{"id":15955,"date":"2016-08-05T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T19:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=15955"},"modified":"2017-02-02T13:24:18","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T18:24:18","slug":"on-this-day-in-history-marilyn-monroe-found-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/on-this-day-in-history-marilyn-monroe-found-dead.html","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in History: Marilyn Monroe Found Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the early morning hours of 5 August 1962, glamorous model and movie star Marilyn Monroe was found dead at her home by her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, who had been summoned by Monroe\u2019s worried housekeeper. Her death by acute barbiturate poisoning was ruled a suicide. She was just 36 years old.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Marilyn Monroe, November 1953. Credit: Dell Publications, Inc.; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Monroe, the reigning sex symbol of the 1950s, was a popular and successful actress with a highly publicized social life, being a favorite of the paparazzi. She appeared in dozens of movies, was married three times (including baseball legend Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller), dated Frank Sinatra, and was the rumored mistress of President John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n

Despite (or perhaps because of) her fame and fortune, Monroe led a turbulent life, plagued by alcoholism, drug addiction, and depression.<\/p>\n

In his famous 1973 homage to Marilyn Monroe, \u201cCandle in the Wind,\u201d Elton John sang:<\/p>\n

Loneliness was tough
\nThe toughest role you ever played
\nHollywood created a superstar
\nAnd pain was the price you paid
\nEven when you died
\nOh the press still hounded you
\nAll the papers had to say
\nWas that Marilyn was found in the nude<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This poignant verse, written by John\u2019s collaborator Bernie Taupin, was a bit of an exaggeration. The newspapers, as the below example shows, actually had quite a bit to say about Marilyn Monroe. Her death was front page news all across the country, with many in-depth articles written about her career, her struggles and her overall life story.<\/p>\n

One claim in \u201cCandle in the Wind\u201d nailed it exactly right, however: the newspaper accounts of her death all pointed out that Marilyn Monroe was found dead in bed, naked. The opening paragraph of the Associated Press article reporting her death is typical:<\/p>\n

HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 5 (AP) \u2013 Blond and beautiful Marilyn Monroe, a glamorous symbol of the gay, exciting life of Hollywood, died tragically today. Her body was found nude in bed, a probable suicide. She was 36.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Front<\/a>
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, North Carolina), 6 August 1962, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This newspaper\u2019s other front page article about Monroe, \u201cEarly Feelings of Insecurity Haunted Star,\u201d delves deeper into her story. This is its opening:<\/p>\n

Marilyn Monroe died today, proving that even $10,000 a week won\u2019t buy peace of mind. Marilyn, the world\u2019s most famous blonde, kept telling everybody she was sick but nobody believed her. Fame, wealth, stardom \u2013 none of them could cure the basic insecurity of Marilyn\u2019s early life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors \u2013 the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. Do you have any memories of Marilyn Monroe? Please share your stories with us in the comments section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article about the death of glamorous model and movie star Marilyn Monroe on 5 August 1962.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[11925,11937,2020],"class_list":["post-15955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-marilyn-monroe","tag-movies-actors","tag-newspaper-archives"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/photo-0805-2016-featured-graphic-marilyn-monroe.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}