Biography:
American actress, outstandingly famous as a sex symbol and subject of a
lush nude calendar, photographed on 5/27/1949.
Marilyn was born in the charity ward of the Los Angeles General
Hospital. Both her mom and her grandmom suffered from mental illness,
probably manic depression. She maintained that one of her earliest
memories was that of her mom trying to smother her with a pillow. Her mom
paid a couple $25 a week to take care of her and she lived with these
foster parents until she was seven. After her mom was hospitalized with a
breakdown, Norma Jean was placed in an orphanage and a series of foster
homes, where she was sexually assaulted several times. She later said she
had been raped when she was 11.
She left school with a youthful and short marriage at the age of 15 to
merchant marine James Dougherty. Only 5' 1", she matured early into a
shapely 110 lbs. Deeply insecure about her abilities, she was chronically
late. When astrologer Richard Ideman remarked that New York was a lonely
town, she said, "Any town is lonely when you don't know who you
are." She had, nonetheless, a sly wit; once asked by a reporter what
she wore to bed, she replied "Chanel No.5." Her drug and alcohol
dependency was long-standing and well known among her intimates.
Marilyn made a second marriage to baseball player Joe DiMaggio, then to
writer Arthur Miller. She was romantically involved at one time or another
to Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Yves Montand and director Elia Kazan.
Hundreds of biographies have been written about her by everyone from
her lovers to her plumber. One lesbian relationship was related in a
biography by her maid.
Historians find no documented evidence that Marilyn had an affair with
Robert Kennedy, though there is credible evidence that she was intimate
with John Kennedy, starting sometime in the 1950s. By the '60s, the
relationships was so obvious that aides warned him to be more discreet.
During the Thousand Days of his administration they continued to meet,
though not at the White House, and she told her friends about the trysts.
She met Robert Kennedy in February 1962 and many reports state that he
soon shared her favors. By early summer she was telling friends that he
would marry her. They were together at the home of Peter Lawford in late
June and then, suddenly, both brothers cut her off and she was told to not
contact either of them again. She began trying, without success, to reach
Bobby by phone. She slumped into a deep depression, survived a drug
overdose and told friends she had had an abortion. A close friend later
recalled that "she looked like death."
The gossip continued for years that she was intimate with both Kennedy
men and that they were involved in her death. She possessed handwritten
notes from Bobby and had kept a diary. She was privy to numerous secrets
about the Kennedy's and their underworld connections. Moreover, she was
unstable and might talk at any time. A world-famed celebrity, the actress
had the power to do incalculable damage to the Kennedy image.
Monroe died of a drug overdose on 8/05/1962, Hollywood, CA. The prior
night she had called Lawford about 10:00 PM, expressing fear that she had
taken too many sleeping pills. She died sometime that night and about 3:00
AM, her housekeeper called her psychiatrist. She was found in her bed,
nude, with a telephone in her hand. At 4:25 AM the housekeeper called the
police. Her diary and personal notes were never found.
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