Death of Marilyn Monroe

Death of Marilyn Monroe

On August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe, an American actress and sex symbol, died at age 36 of a barbiturate overdose inside her home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California.

Her body was discovered before dawn the following morning, on August 5. Monroe had been one of the most popular Hollywood stars during the 1950s and early 1960s, and was a top-billed actress for the preceding decade. Her films had grossed $200 million by the time of her death

Monroe had suffered from mental illness and substance abuse, and she had not completed a film since The Misfits, released on February 1, 1961; the movie was a box-office disappointment.

Monroe had spent 1961 preoccupied with her various health problems, and in April 1962 had begun filming Something's Got to Give for 20th Century Fox, but the studio fired her in early June.

Fox publicly blamed Monroe for the production's problems, and in the weeks preceding her death she had attempted to repair her public image by giving several interviews to high-profile publications.

She also began negotiations with Fox on being re-hired for Something's Got to Give and for starring roles in other productions.

Monroe spent the last day of her life, August 4, at her home in Brentwood. She was accompanied at various times by publicist Patricia Newcomb, housekeeper Eunice Murray, photographer Lawrence Schiller and psychiatrist Ralph Greenson.

At Greenson's request, Murray stayed overnight to keep Monroe company. At approximately 3 a.m. on Sunday, August 5, Murray noticed that Monroe had locked herself in her bedroom and appeared unresponsive when she looked inside through a window.

Murray alerted Greenson, who arrived soon after, entered the room by breaking a window, and found Monroe dead. Her death was officially ruled a probable suicide by the Los Angeles County coroner's office, based on precedents of her overdosing and being prone to mood swings and suicidal ideation.

No evidence of foul play was found, and accidental overdose was ruled out because of the large amount of barbiturates she had ingested.

Despite the coroner's findings, several conspiracy theories suggesting murder or accidental overdose have been proposed since the mid-1960s.

Many of these involve U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, as well as union leader Jimmy Hoffa and mob boss Sam Giancana.

Because of the prevalence of these theories in the media, the office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney reviewed the case in 1982 but found no evidence to support them and did not disagree with the findings of the original investigation.

References:

^ Jump up to: Hertel, Howard; Neff, Don (August 6, 1962). "From the Archives: Marilyn Monroe Dies; Pills Blamed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 21, 2015.

^ Spoto 2001, pp. 328–329, 368–376; Churchwell 2004, p. 238; Banner 2012, pp. 211–214.

^ Jump up to: Banner 2012, p. 335.

^ "New data show how closely FBI monitored Marilyn Monroe". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved February 6, 2023.

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