by Jackie Ganiy
In February of 1961, she checked herself into psychiatric hospital, which was the closest thing they had to rehab back then. It didn’t go well. She called up ex-husband, Joe DiMaggio, begging him to come get her. He galloped back into her life as a knight in shining armor, rescued her from the “nut house”, and was a shoulder for her to cry on for those dark, final days.
Only photo of Monroe and the Kennedy brothers together
She befriended Peter Lawford and his wife, Pat Kennedy Lawford, and at one of the many parties they held at their Santa Monica beach house, she allegedly met John and Bobby Kennedy—the bad news bears for any messed up woman. What was Marilyn thinking? Surely, she didn’t believe the president of the United States would actually leave his wife, Jackie Kennedy, and marry her, did she? She must have known it was just sex for him, and perhaps a little bit of a fantasy thing. Yet, when he supposedly ended it, she mostly lost it, leaping from the frying pan and into the fire by hooking up with the Attorney General. Some accounts have her fucking both of them simultaneously. Ok, so her judgment was impaired, but if any of this is true, seriously, what was she thinking?
Marilyn moved into her very first, and very last home, on 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in early 1962, and began work on Something’s Gotta Give. Poor Marilyn would try to push out another dumb blonde right up until the end. Filming had barely begun when she fell genuinely ill with a severe sinus infection with fever, and stopped showing up for work. Due to her reputation, people thought she was just crying wolf, and rumors began to fly that she was up to her old antics. She managed to drag herself onto the set sporadically, and the few bits of resulting film once again proved how much the camera adored her. She was stunning. She had lost at least twenty pounds since The Misfits, a fact that was gorgeously detailed in her first filmed nude scene, where she playfully skinny-dips in Dean Martin’s swimming pool. There aren’t enough unique adjectives in the English language to describe her onscreen magic in that scene. A few who knew her have said of her appeal that she was pretty in person but that it was the camera, whether still or moving, that turned her into a goddess.
Yet, on April 8, the weekend after she had stunned everyone with her on camera magic during the costume shoot, producer Henry Weinstein found her unconscious in her home, nearly comatose from an overdose of sleeping pills. This would prove a harbinger of things to come.
She failed to show up for work for most of the month of April, due to various colds, sore throats and fevers. She was not, however, too sick to fly to New York and get herself sewn into a flesh-colored, heavily-beaded wiggle dress and sing “Happy Birthday” to the President. Fox took note of this.
After the event and its resulting publicity blitz, she returned to the set of Something’s Gotta Give, and to her old habits of calling in sick or simply not coming. On June 1, she celebrated her thirty-sixth birthday with a cake and presents on the set. That was a Friday. The following Monday she again called in sick, and again the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that. Fox finally just shut down production, firing her ass. Marilyn boo-hooed to the press about mean studio executives, and shut herself up in her house.
Dean Martin refused to continue the picture unless they hired her back, and they finally did, with a salary increase to boot! Meantime, she spent her days drinking, and her nights taking pills and talking on the phone.
Just three weeks before her death, she and photographer George Barris, created photographic history with the poignant images they created during a Santa Monica beach shoot. She is wonderfully natural in these pictures, less plastic and false than she appears in so many other photos. She is smiling in nearly every picture, but her eyes betray the inner turmoil in such a stark manner, the effect is heartbreaking. In the very last photo ever taken of her, she is sitting in the sand with her arms resting on her knees, pursing her lips in a kiss. Goodbye Norma Jeane.
On the night of August 4, she locked herself in her room with a brand new bottle of Nembutal and the telephone. Six hours later she was found dead of a fatal overdose. Was it murder? Was it suicide? Was it an accident? Trying to answer that would require another book. Marilyn was a desperately unhappy person who tried to kill herself at least three times before she succeeded, and that’s just the ones we know of. She was mixing booze with barbiturates, and eating almost nothing. She was clearly on a very self-destructive spiral that would have ended badly even if she had not OD’ed that August. How many more years could she have gone on? How many more months, even?
Maybe she could have cleaned up her act, sobered up, and found love again. Then again, she was staring down middle age. Her looks weren’t going to hold out forever, and lets face it, she based her self-worth on her looks. Worse, she didn’t seem to possess the strength of will to help herself. It seems she was destined to be this shooting star in our mediocre sky, streaking through just long enough to make us gasp, before vanishing into the night.
Marilyn once said, “I’m just a small girl, in a big world, trying to find love.” Marilyn was possibly the most beloved screen star of all time, but in the end, even this wasn’t enough. In the end, nothing was enough.
Marilyn lies dead in her bed. Her body was moved and covered up.
Autopsy photo
Section VII
Hauntingly Tragic
Spectral Tales of the Famous and the Infamous
What would a book about the dark side of Hollywood be without a chapter on the hauntings attributed to the famously departed? Though the subject of the tragically famous, and stories of their earthbound souls, do not always go hand in hand, there seems to be enough interest in the combined subjects to warrant several television specials, and a multitude of publications. Whether you believe in ghosts, or simply can’t get enough of the subject of tragedy and fame, the idea that somehow the show never ended for some of these people is more powerful and compelling than your run-of-the-mill ghost story.
The Paul Bern/Jay Sebring/Sharon Tate House
Tucked in a very tight canyon, at the base of a steep hill, sits a picturesque Bavarian-style cottage that looks as if it belongs in a fairy tale. It has a sloping slate roof, dark wooden crisscrossing accents, honeycomb-patterned windowpanes, and a neglected swimming pool. Facing the pool, carved into support beams that hold up the back of the house, are the gargoyle faces of four long-dead movie stars from the golden age of Hollywood. This is the home that was built by MGM studio executive, Paul Bern.
Bern built the home in the early ‘30s, bringing his new bride, Jean Harlow, to live there in early 1932. Four months later, on the night of September 5, following an argument with his new wife, Bern went up to the master bedroom, stripped naked, doused himself with Jean’s best perfume, and shot himself in front of the full-length mirror. In his book, Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, David Stenn suggests that Harlow walked in on Bern and his (oops!) common-law wife, Dorothy Millette. Harlow told him to call her when he decided who he was married to, then left. Stenn also said that Bern was physically unable to have sex with anyone, due to a genetic defect that left him with a stunted penis. Reason enough to kill yourself, I suppose.
The house changed hands many times after this tragedy. A man supposedly drowned in the swimming pool, and a maid reportedly killed herself in the home as well. Jay Sebring, hairstylist to the stars, purchased the home in the early 1960s, and Sharon Tate moved into the home with him in 1965. She lived with Jay for about a year, often staying alone at the cottage while he traveled on business. She related something she experienced during this time to reporter Dick Kleiner a few years after the fact. One night, she had gone to bed, in the upstairs master bedroom where Bern had killed himself decades earlier. She had just fallen asleep when she was suddenly awakened by a strange noise. She looked up, and saw the figure of a “creepy little man” walk quickly into the room. She described him as being short, completely naked, and having a mustache. He did not acknowledge her presence, but began riffling through the dresser drawers,
looking for something. She waited for him to disappear, as she felt certain this was the ghost of Paul Bern, but he simply kept searching the room. Frightened, she got out of bed and fled down the hall. She was headed towards the hidden bar downstairs, but as she approached the landing of the stairs, she stopped. The sight that met her eyes was beyond disturbing. A figure of a person, she could not tell if it was male or female, was tied to the banister. The figure had a hood over its head, with one end of a rope tied around its neck, and the other end looped over the banister.
Of course, this was exactly how Jay Sebring’s murdered body would be found, four years later, at Sharon’s Cielo Drive home, after the Manson killers’ slaughter fest, in August of ‘69. Did Sharon not only meet the ghost of Paul Bern, but also experience a premonition of the horror that was to come, in her and Jay’s own future? This is one of the more unusual ghost stories, as it is not strictly about ghosts, and the person relating the tale is, herself, dead. I visited this home last year. It is still gorgeous, if a little neglected. There is definitely an eerie vibe when you stand near the pool and gaze up at the darkened upstairs bedroom window. It’s a sad house with a sad history, but given half the chance, I’d live there in a heartbeat.
Superman Just Won’t Die - George Reeves’ Ghost
Autopsy photo.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s actually George Reeves, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Reeves played Superman on television for eight years, from 1951 and to his untimely death in 1959. The circumstances surrounding that death have been debated almost as much as those of Marilyn Monroe’s. He was involved with an older woman, wife of a studio executive, Toni Mannix, and had just broken off the relationship. He was living in a large home in Benedict Canyon (does everyone in Hollywood live in Benedict Canyon?) with his fiancée, Lenore Lemmon. He was having financial problems, and was reportedly frustrated over the fact that all his career options revolved around playing Superman forever. On the evening of June 15, 1959, Reeves and Lemmon were out drinking with friends at a restaurant. They got into an argument. Later, they returned home, and Reeves went to bed. Lemmon was downstairs, entertaining three uninvited guests that had dropped by to continue the party. Reeves angrily came downstairs and told everyone to shut up, then went back to his room. It was shortly after that, at around 2 AM on June 16, that he shot himself in the head.
Conspiracy theorists insist that Reeves was murdered. They point to inconsistencies about the entry wound, the fact that Reeves supposedly could not use his right hand due to an injury, the position of the body, and the fact that there were five other bullet holes found in the room. Whatever. A formal inquiry was conducted, and the conclusion was suicide, though Reeves’s mother never accepted this.
The ghost stories soon followed. Subsequent owners and occupants reported hearing all sorts of strange noises in the upstairs bedroom when no one was in there. When they investigated, the room would look like an angry whirlwind had torn through it! One tenant claimed that after hearing noises and fixing the room, they returned downstairs to find their drinks moved from the living room to the kitchen. Dogs barked furiously at the threshold of the bedroom, at something only they could see, and people reported smelling the distinct odor of gun powder. There are numerous reports of Reeves appearing to tenants and their guests, dressed in his Superman uniform, leaving no doubt as to who he is. A television crew in the '80s, while using the house as a backdrop, claimed to have encountered Reeves. Several crew members saw his apparition hanging around the set.
The most famous documented paranormal occurrence happened when no one was actually living there. Neighbors called the sheriff’s department one night after hearing a loud argument going on at the house, followed by a scream and the sound of a gunshot. They also reported lights were turning on and off. The house was unoccupied and the neighbors thought someone had broken in! Two sheriffs deputies responded. They searched the home but found nothing out of the ordinary. Weird. Poor George Reeves...victim of the ultimate typecasting monster—television.
The Ghost of Marilyn Monroe
Just as people couldn’t get enough of Marilyn when she was alive, her legion of fans, which has grown exponentially over the years, also refuses to allow her to rest in peace. Ghost sightings of the blonde phenomenon are so numerous, they border on the ridiculous. Many claim to have seen her, appearing in mist form, near her tomb at Pierce Brothers Memorial Park in Westwood. Her grave is a popular tourist site, and her tomb is usually littered with red lipstick kisses. One fan claims to have photographed her misty image at the site. Others have felt tremendous sadness overwhelm them when paying their last respects.
The most famous sighting of Marilyn’s ghost occurred at the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. A maid was cleaning a mirror when she claimed to have seen the image of a blonde woman, wearing older style clothing. She then jumped to the conclusion this must have been Marilyn Monroe, as she had spent time living at the Roosevelt and modeling there when she was younger. The story has persisted ever since. Several tourists claim to have seen her image in the same mirror, which now hangs in the lobby of the Roosevelt. She has also been seen lounging at the pool, then disappearing before startled observers.
Marilyn’s spirit is rumored to still linger at her former home, where she died. Since this is a private residence, the story is hard to verify, though she is reportedly still haunting the bedroom where she was last seen alive. Sadly, this home was once rented to another tragic blonde, Anna Nicole Smith. Smith claimed to feel Monroe’s presence when she lived at the home.
Even in death, Marilyn is still the center of attention.
Heath Ledger’s Visit From Beyond
Heath Ledger’s sudden death shocked everyone, but it affected his loved ones the most. Michelle Williams, his girlfriend at the time, claims to have been visited by Heath’s spirit twice. The first time, she was awakened at 3 AM to the sound of furniture moving in her living room. When she went to investigate, nothing was out of place, but she felt Heath’s presence. The second time, she was sleeping when she awoke and saw the outline of a man standing at the foot of her bed. She knew it was Heath and she felt that he spoke to her telepathically, telling her he was sorry he would not be there to help her raise their daughter.
The famous psychic medium, James Van Praagh, said in an interview that he had also seen Heath, though they never met when he was alive. He says Heath’s image appeared in the reflection of his shaving mirror and that the troubled actor told him he (Heath Ledger) had screwed up. Again, he communicated with Van Praagh telepathically. Van Praagh claimed this encounter occurred two weeks after Heath’s death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
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Pickfair and the Haunting that Led to a Demolishment
Once, there was a magical place: a sublime testament to silent Hollywood decadence christened Pickfair. Hollywood’s king and queen—Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks—transformed a modest hunting lodge into a magnificent, four-story, twenty-five room mansion in the early '20s, and held court there over the lords and ladies of film for over fifteen years. Divorcing in 1936, Mary continued to live there until her death in 1979, after which Pickfair was vacant for many years. A rich doctor, Jerry Buss, bought it and restored its former glory. All seemed well...until it wasn’t.
In 1988, singer Pia Zadora had her millionaire husband, Meshulam Riklis, purchased the property for her and their two kids to stay in while he was away on business (which was usually). They lived there less than two years before they had it demolished—allegedly due of termites—and a new, tasteless palazzo built in its place. That’s right. They had the unimaginable gall to purchase a Hollywood icon, then bulldoze it, because they couldn’t deal with a few termites. At least, that was Pia’s story at the time.
Twenty-four years later, a much older, less in-demand Pia Zadora went on the popular television show, Celebrity Ghost Stories, and told the world the “real” reason she and her husband tore down Pick
fair: it had a ghost! Pia said her daughter was frightened one night by a very tall woman in a long, white gown, floating above her bed and laughing. This so upset the child that she refused to sleep in her room. Pia said it was too much to handle, so her solution was simply to tear the house down. Yeah, cause that makes perfect sense, if you have a billion dollars, I guess.
It would be easy to dismiss this if the other two owners of the home hadn’t also reported seeing the same woman, including Mary’s last husband, Charles “Buddy” Rogers. Rogers believed it to be the spirit of Mary Pickford, which may be why he moved out shortly after Mary’s death. Jerry Buss, who purchased it from Rogers, also claimed to have seen the woman in the flowing gown, as well as other apparitions.
Maybe Mary loved Pickfair more than anyone realized. Still, was that really a good enough reason to tear down such a historic home? Why not just move? Donate the place to a museum—anything, just don’t tear it down! Seriously, I hope Mary continues to haunt Pia’s nightmares for decades.
Ozzie Nelson’s Still at Home