to Wolfe, Murray performed many duties for Marilyn including driving her to and from Greenson's home in Santa Monica, receiving visitors and cleaning the house. She also monitored Marilyn's activities and kept track of her behavior and moods, which she would report to Greenson daily. Friends of Marilyn found Murray and Greenson to be unusually involved in most aspects of Marilyn's life. Some believed that Greenson's interests exceeded his professional relationship with the movie star. Others believed that he was after her money. However, these theories were never substantiated.
What was known was that Greenson was worried about her affairs, particularly those with the Kennedys. He believed that the liaisons with the two powerful brothers were emotionally damaging to Marilyn and believed they would facilitate her self-destruction.
Earlier that year, Marilyn's relationship peaked with the Kennedys. Marilyn was often seen in the company of either John or Bobby Kennedy. It was believed that Bobby fell in love with Marilyn, but she did not reciprocate his feelings, although she cared for him deeply and had maintained a sexual relationship with him.
Marilyn's friends agreed that her heart was set on winning the affections of John F. Kennedy. He would often visit her at her home or see her at the Lawfords, where they were said to have conducted their affair. Twenty-two years later, author Anthony Summers conducted an interview with Lawford's widow, Pat Seaton, who claimed that Kennedy and Marilyn frequently made love in one of the baths at the Lawford home.
On one occasion they were caught by a former Kennedy advisor, Peter Summers, who saw them come out from the bathroom together. Marilyn was wearing just a towel. Summers was quoted as saying, "She had clearly been in there, in the shower, with him. It was obvious, but neither of them seemed worried about it."
The Lawford home was not the only place where the two would spend time with one another. Sometimes, Marilyn and John would secretly meet during Kennedy's travels and on one occasion that March, they spent a weekend alone together in Palm Springs, Florida.
John also spoke frequently to Marilyn on the phone during the beginning to mid 1962. He even gave her a private number so that she could reach him through the Justice Department. Marilyn's hopes for a future with the president began to soar during this time and she believed that he would someday divorce Jackie Kennedy and marry her. Summers states that according to Marilyn's friend, Terry Moore, Marilyn naively "imagined herself as a future First Lady."
In April 1962 Marilyn began work on Something's Got to Give. It seemed as if her career and life were slowly moving back on track. The following month she performed for John Kennedy at a birthday tribute in his honor at Madison Square Garden. Marilyn emanated sex as she breathlessly sang "Happy Birthday" to the president. It was a performance that sent ripples of gossip through the crowd because her desire for Kennedy was publicly displayed for the first time. According to Summers, the president chidingly thanked Marilyn for singing to him in "such a sweet and wholesome way."
The rumors about Marilyn and the Kennedys were beginning to circulate with fury. There was fear that John in particular would be caught up in a whirlwind scandal if his relationship with Marilyn continued at its pace. In the summer of 1962, Marilyn had become a security risk and was told to cease all contact with the brothers. The relationships came to an abrupt end and Marilyn was shattered.
During that time, Marilyn was said to have become severely depressed. She even told several friends that she would come clean about the relationships in retribution for the pain that was inflicted on her by the brothers.
But in the weeks just before Marilyn's death, her career and personal life were in a definite upswing. There were a number of new valuable film projects that she was working on and she was very excited about being involved in these films.
There was also the weekend before she died that was spent at Lake Tahoe. Spoto says she spent that weekend with Joe DiMaggio and that they planned to remarry. This is disputed by Wolfe, who says that Frank Sinatra had set up the weekend at the Cal-Neva Lodge at the behest of the Kennedys who wanted to make sure that Marilyn did not leak to the press the details of her relationship with the President.
Wolfe writes that DiMaggio came to Tahoe unexpectedly and arrived late Saturday night, perhaps because Marilyn asked him to come. Wolfe's research also indicated that the brutal mobster Sam Giancana was also there to ensure that Marilyn did not create a problem for the Kennedys.
Wolfe says DiMaggio was furious with Sinatra and the Kennedys for luring Marilyn there, plying her with drugs and then taking compromising photos of her to be used as blackmail if she threatened to expose the Kennedys.
The following weekend Marilyn was found dead in her Brentwood home. Her death appeared to be a suicide resulting from an overdose of sleeping pills. However, there were many who believed that she was murdered because she simply knew too much.
Marilyn's Death - Undisputed Facts
The exact events surrounding Marilyn Monroe's death have remained shrouded in mystery. Much of the evidence and testimony obtained during the investigation has, for the most part, been destroyed or lost, including many of the police files and interviews taken following her death.
From early morning to late afternoon, Saturday, August 4, 1962 appeared to be a pretty ordinary day in the life of Marilyn Monroe. Pat Newcomb, her press agent, had slept over and awakened around noon on Saturday. Marilyn had not slept well and was, at least briefly, in a crabby mood when Pat first spoke to her.
Most of the afternoon Marilyn spent with Dr. Ralph Greenson, her psychiatrist, except for a time in mid-afternoon when Marilyn went for a ride with Eunice driving.
There was a noticeable difference in Marilyn's condition during the afternoon. While she had been alert during the morning, she appeared to be drugged in the afternoon. Her internist, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, had just refilled a Nembutal (barbituates) prescription the previous day and it was possible that Marilyn had taken one or more of the capsules.
Dr. Greenson had been trying to break Marilyn's Nembutal habit and switch her to chloral hydrate as a sleep aid. However, Marilyn had various sources of her favorite drug and had plenty of them around her residence.
Eunice Murray was at Marilyn's home most of the day, arriving at work early in the morning. Dr. Greenson came to Marilyn's after lunch. Donald Wolfe quotes Eunice Murray as saying that she called Greenson after Marilyn asked her if there was any oxygen around.
Pat Newcomb said that she left Marilyn's house somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.
Greenson spent some time with Marilyn alone and then later in the afternoon asked Pat to leave for a bit since Marilyn had doled out some sharp words to her that day. Pat left Marilyn's house somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.
According to Eunice Murray, Dr. Greenson spent another hour with Marilyn and then left around 7 p.m.
Joe DiMaggio Jr. called Marilyn around 7: 15 p.m. to discuss with Marilyn his decision to end his engagement. Both Murray and DiMaggio Jr. observed that Marilyn was in very good spirits after talking to the young man. Her elevated mood was confirmed by Dr. Greenson who she immediately called to tell him about DiMaggio Jr.'s broken engagement.
About 7:45 p.m., Peter Lawford stated that he called to invite Marilyn to a party he was having, but said that she sounded heavily drugged. He claimed that she shouted her name into the phone a few times when she didn't respond to his conversation. Donald Spoto writes Lawford as quoting Marilyn, "Say goodbye to Pat, say goodbye to the president, and say goodbye to yourself, because you're a nice guy."
At this point, there are sharply conflicting statements from many sources as to when Marilyn died and how and when her death was discovered. These conflicts will be addressed in the next chapter, but first we will continue with the undisputed facts.
At 4:25 a.m. Sunday morning, August 5 Sergeant Jack Clemmons of the West Los Angeles Police Department got a call that he would never forget. Dr. Hyman Engelberg, Marilyn's personal physician, told him that she had committed suicide. When he and the backup police car that he had ordered arrived at Marilyn's home, there were three people Eunice Murray, Dr. Ralph Greenson and Dr. Hyman Engelberg.
They led Clemmons into the bedroom where her nude body was lying covered with a sheet and pointed out the bottles of sedatives. Donald Wolfe quotes Clemmons: "'She was lying facedown in what I call the soldier's position. Her face was in a pillow, her arms were by her side, her right arm was slightly bent. Her legs were stretched out perfectly straight.'" He immediately thought she had been placed that way. He had seen a number of suicides, and contrary to the common conception, an overdose of sleeping tablets usually causes victims to suffer convulsions and vomiting before they die in a contorted position."
The statements taken from the three individuals were very strange and Clemmons was convinced that he was not hearing the truth. They claimed that Marilyn's body had been discovered some four hours earlier, but that they could not contact the police until 20th Century Fox's publicity department had given them permission. Clemmons also noted that there was no drinking glass in the bedroom from which Marilyn could have taken the many pills that she was credited with swallowing.
The preliminary autopsy was conducted by Dr. Thomas Noguchi. As the results of various tests were analyzed, Coroner Theodore Curphey determined that Marilyn died from an overdose of barbiturates. Remnants of the drug pentobarbital (sleeping pills) were found in her liver and chloral hydrate was found in her blood. He claimed that there was no distinguishable physical evidence of foul play. Marilyn's death was listed as a "probable suicide."
However, whether Marilyn committed suicide or not has been the source of great debate for more than 40 years.
Conflicting Statements
One area of controversy revolves around the time of Marilyn's death.
The last fact in her life that we can be sure of is that around 7:15 p.m. on Saturday night, she talked with Joe DiMaggio Jr. about his romantic involvements and she was very happy, elated even with the fact that Joe was breaking off a relationship with a woman that Marilyn didn't like. Joe confirms her mood, as does Eunice and Dr. Greenson, whom she called to give the news.
But then we have Peter Lawford calling within a half an hour. Marilyn has gone from being happy and alert to heavily drugged, making comments that could be construed as suicidal. Lawford was so panicked that he called his friend, Milt Ebbins, who convinced Marilyn's lawyer, Milton Rudin, to call Marilyn's house to see if she was okay.
Rudin claims that he called the house around 8:30 and asked Eunice to check on Marilyn. Eunice said that she checked and Marilyn was fine. Lawford wasn't satisfied so he called his friend, Joe Naar, around 11 p.m. Naar lived close to Marilyn and agreed to go over and make sure that Marilyn had not overdosed. Just as Naar was getting ready to leave his home, he got a call from Rudin telling him to stay put — that Marilyn had been given a sedative by Dr. Greenson.
Two other friends of Marilyn said that they spoke with Marilyn during a time period that Peter Lawford was convinced that Marilyn was heavily drugged and possibly dying from an overdose.
According to Wolfe, Marilyn also spoke with her hairdresser, Sidney Guilaroff, at about 8:30 p.m. Guilaroff claimed that Marilyn said she knew a lot of dangerous secrets about the Kennedys. Marilyn received several more phone calls that evening, including one to her part-time lover, Jose Bolanos.
Bolanos claimed that Marilyn revealed, "something shocking to him that would shock the whole world" in a phone call at about 9:30 p.m. During the conversation, Marilyn laid down the phone without hanging up because she heard some kind of disturbance at her door. He never heard from her again.
Wolfe notes that when the man came to take Marilyn to the mortuary Sunday morning between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m., he noticed that "rigor mortis was advanced" and estimated that she had died between 9:30 and 11:30 Saturday night.
Spoto writes that Arthur Jacobs, Marilyn's publicist, had been told of Marilyn's death around 10:00 to 10:30 Saturday night and had to leave a concert to deal with the press issues.
Eunice, however, claimed that she woke up around 3 a.m., saw a light under Marilyn's bedroom door (which later proved impossible because of deep-pile carpeting), found the door locked (also impossible since there was no functional lock on the door) and called Dr. Greenson. Greenson came to the house, got into the bedroom and around 3: 50 a.m. declared that Marilyn was dead.
The events that occurred between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. remain a mystery. However, evidence suggests that sometime during that unaccounted hour Marilyn died. Based on recent testimony by acquaintances and people involved with the events surrounding the alleged suicide, Anthony Summers placed the time of Marilyn's death somewhere within that time frame that evening. Testimony by four of Marilyn's friends supports this theory.
Donald Wolfe reports that Eunice and son-in-law Norman Jeffries were at Marilyn's house during the night of her death. The two had conflicting stories concerning the events that took place that evening. Jeffries claimed that between 9:30 and 10.00 p.m., Robert Kennedy and two unknown men came to Marilyn's door and ordered them to leave the house. According to Jeffries, they went to a neighbor's home and waited until the men left around 10:30 p.m. When they returned home, Jeffries stated that he saw Marilyn laying face down, naked in her bed and holding what appeared to be a phone.
Jeffries said that Marilyn looked as if she were dead. Eunice allegedly called for an ambulance and then called Dr. Greenson. Wolfe states that Jeffries saw Lawford and Pat Newcomb arrive at the house. They were in a state of shock and hysterical. According to Summers, a former ambulance driver named Ken Hunter told an investigator for the DA that he arrived at Marilyn's home "in the early morning hours" following the discovery of her body. The ambulance company chief also told the investigator that Marilyn was in fact in a coma when the ambulance arrived, due to an overdose of sleeping pills. He claimed that she was taken to Santa Monica Hospital, where she passed away. Summers suggests that Marilyn's body was returned to her home in order to facilitate the ongoing cover-up.
Another witness account supported Jeffries' story, but it was never included in the records of the investigation into Marilyn's death. Elizabeth Pollard, a neighbor of Marilyn's, told police that she saw Robert Kennedy with two unidentified men approach Marilyn's house at about 6 or 7 p.m. One of the unidentified men was carrying a black medical case.
According to Wolfe, Pollard's story was discredited by police and omitted from the investigation because they claimed her story was an "aberration." If it was an aberration, it was one seen by several people because Pollard was not alone that day. Summers states that she was playing a card game with several people when they all recognized Kennedy driving up to Marilyn's house. The identity of the other witnesses remains unclear.
Autopsy Results
Coroner Curphey had based his determination that Marilyn had committed suicide by the amount of sedatives in her body, the presence of prescription bottles for the sedatives, the absence of signs of foul play, her previous suicide attempts, and the opinion of Dr. Greenson.
This opinion, however, was not shared by some key forensic experts who argued that there were no traces of Nembutal in her stomach or intestinal tract. Also, there should have been specific crystals and evidence of the yellow capsules in which Nembutal is packaged. Not only were there no capsule parts, there was no yellow dye in her stomach.
Spoto points out that in Marilyn's blood count, "there were 8 milligrams of chloral hydrate and four and a half milligrams of Nembutal, but in her liver there was a count of thirteen milligrams, a much higher concentration of Nembutal...The ratio of Nembutal found in the blood compared to that in the liver suggested...that Marilyn lived for many hours after the ingestion of that drug...This means that while Marilyn was alive and mobile, throughout the day, the process of metabolizing the Nembutal she had taken had reached the liver and was beginning the process of excretion...The barbituates were absorbed over a period of not minutes but hours...This report is consistent with what Greenson himself called her 'somehat drugged' condition."
The idea of an injection of barbiturates was also implausible for two reasons: there were no needle marks found on her body after very close examination, plus an injection of such a high dosage of barbiturates would have caused immediate death, leaving clear bruising.
Spoto explains that one possible explanation that was consistent with physical evidence was that the drugs were administered in an enema, which would account for the "abnormal, anomalous discoloration of the colon."
If Marilyn did die of a rectally administered overdose of drugs, it makes the concept of suicide a bit ludicrous and opens up two other possibilities: accident and murder.
Theories
Suicide
This is the official cause of death and probably the most widely believed. She had tried it four times previously and she clearly had significant mood swings.
The problem with this theory is that too many forensic facts are at odds with it, unless one can imagine Marilyn making up a barbiturate enema and administering it to herself. Quite a number of forensic experts have discarded the suicide theory as inconsistent with the facts.
Another problem with the suicide theory is that she was in good spirits at the time of her death and had been making plans for future events and movies, and if Spoto is correct, her remarriage to Joe DiMaggio.
Accident
If, in fact, Marilyn died from a rectally-administered barbiturate enema, the question is who prepared and administered it. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the overdose was accidental.
Spoto makes a very persuasive case for accidental death. Dr. Greenson had been working with Dr. Hyman Engelberg to wean Marilyn off Nembutal, substituting instead chloral hydrate to help her sleep. Milton Rudin claimed that Greenson said something very important the night of Marilyn's death: " God damn it! Hy gave her a prescription I didn't know about!"
Dr. Engelberg was having serious marital problems and obviously didn't communicate well with Greenson on Marilyn's prescriptions. Spoto suggests that Greenson would not have given Marilyn a heavy dose of chloral hydrate the evening of her death if he had realized that Marilyn had been taking Nembutal capsules throughout the day. Spoto further suggests that after an exhausting full day with Marilyn that he arranged for Marilyn to have a chloral hydrate enema so that she would sleep through the night.
Chloral hydrate significantly slows down the metabolism of Nembutal, but Greenson did not know that she had been taking Nembutal and Marilyn did not realize that Nembutal and chloral hydrate interacted adversely or she probably would have admitted to Greenson that she had taken Nembutals.
If Spoto's theory is correct, then who administered the enema? Spoto believes that it had to be Eunice Murray, who, like Greenson, had no inkling that the sedative enema would be fatal.
Any doctor might be loath to admit to himself or others that he had made such a significant mistake in such a high-profile patient, especially since Marilyn appeared drugged during the afternoon. Also, if Eunice was the person who administered the enema, it would be natural for her to try to protect herself and Dr. Greenson by pretending that no such procedure was given to Marilyn.
Murder
Everyone loves a conspiracy. It is so much more exciting than accidental death or suicide. The celebrity status of the main characters in this drama lends itself heavily towards the romance of conspiracy. Look at the cottage industry that John F. Kennedy's assassination has generated.
It's important to distinguish the cover-up of embarrassing information by powerful people from the commitment of a crime to eliminate people who can potentially create embarrassment.
There are a number of credible people who claim that Marilyn Monroe had affairs with one or both Kennedy brothers. John Kennedy, at least, was known to indulge himself in extramarital adventures. So, it is not at all implausible that President Kennedy availed himself of the charms of one of the sexiest and most attractive women of that era. That Robert Kennedy was so inclined is not nearly as clear.
According to Peter Lawford, Marilyn's unrealistic notions about becoming First Lady caused her to embarrass herself with both Kennedy brothers. Her letters and telephone calls to them had become both tiresome and very risky. It was one thing to cavort with anonymous girls, but quite another to be involved with a celebrity sex symbol like Marilyn Monroe. There was every good reason for JFK and RFK to break off the relationship with Marilyn permanently.
What allegedly became so troublesome was Marilyn's supposed rage at JFK's rejection of her and the fear that she was able to strike in both brothers. Donald Wolfe sums it up: "Marilyn Monroe was in a position to bring down the presidency. She was cognizant of Jack Kennedy's marital infidelities and other private matters. She had his notes and letters and was privy to Kennedy's involvement with Sam Giancana. That the Kennedy brothers had discussed national security matters with the film star added to an astonishing array of indiscretions."
It is not out of the realm of possibility that Robert Kennedy was the man appointed by his brother to deliver the rejection to Marilyn personally. It's not the kind of thing that one writes in a letter and it's unlikely that JFK was anxious to deliver the message himself.
Did Robert Kennedy bring Marilyn the news of his brother's desire to break off his relationship on the night Marilyn died? After all, there are some witnesses, including a cop, who place Robert Kennedy near the scene that night. This information may never be known with any certainty, but if Robert Kennedy did somehow make an unannounced visit to Marilyn Monroe on the night of August 4, then it provides unexpected motivation for the suicide theory. That is, while Marilyn may have been in good spirits that day and evening, a visit by Robert Kennedy shattering her notions about an enduring relationship with JFK could have abruptly changed her mood.
Was there an attempt on the part of the government to cover up John Kennedy's indiscretions with Marilyn Monroe? It would be very surprising indeed if there were not such an attempt.
The alleged cover-up was believed to have extended beyond the phone records and police evidence found at the scene. Shortly after his phone call to the Naars before 11 p.m. on the night of Marilyn's death, it is believed that Peter Lawford and Pat Newcomb went to Marilyn's house. Purportedly in a state of panic, Lawford called brother-in-law Bobby Kennedy and explained what had occurred.
However, destroying phone records and personal journals and scraps of paper are not in the same league with murder.
To suggest, as some authors, have that Robert Kennedy was somehow complicit in the murder of Marilyn Monroe is to be ignorant of the character and integrity of the Attorney General. While mystery surrounds the death of Marilyn Monroe, mystery does not shroud the character of Robert Kennedy. Robert Kennedy had a very fixed moral compass which was repeatedly documented in his crusade against organized crime.
Was Marilyn murdered by the Mafia, eager to avenge itself on the Kennedys for Robert's strike against them and expose the Kennedys' philandering to the American public? The motive was probably there but with what is known about the individuals present in Marilyn's home on the night of August 4, 1962, it makes a mob hit with a rectal enema seem a bit unlikely and almost absurd.
The actual events that surrounded Marilyn's death will probably never be known. What was known for certain was that a living legend mysteriously died before her time, in a mist of confusion, scandal and uncertainty.
Following the autopsy, Marilyn's body was released to her family. Marilyn's mother, who was institutionalized, did not take custody of the body. Instead, Joe DiMaggio claimed her remains and arranged a small and quiet funeral for the woman he continued to love up until her death. Finally on August 8, 1962, she was laid to rest in Los Angeles' Westwood Memorial Park in the Corridor of Memories. On that day, thousands lined the streets and grieved for their icon and the world's movie legend, Marilyn Monroe.
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