Death of Marilyn Monroe
Encyclopedia
Marilyn Monroe
was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood
home by her psychoanalyst Ralph S Florence after he was called by Monroe's housekeeper Eunice Murray
on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old at the time of her death. Her death was ruled to be "acute
barbiturate
poisoning" by Dr. Thomas Noguchi
of the Los Angeles County Coroners office and listed as "probable suicide". Many individuals, including Jack Clemmons
, the first Los Angeles Police Department
officer to arrive at the death scene, believe that she was murdered. No murder charges were ever filed. The death of Monroe has since become one of the most debated conspiracy theories of all time.
The pathologist, Dr. Thomas Noguchi
, could find no trace of capsules, powder or the typical discoloration caused by Nembutal in Monroe's stomach or intestines, indicating that the drugs that killed her had not been swallowed. If Monroe had swallowed the drugs, there should have been residue. If Monroe had taken them over a period of time (which might account for the lack of residue), she would have died long before ingesting the amount found in her bloodstream. Monroe was found lying face down, but lividity
on her back and the posterior aspect of the arms and legs indicated she had died lying on her back. The body was covered in bruises, all minor except for one on her hip. There was also evidence of cyanosis
, an indication that death had been very quick. Noguchi asked the toxicologist for examinations of the blood, liver, kidneys, stomach, urine, and intestines, which would have revealed exactly how the drugs got into Monroe's system. However, the toxicologist, after examining the blood, didn't believe he needed to check other organs, so many of the organs were destroyed without being examined. Noguchi later asked for the samples, but the medical photographs, the slides of those organs that were examined and the examination form showing bruises on the body had disappeared, making it impossible to investigate the cause of death.
The toxicology report shows high levels of Nembutal (38–66 capsules) and chloral hydrate
(14–23 tablets) in Monroe's blood. The level found was enough to kill more than 10 people. An examination of the body ruled out intravenous injection as the source of the drugs, leaving only an enema
or suppository
as a source. These sources were considered unlikely, so Noguchi reluctantly wrote that the drugs were swallowed. The Dec 2005 Playboy interview w/ former LA Cnty Prosecutor John Miner, deems this the most likely method for a homicide. The coroner, Dr. Theodore Curphey
, oversaw the full autopsy. Apart from the cause of death as listed on the death certificate, the results were never made public and no record of the findings was kept.
.
Marilyn Monroe was buried in what was known at that time as the "Cadillac
of casket
s" – a hermetically
sealing antique-silver-finished 48-ounce (heavy gauge) solid bronze
"masterpiece" casket lined with champagne-colored satin
-silk; the casket had been manufactured by the Belmont casket company in Columbus, Ohio. Before the service, the outer lid and the upper half of the divided inner lid of her casket were opened so that the mourners could get a last glimpse of Monroe. Whitey Snyder had prepared her face, a promise he had made her if she were to die before him.
The service was the second one held at the newly built chapel at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
in West Los Angeles, and only 25 people were given permission to attend. Monroe's acting coach, Lee Strasberg
, delivered her eulogy
. An organist played "Over the Rainbow
" at the end of the service.
Monroe is interred in a pink marble crypt at Corridor of Memories, #24. Hugh Hefner
owns the rights to the crypt next to it. Monroe had visited the cemetery more than once as a struggling actress because Ana Lower, the adult to whom she had been closest during her juvenile years, had been buried there in 1948. Lower was related to Grace Goddard, Monroe's official guardian during much of her childhood. When Goddard committed suicide in 1953, Monroe, by then wealthy, arranged for her burial at Westwood.
DiMaggio had a half-dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for the next 20 years. Unlike many people who knew her, DiMaggio never spoke publicly about his relationship with Monroe, and he never remarried.
received publicity for having written the first bestselling book to suggest that Monroe's death was a murder staged to look like a drug overdose. The book has no footnotes and does not cite any interviews with witnesses, police officials or coroner Thomas Noguchi
, who performed the autopsy, although there are many references to the Kennedy brothers. In a notorious 60 Minutes
interview in August of that year, Mailer told Mike Wallace
that he could not have interviewed Monroe's housemate Eunice Murray
because Murray was dead before he started work on the book. Wallace said on the air that Murray was alive and listed in the West Los Angeles telephone directory.
In a 1975 book on Monroe's death that was publicized on television, author Robert Slatzer made controversial claims about not only a conspiracy, but also his alleged brief marriage to Monroe in Tijuana, Mexico in 1952. (During that year her romance with Joe DiMaggio
was reported by gossip columnists, although they did not marry until 1954.) Unlike Norman Mailer, Slatzer interviewed an authority whose name, which was unknown to the public at the time, appears in official documents from 1962. Slatzer's source was Jack Clemmons, a sergeant with the LAPD who was the first officer to report to the death part. According to Clemmons' statements in Slatzer's book, Eunice Murray behaved suspiciously, doing laundry at 4:30 am and answering his questions evasively. When Slatzer approached Murray with questions, she denied any wrongdoing by herself or by Monroe's psychiatrist Ralph Greenson, who had hired Murray to watch the actress for signs of drug abuse or suicidal tendency. Greenson himself refused to talk to Slatzer, having reacted to Norman Mailer's highly publicized book by telling the New York Post
that Monroe "had no significant involvement" with John or Robert Kennedy.
. That year BBC
viewers saw a documentary titled The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe that was narrated by Summers and based on his research. (Years later it was seen by Americans under the title Say Goodbye To The President.) The program contained soundbite interviews with, among others, Jack Clemmons and Eunice Murray, who was still alive 12 years after Norman Mailer's erroneous claim that she was dead. A former district attorney named John Miner is also seen being interviewed. He refused at the time to say anything about his interview with a griefstricken Ralph Greenson
in 1962, citing a policy of confidentiality at the district attorneys' office and Greenson's doctor/patient confidentiality. Summers also came out that year with the book Goddess, which quoted Miner as saying he was aware that Greenson was now dead, but their 1962 conversation was still confidential.
A People Weekly cover story in 1985 reported that 20/20 had canceled a segment about Monroe's relationships with the Kennedys and the circumstances of her death. Barbara Walters
, Hugh Downs
and Geraldo Rivera
were reported to have reacted angrily to the cancellation. The staffs of both the BBC and 20/20 had worked closely with Anthony Summers. All of these investigations had started after the 1979 death of Ralph Greenson. For the BBC
program Eunice Murray initially repeated the same story she had told Robert Slatzer in 1973 and the police in 1962. She apparently noticed the camera crew starting to pack up and then said, "Why, at my age, do I still have to cover this thing?" Unknown to her, the microphone was still on. Murray went on to admit that Monroe had known the Kennedys. She volunteered that on the night of the actress' death, "When the doctor arrived, she was not dead." Murray died in 1993 without revealing further details.
's Crime Library, a sedative
enema might have been administered on the advice of Monroe's psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson
, as a sleep aid and as part of Greenson's larger project to wean his patient off barbiturates.
Drawing on Donald Spoto's updated edition of his biography from 2001, Bell elaborates on the theory that Greenson was perhaps unaware of the fact that his patient's internist, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, had refilled Monroe's prescription for the barbiturate Nembutal a day earlier, and that the actress may very well have ingested enough Nembutal throughout the day such that it would lethally react
with the chloral hydrate later given to her. Bell writes:
Bell goes on to suggest that the suspicious circumstances surrounding Monroe's death are very possibly the result of an elaborate cover-up
for what was, essentially, a tragic medical mistake.
published an account of Monroe's death by former Los Angeles County district attorney
John Miner, who was present at the autopsy
. Miner claimed that she was not suicidal, offering as proof his notes on audio tapes she had supposedly recorded for Greenson and that Greenson had played for him. Miner had refused to discuss them during Anthony Summers' 1980s investigation. In 2005, Miner did not explain why he was now willing to break the confidentiality agreement he had made with Greenson in 1962. The relationship of Greenson, an eminent figure in the history of psychoanalysis (he died in 1979), with Monroe is controversial (see L. Mecacci, Freudian Slips: The Casualties of Psychoanalysis from the Wolf Man to Marilyn Monroe, Vagabond Voices, Sulaisadiar 'san Rudha (Scotland), 2009, pp. 1–36, 181–183).
's 48 Hours
presented an updated report by Anthony Summers on Monroe's death. Through Summers, 48 Hours gained access to audio tapes of interviews conducted by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in 1982.
According to Summers' sources, Monroe attended social events at actor Peter Lawford
's beach home in Santa Monica
, California, in the months before her death that also included President John F. Kennedy
and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
. The 48 Hours report quoted a former Secret Service
agent as stating that it was "common knowledge" among his colleagues that there was an affair between Monroe and John Kennedy. Rumors of a relationship with Robert Kennedy were not confirmed.
According to newly released FBI documents, Monroe was considered to be a security risk. In March 1962 Monroe visited Mexico
on a vacation, where she socialized with Americans who were openly communist. Subsequently the FBI maintained a file about Monroe. Summers stated that, contrary to her public image as a dumb blonde, Monroe was passionate about politics and discussed atomic testing issues with President Kennedy just three months before the Cuban Missile Crisis
.
According to the broadcast, Lawford told police that he spoke to Monroe on the phone shortly before her death, that she sounded groggy and depressed, and that she said to him, "Say goodbye to Jack", and "Say goodbye to yourself". Phone records of her long distance calls that evening were lost, which was a cause of suspicion. Former Assistant District Attorney Mike Carroll, who conducted the 1982 investigation, said they found "no evidence of an intentional criminal act", and indicated that suicide was the most likely cause of death. He stated, "The bottles were there. She was unconscious. She had a history of overdose. In fact, she had a history of not only overdosing, but of being resuscitated."
, the FBI
released thousands of pages of previously classified documents. In early 2007, writer Philippe Mora
discovered a three page report among the papers titled Robert F. Kennedy that discussed Monroe's death. This report has since been included in the FBI index under Marilyn Monroe.
Written by a former FBI agent (name is redacted from the report) working for the then governor of California Pat Brown
, it details Robert Kennedy's affair with the movie star and claims that Kennedy had promised Monroe he would divorce his wife and marry her, but after the actress realised he had no intention of doing so, she made threats to make the affair public. The report claims that to silence Monroe, who had a history of staging publicity-seeking fake suicide attempts, she was deliberately encouraged to do so again but was this time allowed to die. The report implicates Robert Kennedy, Peter Lawford, her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson, her housekeeper Eunice Murray, and her secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb in the plot. The agent states in the report that he could not authenticate the information.
Mora admits he is not sure what to make of the file:
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California
Brentwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States. The district is located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State...
home by her psychoanalyst Ralph S Florence after he was called by Monroe's housekeeper Eunice Murray
Eunice Murray
Eunice R. Murray is notable for being Marilyn Monroe's housekeeper who was present in the actress' house at the time she died there. Eunice Murray has been accused by many tabloid authors and LAPD Sergeant Jack Clemmons of being involved in a cover-up of Monroe's death...
on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old at the time of her death. Her death was ruled to be "acute
Acute (medicine)
In medicine, an acute disease is a disease with either or both of:# a rapid onset, as in acute infection# a short course ....
barbiturate
Barbiturate
Barbiturates are drugs that act as central nervous system depressants, and can therefore produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to total anesthesia. They are also effective as anxiolytics, as hypnotics, and as anticonvulsants...
poisoning" by Dr. Thomas Noguchi
Thomas Noguchi
is a former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles, who served in that position from 1967 to 1982. Known as the "coroner to the stars", he determined the cause of death in many high profile cases. He is most famous for performing autopsies on Marilyn Monroe, Robert F...
of the Los Angeles County Coroners office and listed as "probable suicide". Many individuals, including Jack Clemmons
Jack Clemmons
Jack Clemmons was a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. He was the first to arrive at the death scene of Marilyn Monroe on 5 August 1962. He was with the LAPD for 20 years, from 1945 to 1965. Clemmons thought that Monroe was murdered and that her room was a staged death scene...
, the first Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
officer to arrive at the death scene, believe that she was murdered. No murder charges were ever filed. The death of Monroe has since become one of the most debated conspiracy theories of all time.
Timeline
Many questions remain unanswered regarding the circumstances and timeline of Monroe's death after her body was found. Many elements of this timeline have often been brought into question. Most notable are the discrepancies in exactly what time Monroe either made or received her last phone call and at what time during the late night and early morning hours of August 4th and 5th her body was discovered.- 7:00–7:15 pm—Joe DiMaggio Jr., son of ex-baseball star Joe DiMaggioJoe DiMaggioJoseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
(and thus Monroe's former stepson) phones her about his broken engagement to a girl in San Diego.. DiMaggio Jr. said when interviewed that Monroe sounded cheerful and upbeat. On duty with the Marines in California, DiMaggio was able to place the time of the call because he was watching the seventh inning of a Baltimore OriolesBaltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
-Los Angeles Angels game being played in Baltimore. According to the game's records the seventh inning took place between 10 and 10:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time; thus, Monroe received the call around 7 pm California time. - 7:30–7:45 pm—Peter LawfordPeter LawfordPeter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
telephones Monroe to invite her to dinner at his house, an invitation she had declined earlier that day. According to Lawford, Monroe's speech was slurred and was becoming increasingly indecipherable. After telling him goodbye the conversation abruptly ends. Lawford tries to call her back again but receives a busy signal. Telephone records show that this is the last recorded phone call Monroe's main line received that night. - 8:00 pm—Lawford telephones Eunice Murray, spending the night in Monroe's guest house, on a different line asking if the maid would check in on her. After a few seconds Murray returns to the phone telling Lawford that she is fine. Unconvinced Lawford will try all night long to get in touch with Monroe. Lawford telephones his friend and lawyer Mickey Rudin, but is advised to keep away from Monroe's house to avoid any public embarrassment that could result from Monroe possibly being under the influence.
- 10:00 pm—Housekeeper Eunice MurrayEunice MurrayEunice R. Murray is notable for being Marilyn Monroe's housekeeper who was present in the actress' house at the time she died there. Eunice Murray has been accused by many tabloid authors and LAPD Sergeant Jack Clemmons of being involved in a cover-up of Monroe's death...
- 10:30 pm—According to actress Natalie TrundyNatalie TrundyNatalie Trundy is an American actress, and the widow of movie producer Arthur P. Jacobs.She made a sizeable contribution to the Planet of the Apes movie series during the 1970s. She appeared as the telepathic mutant Albina in the first sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, as Dr...
(later Mrs. Arthur P. Jacobs), Monroe's agent Arthur P. JacobsArthur P. JacobsArthur Jacobs was a twentieth century film producer responsible for numerous classic films of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Planet of the Apes series, Doctor Dolittle, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Play It Again, Sam and Tom Sawyer...
hurriedly leaves a concert at the Hollywood Bowl that he is attending with Trundy and with director Mervyn LeRoyMervyn LeRoyMervyn LeRoy was an American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake...
and his wife, after being informed by Monroe's lawyer Mickey Rudin that she has overdosed. Trundy's timeline fits with undertaker Guy Hockett's (see below) estimation that Monroe died sometime between 9:30 pm and 11:30 pm - 12:00 am—Murray notices the light under the door again and knocks but gets no reply. She tells police she immediately telephoned Dr. Ralph GreensonRalph GreensonDr. Ralph Greenson was a prominent American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. While working with Mrs Eunice Murray, Greenson is famous for being Marilyn Monroe's psychiatrist. and the basis for Leo Rosten's 1963 novel, Captain Newman, M.D...
, Monroe's psychiatrist. - Dr. Greenson arrives and tries to break open the door but fails. He looks through the French windows outside and sees Monroe lying on the bed holding the telephone and apparently dead, so breaks the glass to open the locked door and checks her. He calls Dr. Hyman Engelberg. There is some speculation that an ambulance might have been summoned to Monroe's house at this point and later dismissed.
- 1:00 am—Peter Lawford is informed by Mickey Rudin that Monroe is dead.
- 4:30 am—Police are called and arrive shortly after. The two doctors and Murray are questioned and indicate a time of death of around 12:30 am. Police note the room is extremely tidy and the bed appears to have fresh linen on it. They claim Murray was washing sheets when they arrived. Police note that the bedside table has several pill bottles but the room contains no means to wash pills down as there is no glass and the water is turned off. Monroe is known to gag on pills even when drinking to wash them down. Later a glass is found lying on the floor by the bed but police claim it was not there when the room was searched.
- 5:40 am—The undertaker, Guy Hockett, arrives and notes that the state of rigor mortis indicates a time of death between 9:30 and 11:30 pm The time is later altered to match the witness statements.
- 6:00 am—Murray changes her story and now says she went back to bed at midnight and only called Dr. Greenson when she awoke at 3 am and noticed the light still on. Both doctors also change their stories and now claim Monroe died around 3:50 am Police note Murray appears quite evasive and extremely vague and she would eventually change her story several times. Despite being a key witness, Murray travels to Europe and is not questioned again.
The pathologist, Dr. Thomas Noguchi
Thomas Noguchi
is a former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles, who served in that position from 1967 to 1982. Known as the "coroner to the stars", he determined the cause of death in many high profile cases. He is most famous for performing autopsies on Marilyn Monroe, Robert F...
, could find no trace of capsules, powder or the typical discoloration caused by Nembutal in Monroe's stomach or intestines, indicating that the drugs that killed her had not been swallowed. If Monroe had swallowed the drugs, there should have been residue. If Monroe had taken them over a period of time (which might account for the lack of residue), she would have died long before ingesting the amount found in her bloodstream. Monroe was found lying face down, but lividity
Livor mortis
Livor mortis , postmortem lividity , or hypostasis is one of the signs of death...
on her back and the posterior aspect of the arms and legs indicated she had died lying on her back. The body was covered in bruises, all minor except for one on her hip. There was also evidence of cyanosis
Cyanosis
Cyanosis is the appearance of a blue or purple coloration of the skin or mucous membranes due to the tissues near the skin surface being low on oxygen. The onset of cyanosis is 2.5 g/dL of deoxyhemoglobin. The bluish color is more readily apparent in those with high hemoglobin counts than it is...
, an indication that death had been very quick. Noguchi asked the toxicologist for examinations of the blood, liver, kidneys, stomach, urine, and intestines, which would have revealed exactly how the drugs got into Monroe's system. However, the toxicologist, after examining the blood, didn't believe he needed to check other organs, so many of the organs were destroyed without being examined. Noguchi later asked for the samples, but the medical photographs, the slides of those organs that were examined and the examination form showing bruises on the body had disappeared, making it impossible to investigate the cause of death.
The toxicology report shows high levels of Nembutal (38–66 capsules) and chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate is a sedative and hypnotic drug as well as a chemical reagent and precursor. The name chloral hydrate indicates that it is formed from chloral by the addition of one molecule of water. Its chemical formula is C2H3Cl3O2....
(14–23 tablets) in Monroe's blood. The level found was enough to kill more than 10 people. An examination of the body ruled out intravenous injection as the source of the drugs, leaving only an enema
Enema
An enema is the procedure of introducing liquids into the rectum and colon via the anus. The increasing volume of the liquid causes rapid expansion of the lower intestinal tract, often resulting in very uncomfortable bloating, cramping, powerful peristalsis, a feeling of extreme urgency and...
or suppository
Suppository
A suppository is a drug delivery system that is inserted into the rectum , vagina or urethra , where it dissolves.They are used to deliver both systemically-acting and locally-acting medications....
as a source. These sources were considered unlikely, so Noguchi reluctantly wrote that the drugs were swallowed. The Dec 2005 Playboy interview w/ former LA Cnty Prosecutor John Miner, deems this the most likely method for a homicide. The coroner, Dr. Theodore Curphey
Theodore Curphey
Dr. Theodore Joscelyn Curphey was an American coroner who was the chief coroner for Los Angeles and Nassau Counties....
, oversaw the full autopsy. Apart from the cause of death as listed on the death certificate, the results were never made public and no record of the findings was kept.
The funeral
The funeral arrangements for Monroe were made by her second husband, baseball player Joe DiMaggioJoe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
.
Marilyn Monroe was buried in what was known at that time as the "Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
of casket
Casket
A casket, or jewelry box is a term for a container that is usually larger than a box, and smaller than a chest, and in the past was typically decorated...
s" – a hermetically
Hermetic seal
A hermetic seal is the quality of being airtight. In common usage, the term often implies being impervious to air or gas. When used technically, it is stated in conjunction with a specific test method and conditions of usage.-Etymology :...
sealing antique-silver-finished 48-ounce (heavy gauge) solid bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
"masterpiece" casket lined with champagne-colored satin
Satin
Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...
-silk; the casket had been manufactured by the Belmont casket company in Columbus, Ohio. Before the service, the outer lid and the upper half of the divided inner lid of her casket were opened so that the mourners could get a last glimpse of Monroe. Whitey Snyder had prepared her face, a promise he had made her if she were to die before him.
The service was the second one held at the newly built chapel at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....
in West Los Angeles, and only 25 people were given permission to attend. Monroe's acting coach, Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
, delivered her eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
. An organist played "Over the Rainbow
Over the Rainbow
"Over the Rainbow" is a classic Academy Award-winning ballad song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. It was written for the movie The Wizard of Oz, and was sung by Judy Garland in the movie...
" at the end of the service.
Monroe is interred in a pink marble crypt at Corridor of Memories, #24. Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
owns the rights to the crypt next to it. Monroe had visited the cemetery more than once as a struggling actress because Ana Lower, the adult to whom she had been closest during her juvenile years, had been buried there in 1948. Lower was related to Grace Goddard, Monroe's official guardian during much of her childhood. When Goddard committed suicide in 1953, Monroe, by then wealthy, arranged for her burial at Westwood.
DiMaggio had a half-dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for the next 20 years. Unlike many people who knew her, DiMaggio never spoke publicly about his relationship with Monroe, and he never remarried.
Publicity in the 1970s
In 1973, Norman MailerNorman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
received publicity for having written the first bestselling book to suggest that Monroe's death was a murder staged to look like a drug overdose. The book has no footnotes and does not cite any interviews with witnesses, police officials or coroner Thomas Noguchi
Thomas Noguchi
is a former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles, who served in that position from 1967 to 1982. Known as the "coroner to the stars", he determined the cause of death in many high profile cases. He is most famous for performing autopsies on Marilyn Monroe, Robert F...
, who performed the autopsy, although there are many references to the Kennedy brothers. In a notorious 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
interview in August of that year, Mailer told Mike Wallace
Mike Wallace (journalist)
Myron Leon "Mike" Wallace is an American journalist, former game show host, actor and media personality. During his 60+ year career, he has interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers....
that he could not have interviewed Monroe's housemate Eunice Murray
Eunice Murray
Eunice R. Murray is notable for being Marilyn Monroe's housekeeper who was present in the actress' house at the time she died there. Eunice Murray has been accused by many tabloid authors and LAPD Sergeant Jack Clemmons of being involved in a cover-up of Monroe's death...
because Murray was dead before he started work on the book. Wallace said on the air that Murray was alive and listed in the West Los Angeles telephone directory.
In a 1975 book on Monroe's death that was publicized on television, author Robert Slatzer made controversial claims about not only a conspiracy, but also his alleged brief marriage to Monroe in Tijuana, Mexico in 1952. (During that year her romance with Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
was reported by gossip columnists, although they did not marry until 1954.) Unlike Norman Mailer, Slatzer interviewed an authority whose name, which was unknown to the public at the time, appears in official documents from 1962. Slatzer's source was Jack Clemmons, a sergeant with the LAPD who was the first officer to report to the death part. According to Clemmons' statements in Slatzer's book, Eunice Murray behaved suspiciously, doing laundry at 4:30 am and answering his questions evasively. When Slatzer approached Murray with questions, she denied any wrongdoing by herself or by Monroe's psychiatrist Ralph Greenson, who had hired Murray to watch the actress for signs of drug abuse or suicidal tendency. Greenson himself refused to talk to Slatzer, having reacted to Norman Mailer's highly publicized book by telling the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
that Monroe "had no significant involvement" with John or Robert Kennedy.
BBC investigation
In 1985, the American media publicized an investigation by British journalist Anthony SummersAnthony Summers
Anthony Bruce Summers is the non-fiction author of seven best-selling investigative books. He is an Irish citizen, and has been working for some twenty years with Robbyn Swan, who is now his co-author and fifth wife...
. That year BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
viewers saw a documentary titled The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe that was narrated by Summers and based on his research. (Years later it was seen by Americans under the title Say Goodbye To The President.) The program contained soundbite interviews with, among others, Jack Clemmons and Eunice Murray, who was still alive 12 years after Norman Mailer's erroneous claim that she was dead. A former district attorney named John Miner is also seen being interviewed. He refused at the time to say anything about his interview with a griefstricken Ralph Greenson
Ralph Greenson
Dr. Ralph Greenson was a prominent American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. While working with Mrs Eunice Murray, Greenson is famous for being Marilyn Monroe's psychiatrist. and the basis for Leo Rosten's 1963 novel, Captain Newman, M.D...
in 1962, citing a policy of confidentiality at the district attorneys' office and Greenson's doctor/patient confidentiality. Summers also came out that year with the book Goddess, which quoted Miner as saying he was aware that Greenson was now dead, but their 1962 conversation was still confidential.
A People Weekly cover story in 1985 reported that 20/20 had canceled a segment about Monroe's relationships with the Kennedys and the circumstances of her death. Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows , the television newsmagazine , former co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, and current contributor to ABC News.Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news...
, Hugh Downs
Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs is a long time American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer; and is perhaps best known for his role as co-host the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and...
and Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
were reported to have reacted angrily to the cancellation. The staffs of both the BBC and 20/20 had worked closely with Anthony Summers. All of these investigations had started after the 1979 death of Ralph Greenson. For the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
program Eunice Murray initially repeated the same story she had told Robert Slatzer in 1973 and the police in 1962. She apparently noticed the camera crew starting to pack up and then said, "Why, at my age, do I still have to cover this thing?" Unknown to her, the microphone was still on. Murray went on to admit that Monroe had known the Kennedys. She volunteered that on the night of the actress' death, "When the doctor arrived, she was not dead." Murray died in 1993 without revealing further details.
Rachael Bell of Court TV
According to a mini-biography of the events leading up to Monroe's death written by Rachael Bell for Court TVCourt TV
truTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
's Crime Library, a sedative
Sedative
A sedative or tranquilizer is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement....
enema might have been administered on the advice of Monroe's psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson
Ralph Greenson
Dr. Ralph Greenson was a prominent American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. While working with Mrs Eunice Murray, Greenson is famous for being Marilyn Monroe's psychiatrist. and the basis for Leo Rosten's 1963 novel, Captain Newman, M.D...
, as a sleep aid and as part of Greenson's larger project to wean his patient off barbiturates.
Drawing on Donald Spoto's updated edition of his biography from 2001, Bell elaborates on the theory that Greenson was perhaps unaware of the fact that his patient's internist, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, had refilled Monroe's prescription for the barbiturate Nembutal a day earlier, and that the actress may very well have ingested enough Nembutal throughout the day such that it would lethally react
Drug interaction
A drug interaction is a situation in which a substance affects the activity of a drug, i.e. the effects are increased or decreased, or they produce a new effect that neither produces on its own. Typically, interaction between drugs come to mind...
with the chloral hydrate later given to her. Bell writes:
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: "Gosh darn it! He gave her a prescription I didn't know about!"
Bell goes on to suggest that the suspicious circumstances surrounding Monroe's death are very possibly the result of an elaborate cover-up
Cover-up
A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
for what was, essentially, a tragic medical mistake.
John Miner's "tapes" assertion
On August 5, 2005, the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
published an account of Monroe's death by former Los Angeles County district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
John Miner, who was present at the autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
. Miner claimed that she was not suicidal, offering as proof his notes on audio tapes she had supposedly recorded for Greenson and that Greenson had played for him. Miner had refused to discuss them during Anthony Summers' 1980s investigation. In 2005, Miner did not explain why he was now willing to break the confidentiality agreement he had made with Greenson in 1962. The relationship of Greenson, an eminent figure in the history of psychoanalysis (he died in 1979), with Monroe is controversial (see L. Mecacci, Freudian Slips: The Casualties of Psychoanalysis from the Wolf Man to Marilyn Monroe, Vagabond Voices, Sulaisadiar 'san Rudha (Scotland), 2009, pp. 1–36, 181–183).
The CBS 48 Hours investigation
In April 2006, CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's 48 Hours
48 Hours (TV series)
48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
presented an updated report by Anthony Summers on Monroe's death. Through Summers, 48 Hours gained access to audio tapes of interviews conducted by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in 1982.
According to Summers' sources, Monroe attended social events at actor Peter Lawford
Peter Lawford
Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
's beach home in Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
, California, in the months before her death that also included President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
. The 48 Hours report quoted a former Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
agent as stating that it was "common knowledge" among his colleagues that there was an affair between Monroe and John Kennedy. Rumors of a relationship with Robert Kennedy were not confirmed.
According to newly released FBI documents, Monroe was considered to be a security risk. In March 1962 Monroe visited Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
on a vacation, where she socialized with Americans who were openly communist. Subsequently the FBI maintained a file about Monroe. Summers stated that, contrary to her public image as a dumb blonde, Monroe was passionate about politics and discussed atomic testing issues with President Kennedy just three months before the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
.
According to the broadcast, Lawford told police that he spoke to Monroe on the phone shortly before her death, that she sounded groggy and depressed, and that she said to him, "Say goodbye to Jack", and "Say goodbye to yourself". Phone records of her long distance calls that evening were lost, which was a cause of suspicion. Former Assistant District Attorney Mike Carroll, who conducted the 1982 investigation, said they found "no evidence of an intentional criminal act", and indicated that suicide was the most likely cause of death. He stated, "The bottles were there. She was unconscious. She had a history of overdose. In fact, she had a history of not only overdosing, but of being resuscitated."
FBI 2006 file release
In October 2006, under the FOI actFreedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
, the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
released thousands of pages of previously classified documents. In early 2007, writer Philippe Mora
Philippe Mora
Philippe Mora is a French-born Australian film director. Born in 1949 to a German Jewish father and a French Jewish mother, he began making films while still a child.- Career :...
discovered a three page report among the papers titled Robert F. Kennedy that discussed Monroe's death. This report has since been included in the FBI index under Marilyn Monroe.
Written by a former FBI agent (name is redacted from the report) working for the then governor of California Pat Brown
Pat Brown
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown.-Background:...
, it details Robert Kennedy's affair with the movie star and claims that Kennedy had promised Monroe he would divorce his wife and marry her, but after the actress realised he had no intention of doing so, she made threats to make the affair public. The report claims that to silence Monroe, who had a history of staging publicity-seeking fake suicide attempts, she was deliberately encouraged to do so again but was this time allowed to die. The report implicates Robert Kennedy, Peter Lawford, her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson, her housekeeper Eunice Murray, and her secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb in the plot. The agent states in the report that he could not authenticate the information.
Mora admits he is not sure what to make of the file:
External links
- Autopsy Report
- Summary of the gaps in the documentation, with a photo.
- CBS 48 Hours investigations