Donald Spoto - Marilyn Monroe: The Biography

Praise for M ARILYN M ONROE

This is a book that wound up teaching me a great deal about Hollywood, the social history of California, the movie business, the trials of female actors in American show business, and the life of a woman who has been so mythologized that often the real woman is obscured from actual view. Donald Spoto has accomplished what I would have thought was impossible: he has made me into a Marilyn Monroe fan after all these years.

Erica Jong, Washington Post Book World

Immensely readable, this book lacks sensationalism and is more scrupulously researched and better written than all those previous hack jobs.

New Statesman (London)

[Spoto] offers a welcome challenge to the muckraking, unsubstantiated tales that have been published in the years since the actress demise in 1962.

Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)

Spoto puts new life into the tradition of biography, and his book is fresh and important. His life of Monroe does much to remind us that biography is a branch of history.

London Sunday Telegraph

[Spoto] has researched Monroes life quite brilliantly and his riveting book comes up with the facts, pure and simple.

Birmingham Post (London)

[A] well-written and well-researched work.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette

[ Marilyn Monroe ] digs behind the usual drivel to celebrate a woman of warmth, wit, and considerable resources, all backed up with Spotos renowned research, objectivity, and evident admiration. [An] inspired biography that will endure longer than most.

Empire (UK)

ALSO BY DONALD SPOTO

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A Life
Laurence Olivier: A Biography
The Hidden Jesus: A Life
The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock
The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: Fifty Years of His Motion Pictures
Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean
Falling in Love Again: Marlene Dietrich (A Photo-Essay)
The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams
Stanley Kramer, Film Maker
Camerado: Hollywood and the American Man
Diana: The Last Year
The Decline and Fall of the House of Windsor
Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman
Madcap: The Life of Preston Sturges
A Passion for Life: The Biography of Elizabeth Taylor
Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich
Lenya: A Life

MARILYN
MONROE

THE BIOGRAPHY

DONALD SPOTO

Copyright 1993 by Donald Spoto
(restricted in British Commonwealth, excluding Canada)
First Cooper Square Press edition 2001

The frontispiece and the photograph on page 598 are by Milton H. Greene.

This Cooper Square Press paperback edition of Marilyn Monroe is an unabridged republication of the edition first published in New York in 1993. It is reprinted by arrangement with the author.

Designed by Alma Hochhauser Orenstein

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

Published by Cooper Square Press
A Member of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
200 Park Avenue South, Suite 1109
New York, New York 10003-1503

Distributed by National Book Network

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spoto, Donald, 1941-
Marilyn Monroe: the biography / Donald Spoto.1st Cooper Square Press ed.
p. cm.
Originally published: New York : Harper Collins, 1993.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-8154-1183-3
1. Monroe, Marilyn, 19261962. 2. Motion picture actors and actressesUnited StatesBiography. I. Title.

PN2287.M69 S66 2001
791.43028092dc21
[B]

2001028721

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.

for ELAINE MARKSON
with gratitude and devotion

Contents

Acknowledgments

T HE KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY of many people made this book a reality.

Lisa Callamaro, in the offices of my agent Elaine Markson, introduced me to Gordon Freedman, a film and television producer of admirable integrity and intelligence. He first suggested this book and introduced me to the family of Milton H. Greene and the representatives of Greenes Estate. As Marilyn Monroes friend, photographer and business partner, Greene had kept massive and detailed archives covering much of Marilyns lifematerials that include her production and legal files as well as various personal documents, tapes and letters. I owe Gordon Freedman enormous gratitude for providing access to those who made this historic cache available to me.

Equally so, Joshua Greene and Anthony Greene were more than helpful, providing tangible assistance and amiable encouragement at every stage, as well as access to their fathers photographs of Marilynespecially that which graces the jacket. Amy Greene, their mother, opened her home and extended her family to include Marilyn for several years; candidly and generously, Amy shared unique and unprecedented memories, impressions and anecdotes with me. Knowing her and her sons (and, through them, more about Milton Greene himself), it is easy to understand how Marilyn matured so much in their company.

* * *

The writer Elaine Dundy, always a helpful colleague, put me in touch with the archivist and genealogist Roy Turner, who arranged for me to have exclusive access to documents gathered by him and Marilyn Gemme over almost two decades. Much nonsense has been written about my subjects early history and family background, but Roy Turner and Marilyn Gemme first pursued the facts with an honorable passion for truth. My research was immeasurably enriched by theirs.

Through my colleague James Spada, I met one of the most helpful people for this book: from the very beginning, I was assisted (almost daily) by Greg Schreiner, a gifted musician and composer who is also the co-founder and president of Marilyn Remembered. This associationmore than a fan clubis composed of talented people, some of whom knew and worked with Monroe, all of whom are devoted to celebrating her talents. Greg provided me with crucial introductions to many people I might otherwise have overlooked; he pointed me to important bibliographies; and he was ever ready to answer questions and provide concrete help.

Likewise, I owe very much to Roman Hryniszak and Michelle Justice, who direct a similar group called All About Marilyn and who regularly publish a magazine that helps set the record straight on many matters pertinent to our subject. They could not have been more generous with their time and efforts in helping me reach people for major interviews.

Patrick Miller, whose encyclopedic knowledge of Hollywood history in general and of Marilyn Monroes life and career in particular are remarkable, has for years hoped that a true and full account of her life would one day be published. This book would have suffered enormously without Patricks extraordinary help and advice.