Part 17 (1/2)

The lavish production number ”Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend,” from the 1953 movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. (Photofest) (Photofest)

Marilyn married Joe DiMaggio in January of 1954, even though there were many indications that the marriage would not work out-not the least of which was his unhappiness over her career. Although Marilyn was forced to leave him when DiMaggio became physically abusive, their love for one another never died. (Retro Photo) (Retro Photo)

A love letter Marilyn wrote to Joe-addressed to ”Dad.” ”I want to just be where you are,” she wrote, ”and be just what you want me to be.” Unfortunately, what he wanted was for her to just be his wife, not one of the world's great movie stars. (Getty Images) (Getty Images)

The filming of this famous scene from The Seven Year Itch The Seven Year Itch was the catalyst to the end of Marilyn's relations.h.i.+p with Joe. It so enraged him that he became violent with her that very same evening. Then, as far as she was concerned, the marriage was over. was the catalyst to the end of Marilyn's relations.h.i.+p with Joe. It so enraged him that he became violent with her that very same evening. Then, as far as she was concerned, the marriage was over. (Retro Photo) (Retro Photo)

Three iconic poses of a legend. (Photofest) (Photofest)

Marilyn received this very impersonal Christmas card from her mother, Gladys, in December of 1956. She never knew just what kind of communication to expect from her mother, who was at the Rock Haven Sanitarium at the time. (Shaan Kokin/Julien's Auctions) (Shaan Kokin/Julien's Auctions)

By the summer of 1960, Marilyn's third marriage, to Arthur Miller- seen here on the set of The Misfits The Misfits-was all but over. (Photofest) (Photofest)

In February 1961, Marilyn was committed to the mental ward at the Payne Whitney Clinic in New York. Thanks to Joe DiMaggio's intervention, she was later moved to the Neurological Inst.i.tute of Columbia University-Presbyterian Hospital, where she would remain for almost three weeks. Of course, there was the expected pandemonium when she was finally released from that facility- looking quite beautiful, as always. (Retro Photo)

Meanwhile, Marilyn's mother, Gladys Baker Eley, tried to commit suicide while locked behind these gates at the Rock Haven Sanitarium in California. (Retro Photo) (Retro Photo)

According to photographer Bernie Abramson, these three photographs have never been published in any Marilyn Monroe biography. Marilyn's close friend Pat Kennedy Lawford (left in the top photo); Pat's husband, Peter Lawford; Marilyn's occasional lover Frank Sinatra; and Marilyn are seen experimenting with Sinatra's new Polaroid camera at the Lawford home in Santa Monica, California, circa 1961. (MPTV)

By 1962, Marilyn had done everything she could to see to it that her mother-seen here at Rock Haven Sanitarium-received the proper medical attention for paranoid schizophrenia. However, because her religious beliefs restricted the use of most medications, Gladys's mental illness was never under control. (Courtesy of Maryanne Reed Collection) (Courtesy of Maryanne Reed Collection)

Not at all well. In these two rare photographs, taken on January 20, 1962, Marilyn is seen at a party hosted by Harvey Weinstein, producer of her movie Something's Got to Give. Something's Got to Give. In the first, she sips on a c.o.c.ktail while talking to poet Carl Sandburg. In the second-published here for the first time-she is seen dancing while still holding a drink. (Note how thin she is in this picture.) In the first, she sips on a c.o.c.ktail while talking to poet Carl Sandburg. In the second-published here for the first time-she is seen dancing while still holding a drink. (Note how thin she is in this picture.) (Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Marilyn first met Bobby Kennedy on February 1, 1962, at a dinner party at Pat and Peter Lawford's home. This receipt disproves the long-reported story that Marilyn became so drunk that night she couldn't drive herself back home and had to be driven by RFK and a friend. That maybe happened some other time, but on this evening she was definitely driven to and from the Lawford home by Carey Cadillac. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection.) (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection.)

Certainly Kenneth O'Donnell, special a.s.sistant to JFK, couldn't have known the sensation that would be caused by extending this invitation to Marilyn! (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection) (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)

Another photo that has never before appeared in a Marilyn Monroe biography, of Marilyn and her publicist, Pat Newcomb, arriving at Madison Square Garden for JFK's birthday party in May 1962. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection) (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)

Taken at a party following her performance, this is the only known photograph of Marilyn with both Bobby (left) and President John F. Kennedy. (Cecil Stoughton/Life Magazine, Time-Warner Inc.) (Cecil Stoughton/Life Magazine, Time-Warner Inc.)

Marilyn performed for JFK wearing what she described as ”a dress only Marilyn Monroe could wear.” (Photofest) (Photofest)

Marilyn sent this telegram to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kennedy, declining an invitation to attend a party in honor of Pat and Peter Lawford in June 1962. Some have speculated that Marilyn declined because she was having an affair with Bobby. Others have wondered if Ethel would have invited her at all had she thought Marilyn was involved with her husband. In fact, it doesn't seem as if Marilyn and Bobby were anything more than friends. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection.) (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection.)

This fascinating photo hasn't been seen in decades and has never before been published in any Marilyn Monroe biography. It, too, was taken at the after party following the Madison Square Garden event. Marilyn-on the right, watching Diahann Carroll perform-is holding a gla.s.s of champagne, her arm dangling carelessly over a railing. Seated on the far left is President John F. Kennedy. Against the wall, under the stairs, one can spot Ethel Kennedy and Pat Kennedy Lawford, Marilyn's close friend. Peter Lawford is directly behind Marilyn, leaning against the wall. (The Kennedy Library) (The Kennedy Library)

The Lost Weekend: Marilyn and Peter Lawford at the Cal-Neva Lodge in July 1962, the weekend Marilyn was perhaps at her worst-the weekend that changed the lives of just about everyone involved: Peter, his wife, Pat, Frank Sinatra, and, of course, Marilyn. (MPTV) (MPTV)

It's difficult to believe that one of the greatest movie stars of all time died in this spa.r.s.e, disheveled bedroom. It's been said that she hadn't had time for interior decorating, even though she'd moved into the house almost six months earlier. (Retro Photo) (Retro Photo)

Berniece Miracle leaves the funeral home after having made final arrangements for her half sister. (Retro Photo) (Retro Photo)

A sad-and shocking-headline. (Retro Photo) (Retro Photo)

Marilyn's final resting place, at Westwood Memorial Park. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection) (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)

A never-before-published letter from Gladys Baker Eley to Marilyn's business manager, Inez Melson, written after Marilyn's death in 1962. ”She is at peace and at rest now,” Gladys wrote of her daughter, ”and may G.o.d help her always.” Gladys affixed to the letter a newspaper notice of the probate of Marilyn's will. (Shaan Kokin/Julien's Auctions) (Shaan Kokin/Julien's Auctions)

Gladys lived another twenty-two largely unhappy years after the death of her famous daughter. (Photofest) (Photofest)

”She should have been made of iron or steel, but she was only made of flesh and blood.” Like many of the photographs in this book, this one is so rare it may never have been published before, and certainly not in any previous Marilyn Monroe biography. (Frank Worth Estate and International Images, Inc.) (Frank Worth Estate and International Images, Inc.)

APPENDICES.

AFTER MARILYN.

AFTER MARILYN'S DEATH Miss Monroe has suffered from psychiatric disturbance for a long time. She had often expressed wishes to give up, withdraw and even to die. On more than one occasion in the past when disappointed or depressed, she had made a suicide attempt using sedative drugs. On these occasions, she had called for help and had been rescued. From the information collected about the events of the evening of August the fourth, it is our opinion that the same pattern was repeated-except for the rescue.- Theodore J. Curphey Los Angeles Coroner's Office August 1962 Obviously, the repercussions of Marilyn Monroe's death on many of the princ.i.p.al players in her life would be profound. She was much loved by those in her close-knit circle. Unfortunately, her half sister, Berniece Miracle, received the news of Marilyn's death many hours after most people in the country already knew about it. She had been on a vacation, driving for hours with a broken radio. When she finally returned home and was called, she immediately flew to Los Angeles. Though overwhelmed by grief, she still managed to plan the funeral with her ex-brother-in-law, Joe DiMaggio.

As is by now well known, it was DiMaggio's decision to prohibit just about everyone in Marilyn's life from attending the services that took place on August 8, 1962, at the Westwood Village Mortuary Chapel. He felt strongly that the Kennedys and Frank Sinatra had let Marilyn down and, in some way, even contributed to her death. Therefore, he lashed out by excluding them from the services-as well as most of Marilyn's other friends in show business. During this time of grief, DiMaggio wasn't even sure what to make of Marilyn's publicist and friend Pat Newcomb, because he knew she had known the Kennedys before Marilyn, and still had a relations.h.i.+p with the family. According to Gary Springer, DiMaggio asked his father, John Springer, to handle the bulk of public relations for Marilyn's funeral.

Some of the choice few who were allowed to attend the services for Marilyn Monroe were Pat Newcomb, Berniece Miracle, Inez Melson, Milton Rudin, Ralph Roberts, Allan ”Whitey” Snyder, Sydney Guilaroff, Joe DiMaggio Jr., Dr. Ralph Greenson, and his family. In all, there were just twenty-six names on the approved guest list. Lee Strasberg read the eulogy, describing Marilyn's ”luminous quality-a combination of wistfulness, radiance, yearning-that set her apart and made everyone wish to be a part of it.”

Certainly, in the coldness of death, no one looks as they did in life, and especially not a woman who had been as vital as Marilyn Monroe. Still, she appeared at least serene in a simple green dress of nylon jersey, her blonde hair (a wig, actually) styled pretty much as it had been in the ill-fated Something's Got to Give. Something's Got to Give.