August 5, 1962,
Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her LA home. She was
discovered lying nude on her bed, face down, with a telephone in
one hand. Empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her
depression, were littered around the room. After a brief
investigation, LA police concluded that her death was "caused by a
self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of
death is probable suicide."
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles on
June 1, 1926. Her mother was emotionally unstable and frequently
confined to an asylum, so Norma Jean was reared by a succession of
foster parents and in an orphanage. At the age of 16, she married
a fellow worker in an aircraft factory, but they divorced a few
years later. She took up modelling in 1944 and in 1946 signed a
short-term contract with 20th Century Fox, changing her name
to Marilyn Monroe. She had a few bit parts and then in 1949
returned to model to pose for the now famous nude calendar
She began to attract attention as an actress in 1950 after
appearing in minor roles in the The Asphalt Jungle and All About
Eve which won he a contract with Fox. In the early 1950s she
appeared in Love Nest (1951) Monkey Business (1952) and Niagara
(1953) Celebrated for her voluptuousness and wide-eyed charm, she
won international fame for her sex-symbol roles in Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes (1953) How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and
There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). The Seven-Year Itch
(1955) featured the classic scene where she stands over a subway
grating with her white skirt flowing up by the wind from a passing
train. In 1954, she married baseball star Joe DiMaggio but they
divorced eight months later.
Famous Jewish
Actors
In 1955, she studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in
New York City and subsequently gave a strong performance as a
hapless entertainer in Bus Stop (1956). In 1956, she married
playwright Arthur Miller. She made The Prince and the
Showgirl-with Laurence Olivier in 1957 but in 1959 gave an
acclaimed performance in the hit comedy Some Like It Hot. Her last
role, The Misfits (1961) directed by John Huston and written by
Miller, whom she divorced just one week before the film's opening.
By 1961, Monroe, beset by depression, was under the constant care
of a psychiatrist. Increasingly erratic in the last months of her
life, she lived as a virtual recluse in her Brentwood, Los
Angeles, home. After midnight on August 5, 1962, her maid, Eunice
Murray, noticed Monroe's bedroom light on. When Murray found the
door locked and Marilyn unresponsive to her calls, she called
Monroe's psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, who gained access to
the room by breaking a window. Entering, he found Marilyn dead and
called the police. An autopsy found a fatal amount of sedatives in
her system, and her death was ruled probable suicide.
In recent years, there have been a number of conspiracy theories
about her death, most of which contend that she was murdered by
John and/or Robert Kennedy, with whom she allegedly had love
affairs. These theories claim that the Kennedys had her killed
because they feared she would make public their love affairs .
August 4, 1962, Robert Kennedy, then attorney general was in fact
in Los Angeles. Two decades later, Monroe's housekeeper,
Eunice Murray, announced that the attorney
general had visited Marilyn on the night of her death.
However, reliability of these statements made by Murray are
questionable. Today, Marilyn Monroe remains a major cultural
icon. The unknown details of her death only add to her mystique
Marilyn Monroe Quotes
It's all make believe, isn't it? - If I'd observed all the
rules, I'd never have got anywhere - I'm very definitely a woman and I enjoy it - I don't know
who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot
I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman
in it -
I don't want to make money I just want to be wonderful -
I'm trying to find myself as a person, sometimes that's not easy
to do
I am trying to prove to myself that I am a person, then maybe
I'll convince myself I'm an actress
Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human
being, you feel, you suffer
I love to do the things the censors won't pass.
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