American actress Marilyn Monroe was famous. She rose to prominence in the 1950s and the early 1960s as one of the most well-known sex icons and a symbol of the sexual revolution thanks to her humorous “blonde bombshell” roles.
By the time of her death in 1962, her films had made $200 million (the equivalent of $2 billion in 2021), making her a top-billed actress for a decade. Monroe has remained a significant pop culture symbol for a very long time.
She was named sixth on the American Film Institute’s list of the best female film legends from the Hollywood Golden Age in 1999. She was recognized as one of the top actors who had never been nominated for an Academy Award by The Guardian in 2009.
Cause of Marilyn Monroe’s Death
On Saturday, August 4, 1962, late in the evening at her Los Angeles, California house at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, Marilyn Monroe passed away from a barbiturate overdose. She had a 36-year-old age. On Sunday, August 5, her body was discovered just before sunrise.
She was a big sex symbol at the time, one of the most well-liked Hollywood stars of the 1950s and early 1960s, and a leading lady for ten years. By the time of her passing, $200 million had been made from Monroe’s movies.
Prior to her passing, Monroe had battled mental illness and addiction for a number of years. She had also not finished a movie since February 1, 1961’s underwhelming The Misfits. Monroe started filming Something’s Got to Give for 20th Century Fox in April 1962 after spending much of 1961 focused with her various health issues; however, the studio let her go in early June.
She was publicly criticized by the studio for the production’s issues, but in the weeks before she passed away, she made an effort to mend her reputation by giving multiple interviews to prominent magazines. Monroe also started negotiating with Fox to be re-hired for the production of Something’s Got to Give as well as for leading roles in other movies.
August 4, the day before she passed away, was spent at her Brentwood home. Publicist Patricia Newcomb, housekeeper Eunice Murray, photographer Lawrence Schiller, and psychiatrist Ralph Greenson were among those who frequently accompanied Elizabeth. Murray remained the night to keep Monroe company at Greenson’s request.
On Sunday, August 5, at around three in the morning, she observed that Monroe had locked herself in her bedroom and didn’t seem to be responding when she peered in through a window. Greenson was informed by Murray, who arrived shortly after, broke a window to enter the room, and discovered Monroe dead.
Based on prior instances of her overdosing and being prone to mood swings and suicidal ideas, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office officially declared her death to be a probable suicide. Due to the quantity of barbiturates she had consumed, accidental overdose was ruled out and there was no sign of foul play.
Joe DiMaggio, her ex-husband, organized her burial on August 8. It was held at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, and she was subsequently laid to rest in a tomb at the Corridor of Memories.
Since the middle of the 1960s, a number of conspiracies implying murder or unintentional overdose have been put forth, despite the coroner’s findings. Numerous of these involve former American president John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert, as well as Jimmy Hoffa, a union leader, and Sam Giancana, a crime boss.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office examined the case in 1982 due to the popularity of these hypotheses in the media, but they could not discover any evidence to back them up and did not differ with the conclusions of the initial inquiry.