Marilyn Monroe

2022 - 4 - 28

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Image courtesy of "TIME"

The Sneering Documentary <i>The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe</i ... (TIME)

All of the Marilyns we know are represented here, in film clips, news footage, and whispery voice-over recordings, in which the actress candidly shares her own ...

The Mystery of Marilyn includes so many interviews—many with people who were deeply pained by what had happened to her—that it may seem unfair to single out a few of the movie’s more crass figures. What’s more, hearing this now 40-year-old testimony from a relic of old Hollywood serves as a reminder of how the business used to work—and in that context, that it took until 2017 for Harvey Weinstein to fall seems all the more remarkable. And yet hearing an old coot salivating about how Marilyn used to “put out” comes off as yet another instance of how, even in 2022, we just can’t let Marilyn alone. This three-way friendship points directly to the shady circumstances surrounding Marilyn’s death—there’s no real news there, but even today, the degree of the brothers’ involvement with the star, and how it may have influenced or even caused her death, is still a subject of speculation. Those taped interviews, never available to the public, have been dramatized and shaped into the documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, directed by Emma Cooper and featuring Summers as a guide. As the case was being reopened, a British newspaper suggested that Irish-born journalist Anthony Summers might want to launch his own investigation, which resulted in 650 tape-recorded interviews and eventually led to a 1985 book, Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe, which presented new and credible evidence about the events surrounding Marilyn’s death.

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Image courtesy of "The New York Times"

'The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes' Review ... (The New York Times)

This documentary teases a vague conspiracy surrounding Monroe's death — but mostly rehashes well-circulated facts and rumors.

Finally, Summers, who appears continually, presents his ideas surrounding Monroe’s final hours and potential inconsistencies in the timeline. Summers apparently got more tantalizing intel from the family of Ralph Greenson, who was Monroe’s psychiatrist, and from Fred Otash, a private eye who in the tapes says that Jimmy Hoffa wanted him to dig up dirt on John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Throughout the film, Monroe is said to have been involved with both Kennedy brothers. But mostly the film presents a banal rehash of established facts and well-circulated rumors about Monroe’s life.

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Image courtesy of "CNN"

'The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes' review: Netflix ... (CNN)

Hello again, Norma Jean, as the 60th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death brings renewed opportunities to revisit her life and legacy, without really ...

Given that there's plenty of video and film footage of Monroe to weave in, it's an indulgence that's far too cute for its own good, adding a sense of showbiz pizzazz that does nothing to buttress the project's credibility. For her part, Monroe in taped interviews talks about her twin desires to be happy and be a good actress, saying somewhat sadly with the benefit of hindsight, "You have to work at both of them." The documentary undermines that, alas, with the unnecessary wrinkle of having actors "play" those people by lip-synching the audio, a pointless attempt to create the impression that the viewer is seeing the other side of those conversations.

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Image courtesy of "Vanity Fair"

What Separates Netflix's New Marilyn Monroe Documentary From ... (Vanity Fair)

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, which relies on tapes from Anthony Summers's investigation into the late icon, premieres on Netflix ...

“Tony discovered that she was vulnerable to falling prey to men who did not have her best interests at heart—men who saw something in Marilyn and her strength that they wanted to diminish,” says Cooper. “I see that all around me in many relationships with women of all ages. To make the audio more visually compelling for her documentary, Cooper filmed recreations of the conversations—with actors in period costume reenacting the calls with Summers. The documentary offers an unparalleled glimpse at an investigation of this scale, as well as fragmented recollections about Monroe directly from the people who knew her. The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, premiering Wednesday on Netflix, uses them to construct another portrait of Monroe. While The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes won’t turn up any new reporting, it is a fascinating listen for true-crime fans or anyone interested in celebrity investigations. And I really found that to be true here.”

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Image courtesy of "PEOPLE.com"

Marilyn Monroe's Death Explored in New Netflix Doc: Why Were the ... (PEOPLE.com)

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes features never-before-heard interviews with those close to the star who call into question much of what ...

"At the beginning of the process, when I went to L.A., I visited her grave," she says. She was said to have talked one of the brothers about the amorality of nuclear weapons. "And suggests that the circumstances of her dying were covered up." I adore her." I hope I represent you in a way that you would've wanted to be represented in 2022, and in fact, during your life.'" She was a multidimensional, wonderful, amazing human being," says the director. "I was like, 'I won't, of course. She worked incredibly hard. It's an investigation where everything we thought we knew is not really correct." Was there a cover-up? "If you then say to me, 'Why were those circumstances covered up?' I would say that what the evidence suggests is that it was covered up because of her connection with the Kennedy brothers." Given Monroe's ties to the White House, the Kennedys, the mob and others, questions swirled — and continue to swirl — about her final days.

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Image courtesy of "Decider"

Netflix Documentary Alleges Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe ... (Decider)

How did Marilyn Monroe die and where was Bobby Kennedy when Marilyn Monroe died? The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe on Netflix investigates.

Fred Otash, a private detective who claimed he had bugged Peter Lawford’s house and phones in order to dig up dirt on the Kennedys, said that Robert Kennedy called Monroe that night and that the two had a vicious argument. Bobby Kennedy called her the night of her death from Lawford’s house. … But she had come to a point where she felt like she was being used. Nothing in The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe questions how Monroe died, but Summer does spend copious time questioning when she died. Marilyn Monroe died of a drug overdose of barbiturates at her Los Angeles home on August 4, 1962. Despite the somewhat misleading trailer and opening sequence, the film does not give any credence to conspiracy theories that Monroe was murdered, rather than overdosed on barbiturates in what was ruled a probable suicide.

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Image courtesy of "IndieWire"

Why Netflix Chose a Marilyn Monroe Documentary Director Who ... (IndieWire)

Emma Cooper had never seen a Marilyn Monroe film when she was approached to make a documentary about her.

“As a modern, middle-aged woman, I was surprised at how I could relate to her story,” she said. So I think she would have fared better today than she did then, and she probably would have fared better than a lot of other people today.” One of the film’s major themes is the inherent tension between who Marilyn Monroe was and who the world wanted her to be. “My obsession was to try and show her in a more multifaceted, more multidimensional way than I had ever known her,” Cooper said. “And so I felt like I could really connect with the arc of her life. Cooper’s film exists somewhere on the spectrum between reverent documentary and pulpy true-crime flick, luring viewers in with a promise to reopen the case of Monroe’s death, but ultimately spending more time examining who she was as a person than debating who (if anyone) killed her.

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Image courtesy of "Women's Health"

How Did Marilyn Monroe Die? A Netflix Documentary Uncovers New ... (Women's Health)

For the past 60 years, there's been one story about Marilyn Monroe's death. Here's what to know about the new Netflix documentary that explores her death.

Cyril Wecht, a prominent forensic pathologist, told People that this suggests that “she might have been injected” with the drugs. The official word is that Marilyn died of an overdose. Writer John Sherlock also says in the doc that Greenson told him Marilyn was alive at home and died on the way to the hospital. The changing story, he says, “suggests that the circumstances of her dying were covered up.” "Bobby Kennedy called her the night of her death from [his sister's] house. [Greenson] told me he was in the ambulance.” Summers says in the documentary that it’s possible that “the Kennedys said, ‘Sh*t, she can make public that we’ve been discussing nuclear matters’….[and] thought, ‘We’ve got to stop all this. “No, she wasn’t [dead at home],” ambulance company owner Walter Schaefer says in the documentary. Murray had seen a light go on in Marilyn's room around 3:25 a.m., but found the door locked. Marilyn was pronounced dead, but police weren’t called until 4:20 a.m., about an hour after Murray had initially called Greenson. (Doctors said they needed permission from Marilyn’s movie studio before alerting the authorities.) Warning: The following contains references to suicide. The woman seemed to have it all: fame, beauty, money, power.

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Image courtesy of "Parade Magazine"

How Did Marilyn Monroe Die? All the Rumors and Conspiracy ... (Parade Magazine)

How did Marilyn Monroe die? Let's take a look at all the theories about whether the Mafia, the FBI or the CIA were involved—plus, the truth about her ...

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Image courtesy of "Esquire.com"

The True Story of the Night Marilyn Monroe Died (Esquire.com)

Netflix documentary 'The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes' uncovers new details about Monroe's death, as well as her relationships with JFK and ...

Instead, Summers corroborates with several members of the ambulance team that Marilyn had in reality been taken to the hospital by ambulance late that evening still alive, and died en route to the hospital. In a new Netflix documentary, The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, Monroe's biographer, Anthony Summers, presents a new timeline of events of the night Monroe died, deduced from hundreds of interviews conducted for an updated version of his 1985 biography, Goddess. Featuring new audio interviews with members of Dr. Greenson’s family, the new documentary addresses rumors and inconsistencies surrounding Monroe's death. Monroe's housekeeper, Eunice Murray, had awakened in the middle of the night to find a light on in Marilyn’s room and the door locked.

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Image courtesy of "The Indian Express"

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe The Unheard Tapes movie review ... (The Indian Express)

Let the dead lie, they say. And this is a great rule to live by. Unless you're Netflix, looking to make another true crime documentary to satiate the ...

With the already mythic Blonde on the way later this year—its director, the elusive Andrew Dominik, has pre-emptively declared it a ‘masterpiece’ and a ‘knockout’—don’t be surprised if you find The Unheard Tapes rattling about in your suggestions after you’re done with it. In the weeks and months following Rajput’s death, our nation’s youth united not against growing intolerance and the emerging pandemic, but in support of a conspiracy theory that suggested, based on nothing, that he was murdered. In the case of The Unheard Tapes, it’s this: What if everything that you knew about Marilyn’s death was untrue, and that her passing was, in fact, a murder. The subjects of those films were sometimes unsavoury—child abuse, religious fanaticism—but the films themselves were always empathetic and endlessly curious. In June 2020, the actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in the bedroom of his Mumbai house, having hanged himself in an apparent suicide. And this is a great rule to live by.

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Image courtesy of "digitalspy.com"

What Netflix's The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe leaves out (digitalspy.com)

Marilyn Monroe created a legacy in Hollywood with her death a heartbreaking mystery decades on. Netflix's The Unheard Tapes digs deep but what does it leave ...

Tragically, like a lot of Hollywood at the time, Marilyn had learned to depend on medication in order to deal with the pressures of her life. While JFK has no doubt been cemented as the more famous brother, private investigator Fred Otash told Spada that Bobby had ended things with Marilyn on the day of her death in August 1962. In fact, the extent of Marilyn’s relationships with Bobby and JFK varies from biographer to biographer. To the point that outside forces felt the need to step in and remove her from the equation? Instead, it focuses on recorded interviews with those who knew her, and their thoughts on her overdose, which continues to spark conspiracy theories to this day. She was smart, savvy and aware of the world.

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Image courtesy of "The Independent"

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes on Netflix ... (The Independent)

For decades, it has been reported that Monroe was found dead in her bed by her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, who broke in through her bedroom window after ...

Her most successful films include The Seven Year Itch (1955) Bus Stop (1956) and Some Like It Hot (1959). [Greenson] told me he was in the ambulance.” “She died in the ambulance,” he said.

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Image courtesy of "NBC Connecticut"

The Truth About Marilyn Monroe's Final Hours and More ... (NBC Connecticut)

All the times Netflix's "The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes," which traces the movie star's lows leading up to her shocking death in 1962, ...

"Based on the evidence available to us, it appears that her death could have been suicide or come as a result of an accidental drug overdose," then-District Attorney John Van de Kamp said at a press conference. "She was excited about establishing her own sort of family." You have to work at both of them." And though "she was slightly discombobulated at all times," as director Billy Wilder put it to Summers, it's one of her best, most enduring films. And I said anyone who allows her to take a drug ought to be shot." (Miller had been a member of the League of American Writers, which included a number of Communists, from 1935 until 1943, and he ended his friendship with Elia Kazan after the director named names for the House Un-American Activities Committee.) Monroe once said, as quoted by Summers in the Netflix film, "'I knew it was wrong, but to tell you the truth I think I was more curious than anything else. "Peter would obviously be sort of pimping for both Kennedys," Jeanne said of Lawford planning gatherings that served as a convenient place for illicit meetings. Among the dozens of old interview clips included in the Netflix documentary, her "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" co-star Jane Russell told journalist Anthony Summers that they'd work all day and Monroe would meet with her acting coach at night. She never knew her father (an upcoming French documentary purports to have new information about that mystery), and that absence haunted her throughout her life. "With a little makeup and everything, she went ahead and worked," Whitten said. At another time, she said, "What I'd like to accomplish, I would like to be a good actress, a true actress.

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Image courtesy of "Decider"

Stream It Or Skip It: 'The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard ... (Decider)

The Gist: Sex, drugs, politics, Hollywood, conspiracy theories – Marilyn Monroe's life and the aftermath of her death is surely one of the juiciest and most ...

Any Monroe bio, by necessity of truth, will have all the titillating fodder that perks our interest, and she was the type of personality that draws you in with a soupcon of pheromones, but hooks you with her deep, melancholy soulfulness. Our Call: As a big-boom expose, The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes whiffs. One of Greenson’s daughters said Monroe coyly referred to one of her lovers as “the General,” namely, Robert Kennedy, then the Attorney General of the United States. We hear archival audio in which Monroe talks about how she loved Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, and would spend hours and hours at the movie theater when she was a kid. The Gist: Sex, drugs, politics, Hollywood, conspiracy theories – Marilyn Monroe’s life and the aftermath of her death is surely one of the juiciest and most tragic celeb stories ever. If you’ll pardon the phrase, the title of Netflix documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes makes it sound like it’s dropping bombshells about the life of Hollywood’s greatest sex symbol.

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Image courtesy of "thirdcoastreview.com"

Review: Half-Baked Documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe ... (thirdcoastreview.com)

A documentary has to work hard for me not to like it. So imagine my reaction to seeing how hard director Emma Cooper worked (or rather, ...

Instead, the revelations have more to do with what happened after her body was found, or more specifically, exactly what time her body was found and how long it took authorities to declare her dead. The movie also reminds us what a fragile and emotionally driven person Monroe was and all that that entails, good and bad. After about hour of backstory, director Cooper finally gets to the point of the film, which is to either prove or disprove the cause of Monroe’s death and explore why there is still such confusion about it. Summers’ interviews and biography began when the L.A. County district attorney reopened the investigation into Monroe’s death (which was ruled a death by overdose, though either intentionally or accidentally isn’t clear) in 1982, so most of the interview subjects are long dead. Summers walks us through his impressive catalog of recordings, most of which have never been heard, talking to Monroe’s friends, work associates, and even actors and directors she worked with closely, including John Huston, Billy Wilder, and Jane Russell. But while these interviews certainly paint a more vivid portrait of Monroe as a performer, they don’t really give us more insight into her motivations to succeed or her approach to her craft. But before we get to the juicy bits, Cooper pieces together a fairly standard-issue life story, complete with Monroe’s stories of bouncing from orphanage to orphanage as a child and man to man as an adult, including baseball superstar Joe DiMaggio, playwright Arthur Miller, and both Robert and John F. Kennedy.

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