Marilyn: Portrait of a Legend (1992) - full transcript

[dramatic music]

["Candle In The Wind]

♪ Goodbye, Norma Jean

♪ Though I never
knew you at all ♪

♪ You had the grace
to hold yourself ♪

♪ When those around
you crawled ♪

♪ They crawled out
of the woodwork ♪

♪ And they whispered
into your brain ♪

♪ They set you on a treadmill

♪ And they made you
change your name ♪

♪ And it seems to me



♪ You lived your life like
a candle in the wind ♪

♪ Never knowing who cling to

♪ When the rain set in

♪ And I would've like
to have known you ♪

♪ But I was just a kid

♪ Your candle burned
out long before ♪

♪ Your legend ever did

♪ Loneliness was tough

♪ The toughest role
you ever played ♪

♪ Hollywood created
a superstar ♪

♪ And pain was the
price you paid ♪

♪ And even when you died

♪ Oh, the press
still hounded you ♪

♪ All the papers had to say



♪ Was that Marilyn was
found in the nude ♪

♪ And it seems to me

♪ You lived your life like
a candle in the wind ♪

♪ Never knowing who cling to

♪ When the rain set in

♪ And I would've liked
to have known you ♪

♪ But I was just a kid

♪ Your candle burned
out long before ♪

♪ Your legend ever did

♪ Goodbye, Norma Jean

♪ Though I never
knew you at all ♪

♪ You had the grace
to hold yourself ♪

♪ While those
around you crawled ♪

♪ Goodbye, Norma Jean

♪ From the young
man in the 2nd row ♪

♪ Who sees you as something
more than sexual ♪

♪ More than just
our Marilyn Monroe ♪

♪ And it seems to me

♪ You lived your life like
a candle in the wind ♪

♪ Never knowing
who to cling to ♪

♪ When the rain set in

♪ And I would've liked
to have known you ♪

♪ But I was just a kid

♪ Your candle burned
out long before ♪

♪ Your legend ever did

♪ Your candle burned
out long before ♪

♪ Your legend ever did

[dramatic music]

- It all began in Los
Angeles, California

in the charity ward
of county hospital.

The file number was 149502.

The mother's name, Gladys Baker,

the mother's last name
from a broken marriage.

The child was named Norma Jean.

The birth certificate
carried the name Mortenson.

It was a fake.

Norma Jean was illegitimate.

But history was being
written this June 1st,

for this unwelcomed baby
would go from obscurity

to be desired by millions.

This misbegotten
ward of the court

would turn the heads
of kings and queens,

marry an internationally
acclaimed author

and a sports superstar,

hobnob with the jet set,

meet mafia bosses, the
nation's Attorney General,

and shake the very
foundations of the White House

and the family of the
President of the United States.

She became the
beloved of millions.

But one too many
got next to her.

Was it suicide or murder?

- Marilyn took my
advice on many occasions

during the 16 year period
that we knew each other.

There were many times
that she didn't take it.

I would say the most
crucial time that she

did not take my advice
was on the Friday night

before her death when
she telephoned me

and I was back east
and she told me about

a press conference that
she was going to have

to announce her affairs
with Bobby Kennedy

and Jack Kennedy
on Monday morning,

if she could not reach Bobby
Kennedy over that weekend,

which, of course, she was
very unsuccessful in doing.

And I told her to forget that

and she mentioned the fact
that she had the diary

of everything Bobby
Kennedy had told her

and I told her that was
a walking time bomb.

And I said do yourself a favor,

get rid of the diary, don't
hold the press conference,

and forget the
Kennedys completely.

They're out of your life
now, don't pull 'em back in.

And, of course,
she didn't do that

and she ended up dead
on Saturday night.

- Robert Slatzer, film
director and author,

was married to Marilyn
for a short period

in her early days in Hollywood

and remained her
friend and confidant

until her untimely death.

- This pretty girl came with
a nice shape, I might add,

came through the revolving
door and the door

sort of hit her in the back,
in the derriere, I might say,

and she dropped this great
big scrapbook she had.

And she didn't have
a sophisticated book

that had a big zipper around
it like you see today,

like you see girls carry who
are models and actresses,

it was literally
an old scrapbook,

it was tied together with string

and it fell on the floor,

pictures went all
directions and the meantime,

she almost tore off
part of her heel

by getting through the
door when that happened.

So, I was sitting
there and I sorta

came to the rescue, and I
helped her put the pictures

back in place and everything.

And before she was
called for her interview

that she was out there to see,

which was her first
time at a studio,

I got her phone number, she
got mine where I was staying

at the old Hollywood
Plaza Hotel that time,

and we made a dinner
date that night

and that was the beginning
of what was to become

a 16-year relationship.

- Hollywood in the late 1930s
was called Heartbreak City

due to the number of
young ladies that arrived

with stardom in their eyes
and a dollar in their pockets.

Tinseltown had more pretty
waitresses waiting for

their big break than
the the total number of

executives and technicians
in all of the studios.

The few who did make it
were the toast of the town

and the imaginary
sweethearts of the world.

Norma Jean didn't have to take
a train or bus to Hollywood,

she went to high school in
the shadow of the giants,

MGM, Warners, Fox,
RKO, Paramount.

The blossoming teenager
went to the movies

at every opportunity.

Her favorite was the blonde
bombshell Jean Harlow.

- You know we drink that water?

- Stop! Gee, can't a girl take
a bath in privacy without...

Oh, good morning.

- Red Dust.

Storm-lashed story of
passions that fever

ached in the steaming
melee jungle.

- Jean Harlow fan away
from home at the age of 16.

Norma Jean, the
future Marilyn Monroe,

escaped into marriage at 16.

- Jim Dougherty, who was the
first person to marry Marilyn,

that marriage was sort of
a marriage of convenience

because when the
foster home people,

the people who had the
foster home that were

raising Marilyn, were leaving
to go back to Kentucky.

Why, Marilyn would had
to've do one of two things,

she'd either have to get married

or she'd have to
go to an orphanage.

And that's the way the
law read in California

back in 1942.

And so the marriage
to James Dougherty was

a marriage of convenience.

James Dougherty was a neighbor
of the foster home people

where Marilyn lived at the time.

And that marriage, of
course, came to an end

when Dougherty went to
the Merchant Marines

back around 1943,

and Marily divorced
him around 1946

while he was still on a ship
over in the Indian Ocean.

- Shortly after the marriage,
Norma Jean went to work

in an aircraft factory
owned by the actor,

inventor, Reginald Denny.

It was here she took
up a modeling career.

The legend was about to begin.

["Candle In The Wind"]

- She began posing for
some of these magazines,

which, at the time, were
considered quite risque.

They were magazines
like Tit & Titter

and See & Show

and magazines, at that
time, that you wouldn't want

on your coffee table at home.

- Then an major
advertising agency gave her

a motion picture assignment.

A gas commercial.

- I call her Cynthia.

She's going to have the
best care a car ever had.

Put Royal Triton in
Cynthia's little tummy.

- Right, lady.

- Cynthia will just
love that Royal Triton.

- She did become noticed
by the studio, basically,

by her exposure of the cover
of one of these magazine.

When Howard Hughes,
back in 1946,

was in his near-tragic airplane
crash in Beverly Hills,

he was in his hospital bed

and he was looking through
a series of these magazines

and looking at the
pretty girls and so forth

and he saw Marilyn.

And he had one of his
people contact the agency,

which was a Blue Book
Modeling Company,

which was located over at
the old Ambassador Hotel

at that time, and he wanted
to know who that girl was

and he wanted her to
report to RKO pictures,

which he owned.

And the agent used that
as a bartering situation,

so to speak, and ended
up getting her over to

Darryl Zanuck at Fox

instead of Hugh's right
hand person over at RKO.

So that magazine exposure
did springboard her

into what became her
first screen test.

- You come here for?

- To tell you you
can't stay here.

If those gorillas find you
here, what happens to them?

Nothing? They're just
going to leave them alone?

What's the matter
with you, Benny?

You can't take such a chance.

- You dumb broad.
You stupid little-

- What's the matter?

- They followed you here, or
did you bring them with ya?

I oughta-

- Go ahead, it won't
be the first time

I've been worked over today.

- Norma Jean signed
a one-year contract

with 20th Century
Fox and was provided

with a new name, Marilyn Monroe.

She reluctantly agreed
to the name change.

Her first assignment was
a bit part in the film

"Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!"

She ended up on the
cutting room floor.

Her first appearance on the
screen was as a waitress

in "The Dangerous Years."

At the end of the year,
Fox dropped her contract.

Studio executives saw no
potential in this young girl.

For a few moments she was
shattered by being fired.

But, typical of Marilyn,
she shook her head,

set her jaw, and said,
in Hollywood you're never

out of work, just
in between pictures.

Marilyn made the
rounds of the studios,

finally being hired
by Columbia pictures

for a part in "The
Ladies Of The Chorus."

♪ We're the ladies
of the chorus ♪

♪ Here to sing and
dance for you ♪

♪ Our flirty, flirty eyes
will wink in your direction ♪

♪ We will throw you all a kiss

♪ That's filled with
sweet affection ♪

♪ Anyone can see I love you

♪ Anyone can see I care

♪ The way I hold your hand
and smile in your direction ♪

♪ Tells the world
my heart is filled ♪

♪ With nothing but affection

♪ Lock me in your arms forever

♪ That's the place
I want to be ♪

♪ So anyone can see

♪ That I belong to you
and you belong to me ♪

- The job at Columbia
was short-lived.

They dropped her.

She was called for a
one-film assignment

in "Love Happy"
with Groucho Marx.

Her part was a beautiful,
dumb, sexy blonde.

And a Hollywood
tattoo was applied.

She became typecast.

- Is there anything
I can do for ya?

What a ridiculous statement.

- Mr. Grunion, I
want you to help me.

- I've a little sand left,
what seems to be the trouble?

- Some men are following me.

- Really? I can't
understand why.

- 20th Century Fox was
headed by Darryl Zanuck,

who ran the studio
with an iron hand

and little, if any,
compassion for his employees.

An actor was only as good
as the amount of profit

from his or her last film.

Zanuck was the boss,
the hatchet man,

and many an actor quaked in
their boots or high heels

when they saw him on the lot.

Robert Slatzer was summoned
into Zanuck's office

after marrying
Marilyn in Mexico.

- He said, here's a
girl that we've invested

a million dollars in so far,

and the people around the
world, especially the men,

they'll see her pictures
in the newspapers

and in the newsreels,

they visualize
themselves as being

someday married or
someday possibly

with Marilyn Monroe
or meeting her.

He said this is a girl that we
portray as the young, pretty

blue-eyed blonde that
sits home on Friday

and Saturday nights waiting
for the phone to ring

and waiting for that
Prince Charming to come in

and sweep her off her feet
and give her that house

with the picket fence around it

and children and so forth.

Well, this was the farthest
thing from Marilyn's mind

that she ever wanted.

But this was Zanuck's big spiel.

So he said, it's her
career, it's not yours.

And he said, we just
don't want her married

and I think that the two
of you should seriously

consider what you've done.

So we walked out of the office

and we spent the night talking
about it, and so forth,

and, to make a long story
short, about a day later,

two days later, we
drove down to Tijuana,

we looked up the attorney,
we took the piece of paper,

which he was supposed to
file in the courthouse,

which had not been filed
yet, along with many others,

and we bought it back,
I think we paid $50

at that time in American
money, which was quite a bit

of money in 1952 in Mexico.

And he wouldn't give it back
to us because he claimed

it might cause something
to his reputation

down there in Mexico.

And Marilyn wanted
it, I wanted it,

and we got into a argument
over the whole thing.

So, finally, he took a
great big stick match

and he held it up and he lit
the match to the piece of paper

and it burned up and as
we sat there, we watched

our marriage, so to speak,
in writing, go up in flames.

And as Marilyn later on
would say to friends of hers

that joked about a four
or five-day marriage,

she used to say,
well, it lasted longer

than most Broadway Shows.

Well, he tried to
control everybody he had.

I know that one time I
was talking to Henry Fonda

and Henry Fonda was
very angry one day

and he stomped into
Zanuck's office

and I'm going back into the
late '40s when this happened,

and he sounded off to
Zanuck and Zanuck sat there

and listened to everything for
about three or four minutes

and finally Zanuck
stood up and spoke

and he scared the
pants off of Fonda

and Fonda was terrified every
time he'd bump into Zanuck,

he would just almost avoid
him if they were going down,

if they were walking towards
each other in the studio lot,

he would take a shortcut
and go someplace else.

But Zanuck was actually feared.

He was typical of the
tyrants that ran the studios

in those days, like
Louis B. Mayer at MGM,

you had Harry Cohn at Columbia,

you had Jack Warner
over at Warner Brothers,

and Zanuck at Fox.

And Zanuck was feared.

He was a little man but
he smoked a big cigar

and he wielded a big club
and he could blackball people

and do a lot to people
that is almost unspeakable.

- Johnny Hyde saw the
potential of Marilyn,

which Fox and Columbia
Studios had overlooked.

In 1950, she went to
work on her fourth film,

"A Ticket To Tomahawk."

Although the role was a
minor one, she did grace

a song and dance number with
the film's star, Dan Dailey.

The important parts Marilyn's
new agent, boyfriend,

and mentor, Johnny Hyde,
was seeking for Marilyn

were finally realized.

Hyde succeeded in
having Marilyn cast

in John Huston's film,
"The Asphalt Jungle."

The role proved to
be a breakthrough.

The public began to
take notice of her.

The crime drama cast
Marilyn as the mistress

of the much older Rudy Calhern,

who introduces the
seductive blonde to everyone

in the picture as his niece.

In 1950 the revelation
that the young girl

was Calhern's mistress
was not permissible.

Johnny Hyde next obtained
a role for Marilyn

in "All About Eve."

The picture was a
triumph for Bette Davis.

Davis' screen career was lagging

and her portrayal as a
once-great actress whose career

was on the decline became
a comeback film for her.

In "All About Eve",
Marilyn again appeared

with an older man,
George Sanders.

This time she was referred
to as Sanders' protege,

although, once again,
it was clearly evident

that she was Sanders' mistress.

With two convincing
performances behind her,

Johnny Hyde was now able
to arrange a longer term

contract with 20th
Century Fox Studios.

This was to be his last
effort on Marilyn's behalf.

He died in December of 1950.

In her next films,
she continued to play

seductive blondes
filled with bad intent.

In "The Fireball" she's a woman
interested in Mickey Rooney,

but only because he's a
celebrated roller skating champ.

On a studio loan-out
to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,

Marilyn appears in a small
part as Dick Powell's

nightclub date in "Right Cross."

She received no screen credit
whatsoever in the film.

While on loan to MGM,
she also played secretary

to Jeffrey Lynn in
"Home Town Story."

Essentially, she was window
dressing to the film,

dressed in a tight-fitting
sweater throughout the movie.

Returning to 20th Century Fox,

Marilyn continued to be
cast as the sexy blonde.

In "As Young As You Feel", she
again portrayed a secretary

in a role incidental
to the film's plot.

Marilyn film roles
were expanded,

concurrent with the public's
growing interest in her.

But while Marilyn was being
given more on-screen time,

the studio kept Marilyn
confined to films

of a lesser stature.

In "Love Nest", she
was an ex-Army WAC

and the love interest
of Jack Paar.

However, her romance was
but one of many subplots.

"Let's Make It Legal",
similarly, cast
her in a minor role

as a beautiful blonde who uses

her physical attributes
to advance herself.

A publicity blitz which
started to gain momentum

in 1952 would never slow.

Scandal, variety
stories, exposed details

of her nude photo sessions,
as well as reports

of her mother's confinement
in mental institutions.

Taking note of the
surge of publicity,

Marilyn was cast in her
most important role,

"Clash By Night."

She held her own
alongside seasoned stars,

Barbara Stanwyck
and Robert Ryan.

"We're Not Married!"
co-mingled Marilyn

in a multi-plot comedy as one
of several women who learn

they are not legally married.

Finally, with the release
of "Don't Bother To Knock",

Marilyn was given star billing
opposite Richard Widmark.

Marilyn was cast as a
psychotic babysitter.

The Howard Hawks' film,
"Monkey Business",

a madcap comedy starring
Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers,

signaled the end of
Marilyn's supporting roles.

During the making of the
film, she was introduced

to a celebrity
visiting the movie set,

baseball star, Joe DiMaggio.

Following a cameo walk-on
in O. Henry's "Full House",

Marilyn found herself
a full-fledged star,

as she headlined Niagara,
a suspenseful thriller

that saw Marilyn as
an adulterous wife
of Joseph Cotten.

The film version of the hit
musical Broadway comedy,

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes",
was a property in which

the most important
actresses in Hollywood

wanted to participate.

The coveted role of
Lorelei went to Marilyn.

Appearing opposite Jane Russell,

the film grossed
millions for the studio.

Marilyn's salary
totaled $18,000.

Marilyn replaced Betty Grable
as the top film goddess

at 20th Century Fox in "How
To Marry A Millionaire."

Betty Grable's career had been
waning and Marilyn's rising.

[big band jazz music]

- Yes, just watch the fur fly
as the most talked about girls

in Hollywood go out
loaded for big game.

Monroe, Grable, and Bacall.

Adding their own
wonderful dimensions

the the eye-filling
dimensions of CinemaScope.

Letting you in on the grand
and glorious adventures

of three fascinating females,
who pool their beauty

in the greatest plot against
mankind since Helen of Troy,

Marie Antoinette,
and Venus de Milo.

[big band jazz music]

["Candle In The Wind"]

- Marilyn resented being cajoled

into appearing in the picture.

Feeling the sting of
"River Of No Return",

she flatly refused to
appear in the film titled

"Girl In The Pink Tights."

The studio responded by
placing her on suspension

and Marilyn countered
this move by marrying

Joe DiMaggio on
January 14, 1954.

Their wedding was an
international event.

Their honeymoon, which
took them to Japan,

began as a dash for
privacy but became a series

of welcoming riots.

While Joe stayed alone in Tokyo,

Marilyn went on to entertain
the troops in Korea.

Waves of frenzied
approval greeted her.

It was, she said,
like an embrace.

[audience applauding]
[audience cheering]

♪ But diamonds are a
girl's best friend ♪

[audience applauding]
[audience cheering]

- Back in Hollywood,
the quickening tempo

of Marilyn's career brought
her the leading role

in "The Seven Year Itch."

The arc lights and movie
stardom would blank out

the cozy, candlelit
home-cooked dinners Joe wanted.

For Marilyn, it would be
easier to please the crowd.

- She felt very,
very uncomfortable

with the image of
Marilyn Monroe.

I remember her saying even
to me at times when she was

very, very upset with things
at the studio going on,

she would just put her
hands up in the air

and wring her fists
and she would just say,

I just wish I could be
Norma Jean all over again.

- Another tune-filled
CinemaScope musical was next

for Marilyn, "There's No
Business Like Show Business."

Marilyn didn't care for
the script or the picture

so the studio agreed
to give her the lead

in the film version of
the smash Broadway hit,

"The Seven Year Itch",
if she appeared in

"There's No Business
Like Show Business."

As the upstairs
neighbor of Tom Ewell in

"The Seven Year Itch", Marilyn
threatens the man's fidelity,

but even more threatened was
the stability of Marilyn's

real-life marriage.

Joe DiMaggio resented the
furor created when his wife

appeared in the famous
"Seven Year Itch" scene

where her dress is
blown up by the air

rushing through a
sidewalk grating.

Marilyn's attorney,
Jerry Giesler,

announced her
divorce in late 1954.

- Miss Monroe will have
nothing to say this morning.

All I can say as
her attorney is that

this is what we would say
was a conflict of careers.

- Following her divorce,
Marilyn placed herself

in a self-imposed
exile in New York.

She spent several months
studying her craft

before returning to Hollywood
to appear in "Bus Stop."

- I'd rather say that I
have director approval

and that is true.

- Don't you think
it's important?

- Yes, it is, it's
very important to me.

- You're wearing a
high-neck dress now,

the last time I saw
you, you weren't.

Is this a new
Marilyn, a new style?

- No, I'm the same person,
but it's a different suit.

[all laughing]

The film version of William
Inge's play, "Bus Stop",

is quite possibly Marilyn's
finest film performance.

As a saloon singer with
higher aspirations,

she falls in love
with a simple cowboy,

played by Don Murray.

Following "Bus Stop",
Marilyn formed her own

production company to produce
feature films and announced

her intentions to wed
playwright Arthur Miller.

While in New York, she had
dated the then-married Miller.

- Could you tell us
what kind of a wedding

you're going to have?

- Very quiet, I hope.

- Do you feel certain at
this time that you will

be able to get away
to go to England?

- I feel certain I'm
gonna try awfully hard.

- In the event that
you are not able to go,

will Miss Monroe still go?

- Oh, sure, she's got to go,
she's got a contract to go.

- Well, that means
you may not have

a honeymoon together then.

- I think we will.

- I hope so.

- Very soon after
their marriage, the
couple flew to England

to begin work on "The
Prince And The Showgirl."

The prince being
Sir Laurence Olivier

and, of course,
Marilyn was the dancer.

The plot basically concerned

their two different
worlds romance.

By the time the production
ended, Olivier and Marilyn

were no longer on
speaking terms.

One of Marilyn's more
pleasant memories

of the trip to Europe was
being presented to the Queen.

Upon returning to Hollywood,
Marilyn had been offered

the unique opportunity to
portray her childhood idol,

Jean Harlow, in
a film biography.

While Marilyn was eager
to approach the role,

Arthur Miller persuaded her
to turn down the opportunity.

Marilyn did play a blonde of
Jean Harlow's era, however,

in "Some Like It Hot."

Although the film was beset
with production problems,

"Some Like It Hot" remains
one of the greatest comedies

of all times.

♪ Carefree mind all
the time, never blue ♪

♪ Always goin',
don't know where ♪

♪ Always showin' I don't care

♪ Don't love nobody

♪ It's not worthwhile

♪ All alone

♪ Runnin wild

- Following her triumph
in "Some Like It Hot",

Marilyn appeared in her
least successful film,

"Let's Make Love."

Marilyn's fourth marriage
was also in trouble.

Arthur Miller was growing
cold towards Marilyn.

To additionally signal the
end of their relationship,

Marilyn engaged in a quick
but openly publicized affair

with her "Let's Make
Love" costar Yves Montand.

On July 18, 1960,
Marilyn Monroe began work

on her last completed
film, "The Misfits."

The film would also be
her costar's final film.

- Why are you killing him?

- Just stand aside, honey.

- I'll tell you why.

[shouting over each other]

- Get out of here!

[wind blowing]

[horse whinnies]

- Murderer!

You liar!

You're only happy when
you can see something die!

Why don't you kill
yourself and be happy?

You and your God's country.

Freedom! I pity you!

You're three dear,
sweet dead men!

Horse killers! Murderers!

[screams] I pity you!

- Clark Gable would die
two and a half months

before the film was released.

Pressures during the shooting
of the film were intense.

Tensions between Miller and
Marilyn were equally steamy.

As pressure mounted,
Marilyn suffered a breakdown

and returned to a
hospital in Los Angeles,

where she remained
for two weeks.

Ultimately, the film ran
40 days over schedule.

Clark Gable died 12 days
after the film's completion.

Gable's widow accused Marilyn
of creating such stress

for the man as to have brought
about his heart failure.

Prior to the film's release
on January 31, 1961,

Marilyn's marriage to Arthur
Miller ended in divorce.

To compound her personal
problems, Marilyn began to turn

more frequently than ever to
alcohol and prescribed drugs.

Marilyn committed herself
to a psychiatric clinic

in New York in an
effort to rid herself

of chemical dependencies.

Upon her release
from the hospital,

she spent time
recuperating in California.

During this period of her life,
she became acquainted with

both President John F. Kennedy

and Attorney General
Robert Kennedy.

- In my own opinion as to why
Marilyn Monroe got involved

with the Kennedys, that's
Jack Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy

at different times, was
the fact that she was

fascinated with them.

I think that she was very
much in awe over their power.

And the fact that here's the
President of the United States

or the senator of the
United States pursuing you.

And on the other hand,
here's Bobby Kennedy,

the Attorney General
for the United States,

the highest legal
office in the nation.

- Numerous literary sources
have alleged Marilyn

had an affair with
the President.

As the oft repeated story
goes, Robert Kennedy became

involved with Marilyn at the
request of President Kennedy.

He felt their relationship
was drawing attention.

In April of 1962, Marilyn
was back before the cameras

at 20th Century Fox, working
at a lighthearted comedy,

"Something's Got To Give."

As in the past, Marilyn
began causing expensive

production delays on the film.

Infuriated executives
at 20th Century Fox

placed her on suspension.

On May 19, 1962,
Marilyn appeared

at a Madison Square
Garden birthday party

held to honor President Kennedy.

- On this occasion
of your birthday,

this lovely lady is not only
pulchritudinous but punctual.

Mr. President, Marilyn Monroe.

[audience applauding]
[audience cheering]

A woman about whom

it truly may be said, she
needs no introduction.

Let me just say

here she is.

But I'll give her an
introduction anyway.

Mr. President, because in
the history of show business,

perhaps there has
been no one female

who meant so much,
who has done more-

[audience applauding]

Mr. President, the
late Marilyn Monroe.

[audience applauding]

♪ Happy birthday to you

♪ Happy birthday to you

♪ Happy birthday,
Mr. President ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you

[audience applauding]

♪ Thanks, Mr. President

♪ For all the
things you've done ♪

♪ The battles that you've won

♪ The way you deal
with U.S. Steel ♪

♪ And our problems by the ton

♪ We thank you so much

Everybody! Happy birthday!

- Ladies and gentlemen, the
President of the United States.

[audience applauding]
[audience cheering]

- Thank you.

I can now retire from
politics after having had

"Happy Birthday" sung to me

in such a sweet, wholesome way.

- She returned to Fox
and continued to upset

the studios executives in charge
by her constant tardiness.

On June 8, 1962, she was fired
and the film was shelved.

Her last day at work took
place on her 36th birthday,

June 1, 1962.

Marilyn adjourned to
her Brentwood home

to contemplate a
threatening Fox lawsuit,

to continue to abuse her
body with prescribed pills,

and to deal with her alleged
romance with Robert Kennedy.

On the morning of
August 5, 1962,

the world awoke to the
news that Marilyn Monroe

had died in the
early morning hours

in the bedroom of
her Brentwood home,

an apparent victim of an
accidental drug overdose.

- The autopsy shows
that Marilyn Monroe

did not take any oral
capsules of Nembutal.

The policeman on the scene
at Marilyn Monroe's death,

death room, I should say,
her bedroom, at the time,

had asked one of the
doctors how she died.

And the one doctor pointed to
an empty bottle of Nembutal,

and he said, here, this
bottle contained 47 Nembutal

capsules yesterday,
today it's empty,

and she must've
taken 47 Nembutals.

There was not one
Nembutal capsule found

in the digestive system.

In the first place, Nembutal
is a yellow capsule.

It has a yellow food dye in
a gel, and people known to

have taken those, according
to the autopsy surgeons,

they have a yellow trace of
stain from their esophagus

all the way down to
their lower intestines.

Marilyn Monroe did
not have any dissolved

or undissolved Nembutal capsules
in her system whatsoever.

But what she did have
was a 4.5 milligram level

of Nembutal in the blood.

Now, that is equivalent
to about 150 capsules,

according to Abbot Laboratories
back in North Chicago,

that manufacture the product.

On top of that,

the dose of Nembutal that
Marilyn got was enough

to kill about eight Marilyn
Monroes or about three horses,

that's how strong it was.

The police took
latent fingerprints

in Marilyn's
bedroom and her home

and they couldn't even find
her prints on her pill bottles.

Everything had been
completely wiped clean

and we found out through
the years that it was

the CIA that came in and
cleaned the place completely.

They made it completely sterile.

Every dish in the cupboards
out in the kitchen

was completely cleansed.

There was no
fingerprints whatsoever.

They couldn't even find
Marilyn Monroe's fingerprints

in her own house or
even around her own bed.

It was only a diary that
she kept so that she

could remember what Bobby
Kennedy had told her

the last time they
were together.

Because he chastised
her one day, saying,

you don't remember what
I told you last week

and she wanted to
remember, pretty much,

what he had told her,
so she bought this diary

just as a instrument
to go and write down

what he told her in this book.

And then, when they
would have the next date,

before he would come to pick
her up or she would meet him,

she would pick up the diary
and she would read in it

her notations from the last
time they were together.

And then when Bobby
Kennedy would question her

about certain things or talk
about that same subject,

she would be pretty much in
tune with what he had to say

because don't forget, she
was a professional actress.

She was used to learning lines.

And she was very accustomed
to remembering things

that was written down.

And this, of course,
unfortunately, became

one of her greatest downfalls,
was keeping this diary.

So I think that if the
diary hadn't existed,

Marilyn Monroe would
still be alive.

The night that Marilyn
Monroe died, a neighbor,

Abe Landau, who still
lives in the same house

in the same location
adjacent to Marilyn,

he and his wife came home
that night on a Saturday night

about 11:30 to midnight,
in that vicinity,

and they not only saw a
police car at Marilyn's house,

but they saw an ambulance.

And Walter Schaefer, who
owns the Schaefer Ambulance

Company, which is the
biggest ambulance company

in Southern California,
with many outlets,

told me several years
ago that he said, yes,

he said, one of my ambulances
did pick up Marilyn Monroe,

She was alive but comatose.

She was taken to Santa Monica
Hospital and dropped off.

Now, he said, how she
got back at her house

in her bed, dead, I don't know.

We didn't take her there.

But he said we did take
her to the hospital.

So there's still a big
controversy as to whether

the ambulance drivers that
picked her up and took her away

might have brought her
back and been bribed,

Mr. Schaefer didn't
know anything about it.

That's strictly theory.

But we do know that the
body was picked up and taken

to the hospital, but
there's no record of it

ever being admitted.

The patrolman got his
motorcycle and was

heading away from the
Beverly Hills Police Station

about midnight, and he
ended up a few minutes later

down on the corner of
Olympic and Robertson,

which is a main
intersection of Los Angeles,

going towards the
eastern part of town.

He saw a Lincoln
Continental speeding,

going east towards
downtown Los Angeles

and it was going about
70 to 80 miles an hour

and he took off after it
and when he stopped it,

he found Peter
Lawford as the driver

and Dr. Greenson,
Marilyn's psychiatrist,

was sitting in the front
seat, and in the back seat was

Bobby Kennedy, the Attorney
General of the United States.

And he asked Peter
Lawford where he was going

in such a hurry and
Lawford said, I have to get

the Attorney General back
to his hotel so he can pack

and go up to San Francisco
to meet his family.

The cop, of course, said
right away, he smiled,

he said, well, first of all,
he said, you're speeding

and secondly, he said,
you're going the wrong way.

Now, this patrolman knew
Peter Lawford personally.

He had been invited
out to the movie sets

that Lawford had
been doing pictures,

he had been to his home for
parties and things like that,

so they were old friends.

So he didn't give him
a ticket but he said,

the hotel where the
Attorney General is staying

is the other way.

He said, you're going east,
you're not going west.

He said, turn the car around
and get the Attorney General

back to his hotel, but he said,
stay within the speed limit.

So this is another piece of
evidence that Bobby Kennedy

was in town, and what
was Bobby Kennedy,

at a little bit after midnight,
on the night of August four,

when Marilyn Monroe
was already dead,

and he had been
seen at the house

and there was a tape recording

of Bobby Kennedy in a terrible
argument with Marilyn,

which was around
10:30 that night,

which was taken by
Bernard Spindel,

who was a master wiretapper,

who was tapping Marilyn's
house and Bobby Kennedy's house

for Jimmy Hoffa.

And this is on tape.

At 10:30 that night, Bobby
Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe

were in a violent argument.

There was screaming, there
was a slap on the face,

what sounded like
a slap on the face,

according to people
who heard the tape.

A body fell to the floor,
like a thump on the floor.

There was screaming,

And that was all that
the tape picked up.

Marilyn Monroe died
between that time

and between midnight, the
time that Bobby Kennedy's car

was stopped in the
Beverly Hills area.

This goes back again to
the fact that Bobby Kennedy

had to know something
about Marilyn's death.

Or be involved in it, or being
indirectly involved in it.

I was instrumental in getting
the case reopened in 1982

by the district attorney's
office, but they didn't call it

a reopening, they
called it inquiry.

And I must say it was a
rather cursory inquiry

because people that they
questioned, that shoulda been

questioned under oath, were
not questioned under oath.

There were a lot of people
who can tell what happened to

Marilyn Monroe in those last
hours if they were called in.

But these people were not
called in because it was not

under oath, and so it
was a very cursory report

that the district attorney's
office issued in 1982.

In 1985, I petitioned
the Board of Supervisors,

Mike Antonovich, who represents
one of the districts,

and who is very much
is very much in favor

of opening this case.

And it passed five to zero,

it passed unanimously by
the Board of Supervisors

to have a grand jury
investigation of the case

of Marilyn Monroe, her death.

Which had never been
investigated before,

there'd never been a
coroner's inquiry, even,

which is ridiculous.

So, the grand jury approved it
and started investigating it

and they were only on
it for about four days

and they were making some
magnificent progress,

when Ira Reiner, the District
Attorney of the County of

Los Angeles, fired
the grand jury foreman

and put a stop to the inquiry,

which is another
part of the cover-up.

And it's the first time in
the history of California

that a grand jury foreman
has ever been fired.

The Board of Supervisors
rejected the reopening

of the Marilyn Monroe
case in September of 1992.

However, there is still hope.

I'm planning, along
with a few other people,

to go back and get
the case reopened

and bring these people
in, there's about
six or seven of 'em

who are still alive,
including one of her doctors,

her press agent, one
of her attorneys,

people who know things, and
if they ever were questioned,

they could tell what
happened to Marilyn Monroe

that tragic night
of August 4, 1962.

And one of the reasons that
I want this case opened

is the fact to prove that
Marilyn Monroe did not

commit suicide, number
one, and number two,

there is no statute of
limitations on murder.

- Early in the morning,
30 years after Marilyn's

unexplained death, technicians
are readying stage five

at Fox studios for the first
day of shooting a feature film.

A few miles away, news
cameramen, tourists,

old friends, curiosity-seekers,

even Marilyn Monroe lookalikes
are gathered at the cemetery

where Marilyn's
crypt is located.

Call it reverence.
Bizarre. Nostalgia.

Love. Adoration. Worship.

A good news story.

Call this gathering
what you may,

for on the tomb there
are no credit titles,

just Marilyn Monroe, 1926-1962.

Whatever happened to Norma Jean?

♪ Goodbye, Norma Jean

♪ Though I never
knew you at all ♪

♪ You had the grace
to hold yourself ♪

♪ While those
around you crawled ♪

♪ They crawled out
of the woodwork ♪

♪ And they whispered
into your brain ♪

♪ They set you on a treadmill

♪ And they made you
change your name ♪