Jordyn Kitching
1301 Composition
February 14, 2019
On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in Los Angeles (“Marilyn Monroe Is found dead” 1). Marilyn was an American actress, model, and singer. She was famous for playing comic “blonde bombshell” character, and she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s (“Marilyn Monroe, Wikipedia 1”). Many theories have been discovered since the day she died:
- Did the Mafia kill her?
Did she know too much about aliens?
Let’s examine the theories that she was killed by someone else instead of her apparent suicide.
Marilyn Monroe was orphaned and was born Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926, to a mentally unstable mother and an absent father (“Marilyn Monroe is found dead”1). Norma’s mother was an emotional wreck and frequently in and out of asylum’s, so Monroe was tossed in and out of foster homes and placed in an orphanage. In 1933, her mother bought a house and took Monroe to live with her, but, shortly after, she had the first of a series of mental crisis (Wild 1). Marilyn became a ward of the state (1). Her mother’s best friend, Grace, was appointed as her guardian (1).
After two years, Grace married and sent Norma to Los Angeles Orphans Home (Wild 1). In a 1962 interview, Marilyn recalled her immediate reaction to the orphanage: “I began to cry, ‘Please, please don’t make me go inside. I’m not an orphan, my mother’s not dead. I’m not an orphan—it's just that she’s sick in the hospital and can’t take care of me. Please don’t make me live in an orphans’ home.” (Marilyn Monroe’s Early Life” 1). Chris Wild argues that:
Several people showed interest in adopting Norma, but her mother Gladys would not sign the papers. After a time in further foster homes, Norma returned to live with Grace and her husband “Doc”. Allegedly, Doc attempted to sexually assault Norma, so Grace moved the girl to live with her great-aunt Olive in California. Again, Norma was the victim of a sexual assault, allegedly by Olive’s son. Grace sent Norma to live with another aunt, Ana Lower. It may have been Ana’s ill health that forced another move, this time back to Grace and her husband in 1942, when Norma was 16. When Grace and Doc had to move, they decided not to take Norma, who was in a relationship with a neighbor’s son, Jim Dougherty. In order to keep Norma out of foster care, Norma and Jim married. They divorced a few years later (Wild 1).
Marilyn often painted a dark portrait of her two years in the orphanage, giving the impression that it was much harsher than it really was. An article stated that: “She claimed that she had to wash 100 cups, 100 plates, and 100 knives, forks, and spoons three times a day, seven days a week. For her efforts, she received five cents a month, four of which went into the collection plate at church” (Doll 2). Later, officials would dispute her version of daily life at the orphanage, pointing out that the children were regimented to certain tasks and that great pains were taken to make the children feel they were part of one, big, happy family (Doll 2).
Marilyn Monroe was talented. In the 1940’s, Norma signed a short-term contract with the 20th Century Fox, taking as her screen name Marilyn Monroe (“Marilyn Monroe is found dead”1):
Norma’s ability to pose before the camera from the very beginning of her career has been widely acknowledged, though where that ability came from remains a mystery. She was simply blessed with a natural charisma, as many biographers have assumed? Or, had she been working on her appearance because of a secret desire for a more glamorous career, as some including-- Jim Dougherty—have suggested? (Doll 4)
An article by Doll reported that: “Models ask me how they can be like Marilyn Monroe and I say to them, honey, I say to them, if you can show half the gumption, just half, that little girl showed, you’ll be a success too... there’ll never be another like her” (Doll 4).
Norma’s ability to magically transform herself before the camera will probably never be fully explained; perhaps it is an injustice to her to try (Doll 4). Billy Wilder said:
She had a kind of elegant vulgarity about her. That, I think, was very important. And she automatically knew where the joke was. She did not discuss it. She came up for the first rehearsal, and she was perfect, when she remembered the line. She could do a 3-page dialogue scene perfectly, and then get stuck on a line like, “It’s me, Sugar” ... But if she showed up, she delivered, and it took 80 takes, I lived with 80 takes, because the 81st was very good. (Sheila 1)
There’s lots of evidence to prove that Marilyn Monroe was orphaned as a child but managed to overcome the odds and became a celebrity.
August 5, 1962, a lifeless Marilyn Monroe lies naked, face down on her bed with a telephone receiver in hand and an empty bottle of Nembutal beside her in her Brentwood, Los Angeles guesthouse (Mitchell 1). The official cause of the 36-year-old’s death was “probable suicide”, but 55 years later, conjecture about what really happened is as strong as ever with new conspiracy theories continuing to materialize and old ones still being scrutinized (Mitchell 1).
The first conspiracy theory proposes that the Kennedys did it. Just two-and-a-half months after her famously sultry performance of “Happy Birthday” at President John F Kennedy’s forty-fifth birthday on May 19, 1962, at Madison Square Garden, Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortenson, would be dead (Mitchell 1).
Kennedy and his younger brother US attorney General Robert F Kennedy feature heavily in several Monroe murder conspiracies. In 2007, Australian filmmaker Philippe More discovered a partially redacted FBI document that suggests Robert Kennedy, also said to have had an affair with Monroe like his more famous brother, “may have been complicit in a plot to “induce” her suicide” (Mitchell 1). Also implicated is Kennedy’s then brother-in-law and rat packer actor Peter Lawford as the conspiracy’s lead, Monroe’s psychiatrist Dr Ralph Greenson, housekeeper Eunice Murray and agent Pat Newcomb (1).
The depressive Monroe, who had struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, had been known to seek attention by staging suicide attempts and the document suggests she was given the means to do so- the barbiturate seconal- by the alleged conspirators but was then left to die (Mitchell 1).
As many theories have claimed before, the FBI file infers the alleged plot was carried out to silence Monroe, who had threatened to reveal her affairs with the Kennedy brothers (Mitchell 1). Monroe was also thought to be a liability, allegedly keeping records of conversations detailing highly confidential government information in a “little red book” (1). 
The second conspiracy suggests that the Mafia did it. Another sensational Bobby Kennedy theory materialized with the allegation of renowned wire tapper Bernard Spindel, who had bugged Monroe’s house possibly on the orders of crooked union leader Jimmy Hoffa or Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana (Mitchell 1). Despite reported sightings of him in LA and entering her house, Kennedy stated he was in San Francisco on the night of Monroe’s death. But Spindel claims to have heard Kennedy and Monroe fighting that night with Lawford present, followed by a loud bang, thought to be the moment of her death (1). The recordings were reportedly seized and destroyed in 1966 (Mitchell 1). But Porter said, a lot of people had a lot to lose if Marilyn spoke out, she was making a lot of dangerous statements and didn’t realize she was playing with the big boys (1). I think Marilyn got in over her head (1). 
Porter believes five Mafia hit men were responsible for her murder on the order of Giancana, using a washcloth drenched in chloroform, then stripping Monroe and giving her a barbiturate enema (Mitchell 1). The author states that “In another twist, Porter posits it could also have been one of the Kennedys that hired the Mob boss to get rid of Monroe” (1).
The last conspiracy theory points to how she knew too much about aliens (Mitchell 1). One of the nuttier theories is discussed in new documentary “Unacknowledged” by conspiracy theorist Dr Steven Greer, who claims Monroe was murdered by the CIA because she knew the truth about Roswell and planned to reveal all (1). In the film, Greer produces what he says is a classified CIA memo written just two days before Monroe’s death (1).
In the alleged memo that Greer believes refers to the storied Roswell UFO crash in New Mexico in 1947, JFK is said to have told Monroe he witnessed evidence of “things from outer space” at a secret air base (Mitchell 1). Greer says:
We have a number of smoking gun documents, including a wiretap of Marilyn Monroe the day before she died, which has never been declassified. She was threatening to hold a press conference to tell the world what Jack Kennedy had told her during pillow talk about having seen debris from an extraterrestrial vehicle at what the document calls a “secret air base.” She was murdered for this. (Mitchell 1)
Marilyn Monroe’s life and death are riddled with mystery, lies, deception, and plenty of plausible motives for wanting her killed. Oddly, her autopsy demonstrated that there was no pill residue found in her stomach, indicating that she had received the drugs in some other manner. Toxicology samples from her liver were taken but never tested. If there is more to the official story, there are too many conflicting narratives from people long dead to ever know the truth. This leads to one of the greatest pop-culture mysteries of all time, creating a fertile breeding ground for conspiracy theorists. Which theory do you believe? Was it a suicide or was she murdered? (English 1). The initial police report stated that the death of Marilyn Monroe may have been accidental, though an investigation soon likewise concluded that it was probable suicide (Dimuro 1).
"Billy Wilder on Marilyn Monroe: “She Had a Kind of Elegant Vulgarity.”." The Sheila Variations, www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=3837.
Dimuro, Gina. "The Death Of Marilyn Monroe: Accident, Suicide, Or Murder?" All That's Interesting, 27 Mar. 2019, allthatsinteresting.com/marilyn-monroe-death.
"Marilyn Monroe's Early Life." HowStuffWorks, 29 Aug. 2007, entertainment.howstuffworks.com/marilyn-monroe-early-life.htm.
“Mitchell, Jim 4 Conspiracy Theories About the Death of Marilyn Monroe." Guide, 24 July 2017, www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2017/07/24/4-conspiracy-theories-about-death-marilyn-monroe.
Trevor English “Do You Believe the Marilyn Monroe Murder Conspiracy?" Curiosity.com, curiosity.com/topics/do-you-believe-the-marilyn-monroe-murder-conspiracy-curiosity/.
Wild, Chris. "A Young Marilyn Monroe with Her Mother at the Beach." Mashable, 1 Mar. 2015, mashable.com/2015/03/01/marilyn-monroe-child/#oD1ZL1QJtPq5.
HowStuffWorks.com. <https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/marilyn-monroe-early-life.htm> 5 March 2019
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