The Death of Marilyn Monroe

On August 5, 1962, Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe was found dead by her housekeeper, Eunice Murray. It was around 4 a.m. The housekeeper said that she and Marilyn retired to their bedrooms late in the evening. Murray woke at 3 a.m and knocked on Marilyn's door. She said that the bedroom light shining from under the door prompted her to call Marilyn's doctor, Ralph Greenson. The doctor told her to go outside and look through Marilyn's window. She saw her lying there in "an unnatural position". She told the doctor. He came, and broke into the room, aware that Marilyn was dead.

Over the years, Eunice Murray changed her story. In a memoir, she would say that there was a telephone cord running under Marilyn's bedroom door. Her story underwent a more drastic change in 1985, when she would claim that Robert Kennedy was in the house at some point on Saturday and that Dr. Greenson arrived while Marilyn was still alive.

Sergeant Jack Clemmons of the LAPD was the first officer to arrive at the scene, having received a call at 4:25 telling him that Marilyn Monroe was dead. He arrived at 4:45 a.m. He said that the scene looked staged. "Marilyn was lying face down" he said "in what I call the 'soldier's position'. Her hands were by her side and her legs were stretched out perfectly straight. It was the most obviously staged death scene I have ever seen. The pill bottles on her bedside table had been arranged in neat order and the body deliberately positioned. It all looked too tidy" The maid was even doing laundry. Jack Clemmons would go to his grave believing that Marilyn was murdered.

Theories

Over the years, conspiracy theories surrounding Marilyn's death have multiplied. The official stance of the L.A coroner's office is suicide by overdosing on Nembutal. She had overdosed on pills four times before and was known to have sudden mood swings. The problem with this, however is that Marilyn was in good spirits at the time of her death, even allegedly making plans with Joe Dimaggio about their remarriage. Also, some forensic scientists have disputed the coroner's conclusion, saying that the Nembutal in her system had been digesting through out the day- not minutes or hours.

An "abnormal, anomalous discoloration of the colon" led some to believe in the 'accident theory', which says that Marilyn was given a prescribed dose of barbiturates via enema, probably by Eunice Murray, having already took other drugs. Allegedly, her doctor prescribed the chloral hydrate enema for Marilyn, not knowing about the Nembutal her internist had given her. Biographer Donald Spoto believes that the staging Jack Clemmons witnessed and the changing story of Eunice Murray can be traced to the cover-up of a deadly medical mistake that resulted in accidental murder.

There's another, more elaborate, more sinister theory that involves the President of the United States Jack Kennedy and his brother the Attorney General. Rumors of an affair between the President and Marilyn had been flying since the famous birthday song.

Some witnesses claimed they saw Robert Kennedy go to Marilyn's house the night that she died. Theories say that he was there to a) tell her that his brother, the President was breaking up with her or b) kill her, because she might embarrass the President with things that she knew.

Of course, this is entirely out of keeping with the Bobby Kennedy that everyone knew: a moral, buttoned-down man with high standards. His reputation as a sort of 'boy scout' remains untarnished to this day. Besides, why would the Attorney General of the most powerful nation on earth be delivering love letters for his brother, even if he was the President? Consider also, that JFK had numerous affairs over the years with many women, what's the use of killing one? Why would Bobby Kennedy be personally involved? Why a rectal enema?

It's an almost cartoonish scenario.

Another theory claims that the mob murdered Marilyn as revenge against Bobby Kennedy for his crackdowns on organized crime. It's unlikely that he had an affair with Marilyn and even more unlikely that the mob would have killed her with an enema.

What is Certain

Norma Jean Mortenson had an unhappy childhood. Her mother was mentally unstable. She never knew her father. She lived in and out of foster homes, orphanages and homes of relatives until she was sixteen, when she married James Dougherty to escape being sent back to the orphanage. She later described playing with the neighborhood kids until her husband called her home. Then, her career started. She became Marilyn Monroe, the dumb blonde, Hugh Hefner's clean little bunny- but that wasn't all her either.

Marilyn Monroe's favorite writers were Fyodor Dostoevsky, J.D Salinger. She liked Tennessee Williams and of course, Arthur Miller. She was interested in politics. Many things about her didn't fit the woman she portrayed on film. She tried to break out of the comedic role she often played. Had she lived, she might have been even more of a legend than she is today.

Wikipedia- Marilyn Monroe- www.wikipedia.com