Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days

It was 48 years ago today that Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Brentwood home, a result from an overdose of barbiturates. A short, tempestuous life then transformed into an enduring legend which hasn't flagged a bit since then. She is still the most written about and adored of the screen goddesses.

A 2001 documentary, directed by Patty Ivins, called Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days, is a carefully-detailed look at her last few months, particularly concerning her last film, a romantic comedy titled Something's Got to Give, co-starring Dean Martin and directed by George Cukor. Of course it was never finished, but there were nine hours of footage shot, which has been assembled into about a half-hour of film, included at the end of this documentary.

By 1962 Monroe was a huge star, but trouble to work with. She was under contract to Twentieth-Century Fox, and submitted a list of directors that she was willing to work with. Cukor's name was on that list, and though he didn't want to work with her, he owed the studio a film. They were in precarious financial shape due to cost over-runs on the megablockbuster Cleopatra, so were in no shape to be dragged down by this modestly-budgeted film, which was a remake of the Cary Grant-Irene Dunne film My Favorite Wife.

Monroe, though, drove them all into fits. The filming began in April, and she almost immediately started calling out sick due to sinusitis. Many of the principles are interviewed here, including the producer, Harry Weinstein, the associate producer and art director, Gene Allen, and the screenwriter, Walter Bernstein, who all bemoan her behavior. Her doctor was also interviewed, and he does say that she was really sick.

Scenes not involving Monroe were shot, but eventually there were no more and the production got several days behind schedule. Things got worse when she was invited to President Kennedy's birthday ball at Madison Square Garden. She was told she could not go, but she went anyway, and memorably crooned "Happy Birthday" to the president, who likely had had an intimate relationship with her (speculation is rampant throughout the film that she was currently involved with the president's brother and attorney general, Robert Kennedy).

Eventually Monroe was fired from the film. Lee Remick was going to replace her, but Martin was contractually allowed to ankle the project if Monroe wasn't in it, and he did just that, so the production was shut down. Monroe tried to pick up the pieces, and it appeared that a few months later it might get started again, with a different director, but then she died. The film would be made a year later with Doris Day and James Garner with the title Move Over, Darling.

All of this might be too much detail for the casual viewer, but it's a must for the legion of Monroe followers. I think what is most amazing is that even at this stage of her career, when she was ill and distracted, the camera still loved her. The scenes that she did shoot were magical, especially a sequence that had her swimming nude in a pool (most of the scenes had her wearing a fleshtone body suit, but there were a few shots of her toweling off in the buff). She also did a photo shoot on the beach with photographer George Barris just a few weeks before she died. These photos are often seen today, and again are just luminous, which makes the circumstances of her death seem even more tragic.

The film does not go too deeply into the mystery surrounding her death. There is no talk of murder, but there is puzzlement over the why. Those who knew her said she was in good spirits, but something happened to make her upset enough to take the drugs that killed her. She spoke on the phone with one witness, who thinks that she had intended to commit suicide, but then changed her mind, but it was too late. From then until now, the her legend has only grown in stature.