5 de Agosto de 1962

Marilyn Monroe was found dead August 5, 1962 in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California, home at age thirty-six from an overdose of barbiturates. As with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, conspiracy theories have sprung up around the circumstances of her death. While the conspiracy theorists have tried to make their "case" for murder due to her involvement with the Kennedy family, they cannot explain why all of the President's other alleged girlfriends, with the exception of Mary Pinchot Meyer, survived him.

Marilyn's body was discovered by live-in housekeeper, Mrs. Eunice Murray, assigned to Marilyn's care by her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson. Conspiracy theorists have also tried to make their "case" on the relationship between Murray and Greenson, and Monroe's personal publicist, Pat Newcomb. Several days after Monroe's death, Murray attempted to cash a $200.00 check made out to her by Monroe. The un-cancelled check is today on display in the Monroe exhibit at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. In the Fall of 1962, Murray left the country for an extended European cruise on the Queen Mary; Newcomb joined the Kennedy administration in the ensuing months. Murray told her own version of that fateful night in "Marilyn, The Last Months." The book was written by a ghostwriter in the early '70s while Murray was living in Santa Monica; Pat Newcomb was a frequent visitor. In her later years, Murray moved back East, possibly to Martha's Vineyard, remarried for a short time, and survived the passing of her second husband. Murray has since passed away.

A formal investigation in 1982 by the Los Angeles County District Attorney came up with no evidence of foul play, but the stories persist. Los Angeles County coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who'd performed the autopsy (and the autopsies of Robert F. Kennedy, Natalie Wood and William Holden, among other celebrities), wrote in his book Coroner that Marilyn's death had been highly likely a suicide. Yet he conceded that he could find no trace in the stomach or intestines of any of the overdose of barbiturates that had reportedly been the cause of death; some conspiracy theorists claim this proves the drug overdose had been forcibly administered to Monroe (after she'd been rendered unconscious with chloral hydrate) perhaps by intravenous injection or, more likely, by rectal suppository, leaving no marks. Chicago mobster Sam Giancana reportedly claimed to have ordered Monroe's killing with the help of the CIA [1].

On August 5, 2005, the Los Angeles Times published[2] an account of Monroe's death by former Los Angeles County prosecutor John W. Miner, who was present at the autopsy[3] as well as transcripts of tapes from her therapy sessions[4], which he claims show she was not suicidal. Unfortunately, the original tapes no longer exist.

A devastated DiMaggio claimed her body and arranged her funeral. According to her half-sister, Berniece Baker Miracle, he just took over and she allowed him to do so. For 20 years, he had a dozen red roses delivered three times a week to her crypt. Unlike the other men who knew her intimately (or had claimed to), the highly private DiMaggio never publicly spoke about her nor wrote a book about his life with her.


Marilyn MonroeYears after Monroe's death, actress Veronica Hamel (defense attorney Joyce Davenport in Hill Street Blues) purchased Monroe's Brentwood home. During Hamel's remodeling of the home, workers had found bundles of hidden thin wires, often used to connect "bugs." This discovery had lent further support to the claims of conspiracy theorists that Monroe had been under surveillance by the Kennedys and the Mafia.

Marilyn is interred in a crypt at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery just off of Wilshire Boulevard. She had Grace Goddard interred there because Grace's aunt – who cared for Norma Jeane briefly – is there. Just as her career took off, she asked her make-up man, Whitey Snyder, to promise he would make her up when she died. Snyder joked he would if her body was brought to him while it was warm. A few days later, he received a money clip: "Whitey Dear, While I am still warm, Marilyn." He fulfilled that promise with the help of a bottle of whiskey.

When Gladys was between mental hospitals, she married her last husband, John Stewart Eley, who died in 1952. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, she walked out of a sanitarium in the early 1970s and flew to Florida, where Berniece picked her up at the airport. She died of congestive heart failure on March 11, 1984 at a nursing home. Obsessed by Christian Science, she would refuse to discuss Norma Jeane or Marilyn Monroe, perhaps unable to relive the past.

But if Marilyn's death signalled the end of a human being, it was only the beginning of an icon. Despite (or because of) the endless conspiracy theories, Marilyn still captivates the world and her image can be seen nearly everywhere. The actress who worried nobody would take her seriously has become one of the most famous and most adored women in history.

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