Wednesday, August 5, 2009

(264) AUGUST 5 1962 : MARILYN MONROE MY FAVORITE and ELVIS'

Marilyn Monroe was Elvis' favorite actress - and mine. She was an "older woman" but ahead of her time.

She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles.

On January 14, 1954, Marilyn married baseball star Joe DiMaggio at San Francisco's City Hall.

On August 5, 1962, Marilyn was found dead.

We heard all the horrible rumors that made it into books as exposes years later at the time. We were upset by Marilyn's death. The idea that anyone so young would have overdosed on prescription drugs was almost unthinkable.

Joe orchestrated her funeral, giving her the dignity and respect in death that he didn't think she got in life. No big Micheal Jackson extravaganzas like the recent one, which cost the tax payers of Los Angeles County, which is in a Great Depression-like economy right now, something like 2.5 million for the day.

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Despite his fame, Elvis and Marilyn never met. They didn't run in the same Hollywood circles. I almost met her in New York when I was studying acting with Lee Strasberg at Actors Studio.

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