Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Marilyn Monroe Died Here

OWNER: Not A Celebrity
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $3,595,000
SIZE: 2,624 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: This pretty, hacienda style casa in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles that recently hit the market with an asking price of $3,595,000 is not currently owned by a celebrity. It was however, once owned by the voluptuous, legendary, and deeply insecure super star Marilyn Monroe. It is, in fact, the very house in which a 36 year old Miss Monroe met her untimely end in August of 1962 due to an (alleged) drug overdose.

The 5th Helena Drive dwelling has a rather complicated history littered with ownership gaps, rumors, and conspiracy theories that Your Mama will to try to sort out, synthesize and condense as best as we can into a bite sized nugget.

It the early 1960s Miss Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortenson and baptized Norma Jean Baker, and her dedicated housekeeper Eunice Murray went a'hunting for a home in Tinseltown. Some reports say that the enigmatic and unstable Miss Monroe craved a crib with a similar vibe as the Brentwood home of her long-time psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson. In addition to Miss Monroe, Mister Greenson, a prominent and accomplished head shrinker, reportedly also treated the likes of Tony Curtis and Frank Sinatra.

Anyhoo, in late 1961 Miss Monroe and Miss Murray came upon a modest Monterey Spanish casa perfectly and privately situated behind tall gates at the tail end of a tiny and quiet cul-de-sac. Most reports indicate Miss Monroe purchased the property for less than $90,000 and in March of 1962, she took a mortgage for which she made monthly payments of $320.

The single story, white stucco and red tile roofed house house was built in 1929 and at the time Miss Monroe purchased the property included just 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms plus a detached guest house. Miss Monroe reportedly used one of the bedrooms for herself, the second one for her dedicated housekeeper Eunice Murray and the third for a "telephone room." There was, and still is, an essentially but not quite kidney shaped swimming pool in the backyard that Miss Monroe allegedly never used.

Miss Monroe, internationally beloved but psychically isolated and emotionally needy, threw herself into making a home for herself. She planted an herb garden and in early 1962 traveled to Mexico to purchase authentic furniture, art and tapestries for her new home, the only home she ever owned.

There was a plaque–some say above the front door and others say it was on the doorstep–that bore the Latin phrase "Cursum Perficio" translating to "My Journey Ends Here." Miss Monroe's journey did indeed end here at this house on 5th Helena Drive. Her body was discovered on the early morning of August 5, 1962, after her housekeeper and the unfortunately named Dr. Hyman Engelberg busted through her bedroom window with a fireplace poker and found her dead from an (alleged) overdose of prescription pills. At the time of her death, some of the furniture and other items purchased in Mexico had recently been delivered and were still, reportedly, in their shipping materials.

To this day Miss Monroe's death remains shrouded in mystery and unanswered questions that lean towards conspiracies that usually have something to do with her (alleged) relationships with president John F. Kennedy and his younger brother Robert. More on that later.

According to the Movieland Directory, Miss Monroe's home had previously been owned by the lewd and ludicrously named silent film actor Dick Hunter. Mister Hunter perished in December of 1962 but it's unknown if it was Mister Hunter who sold the property to Miss Monroe.

There were, reportedly, at least half a dozen sales contracts placed on the property on the very day of Miss Monroe's death. Talk about some bad ass and morbid real estate ambulance chasers. However, Miss Monroe died intestate, meaning she did not have a will and her property remained in probate. Eventually a judge ruled that Miss Monroe's home be sold for 10% above the highest offer. The highest bidder, as it turns out, was also the first bidder. The Nunez family, who took possession of the house in the fall of 1963, also became the de facto owners of many of Miss Monroe's household possessions including her damn Hoover brand vacuum cleaner.

Some reports say the Nunez family owned and occupied the house until 1980. Other reports say that the property was bought in 1972 by actress Veronica Hamel (Hill Street Blues, Lost) and her huzband Michael Irving. According to those reports, when Mister Irving and Miz Hamel went to remodel their new home they discovered an extensive and sophisticated eavesdropping and telephone tapping system. A retired (and unnamed) Justice Department official claimed the system was built with parts not available for commercial purchase in 1962 but were instead "standard FBI issue." These claims of a tapping system only added fuel to the already raging fire that Miss Monroe had been surveilled by the Kennedys and/or the Mafia. More on that later.

It's unclear to Your Mama how long Mister Irving and Miz Hamel occupied or owned the house on 5th Helena Drive. What is clear, according to property records, is that in August of 1994 Miss Monroe's former home was purchased from a Mister and Missus Alexander Bull by film director Michael Ritchie (Bad News Bears, Fletch, The Fantasticks) and his wife Jimmie for $995,000. Soon after buying the house the Ritchies relocated to New York and sold the property to an architect and his wife, in April of 1996 for $925,000. The architect and his wife did some remodeling we presume–what architect does not do some remodeling after all–and settled in for the long real estate haul.

There are multiple rumors and reports floating around the interweb–including on the Movieland Directory–that at some point the property was leased to the Marilyn Monroe obsessed model Anna Nicole Smith, a more trashy and modern day version of Miss Monroe who met her own tawdry, drug related end in a South Florida hotel room in February of 2007. However, Your Mama is deeply suspicious about that rumor. Maybe she did, but probably she didn't and if she did we're quite certain it would have had to have been before the current owners bought the place.

In 2006 rumors ran rampant that British born disc-jockey turned tee-vee presenter Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance) had bought Miss Monroe's old house on 5th Helena Drive for around two million clams. However, that is simply not the case because not only are the sellers of the house the same folks who bought the house back in 1996, Miss Deeley, in fact, bought another house unrelated to Miss Monroe in September of 2006, a 2 bedroom and 2 pooper bizness in the Beverly Hills Post Office area for which she paid $2,699,000 according to records and reports.

Now, getting back to some of the conspiracies. Beginning sometime at the end of 1961 the most famous woman of the world allegedly embarked on a torrid affair with president John F. Kennedy. Shortly after she made her famous appearance in April of 1962 at Madison Square Garden where she breathily and sexily sang the Happy Birthday song to president J.F.K., the president and his men put the kibosh on their illicit trysting. Miss Monroe, not exactly the best picker of man-friends, almost immediately began an even more torrid (and alleged) affair with John F.'s younger brother Robert F. Kennedy. It is widely alleged that her relationships with both John F. and Robert F. Kennedy were facilitated by debauched hard drinking actor Peter Lawford who was at the time married to Patricia Kennedy, John F. and Robert F.'s sister and who owned an impressive 14-bedroom ocean front home in Santa Monica, CA where Miss Monroe and the Misters Kennedy are said to have rendezvoused.

Shortly after Miss Monroe's death, bizarre, shocking and almost unbelievable stories began to circulate that Miss Monroe's house had been bugged by either–are y'all ready for this?–Jimmy Hoffa or that horrible, cross dressing Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover. These rumors only heated up in the early 1970s when the stories about Veronica Hamel finding a hidden eavesdropping system in the walls began to circulate. Both men, theoretically, would have peed their pants with glee to have heard any conversation or interaction between Miss Monroe, Mister Lawford and both of the Kennedy brothers that may have provided information and evidence that could be used to twist the arms of the Kennedys who were at that time one of the most powerful families on earth. The fact that John F. Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas just over a year after Miss Monroe kicked it in her Brentwood bedroom only added more lighter fluid to the already aflame rumors that Miss Monroe's death was part of some vast conspiracy to bring the Kennedy's down.

Several suspicious circumstances surround Miss Monroe's death that lead people to these dubious but plausible conspiracies. Your Mama could not possibly be bothered to recount all of them but they include that Miss Monroe's autopsy report did not note the presence of the sort of residue that would have been left behind by the 50 or so pills she allegedly popped as well as that Miss Murray waited several hours after finding Miss Monroe's dead body before contacting the authorities. Then there are the missing phone records that would have shown just who Miss Monroe called on the night she died who Miss Murray called on the morning she was found. There, of course, there are the most horrific and salacious theories that Miss Monroe was snuffed out by the Kennedy family so that she would not publicly spill the beans on her alleged affairs with both John F. and Robert Kennedy who both, it is believed by some, may have told Miss Monroe any number of politically explosive tidbits that she may or may not have recorded in her diaries that, apparently and according to some theories, also went missing in the hours and days after her death.

Whatever the case and circumstances, Miss Monroe is long dead and most if not all the players who might have known about any foul play are also gone. That means those who care will probably never know the real truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Currently listing information, the home sits on a 23,000 square foot lot at the tail end of the cul-de-sac, a location that ensures total privacy and offers "lovely vistas." Since Miss Monroe owned the home there have been several renovations and the current configuration offers, according to listing information, 4 bedrooms, 3 poopers, a formal living room with wood burning fireplace, family room–formerly the dining room–an office that opens up to the backyard, a good sized sky-lit gore-may eat-in kitchen that opens to a spacious courtyard garden, a game room cabana adjacent to the swimming pool, and separate children's play room.

The home retains many original details–or at least details that are authentic in style to the original home–including extra-thick walls, casement windows, original beamed ceilings, terra cotta tile floors, and period hardware and tiles.

Whomever buys this house on 5th Helena Drive is buying a whole mess of history and confusion regarding Miss Monroe not to mention her ghost that some stay still haunts the halls of the house. Oh dear. Will the madness never end? Have mercy. Your Mama needs a nerve pill and a nap now.

photos: David Offer Fine Homes

45 comments:

StPaulSnowman said...

This could be one of the old Classics Illustrated.........not the house.....the post! Reading it delivers the same kind of excited fascination. Thanks

Carla Ridge said...

Mama! I probably bored you to sleep over cock-tales with all my tired and tawdry gossip by the time I got around to telling you I'd spent my teen years in the vicinity of this house (Carmelina at 13th Helena), so you are forgiven if you've forgotten. But I'm on-my-feet, stampin'-and-clappin', delivering a standing ovation for that detective work on the wire tapping equipment scoop. Stunning, and solid.

Grrrowler said...

Fascinating recount of many points of history relating to this house; thank you for putting all that together. In addition to looking like a perfectly charming house, if'n I had the money I'd buy it just for the history.

One has to wonder if Marilyn would be as enigmatic had she lived to be an old woman. She's forever frozen in time at the height of her beauty, and obviously the mystery and questions surrounding her death only add to the enigma. To quote Norma Desmond: "The stars are ageless, aren't they?"

Jeannified said...

Love the conspiracy theories AND the house!

Kylie said...

I do love your postings and I saw this come on the market a couple of days ago and have been chomping (literally) at the bit to see if you would post anything.
Love it, love it, love it!!!
xox

Anonymous said...

Congrats; that pretty well sums up the tip of the iceberg of the wild, heavy stuff that was swirling around her at the time she died (definitely murdered in IMHO). She had gotten herself mixed up way way over her head with some of the most powerful forces on the planet at the time.

From the inimitable George Cukor:
"There's been an awful lot of crap written about Marilyn Monroe, and there may be an exact psychiatric term for what was wrong with her. I don't know -- but truth to tell, I think she was quite mad. The mother was mad, and poor Marilyn was mad. I know people who say, "Hollywood broke her heart," and all that, but I don't believe it. She was very observant and tough-minded and appealing, but she had this bad judgement about things. She adored and trusted the wrong people. She was very courageous -- you know that book, Twelve Against the Gods? Marilyn was like that, she had to challenge the gods at every turn, and eventually she lost."

R.I.P.

HOA Mgr Lady said...

Great recap and utterly charming house! Thanks Mother!
Ruth

lil' gay boy said...

"Will the madness never end? Have mercy. Your Mama needs a nerve pill and a nap now."

Would that were all it would take to let the poor woman finally rest in peace... rest she does, allegedly via a similar cocktail, but certainly not in peace.

Such a shame as the siting of the house is indeed lovely & private, especially in the So-Cal world of zero lot line neighbors.

I'm not one for superstition, but I think I would find it difficult to rest my head under the same roof where her lonely life slowly ebbed away that curious night; whoever takes on this real estate quandary possesses more fortitude than I.

The speculation will never end; the dichotomy of such turmoil in such a peaceful setting just strikes me as bad real estate juju not worth shouldering at any price.

Verification word: hicimen

The closest match on dictionary.com is hitmen; hmmm?

lil' gay boy said...

BTW, some little known (or perhaps not) Marilyn Monroe real estate trivia:

Shortly before Marilyn split with Arthur Miller, Frank Lloyd Wright delivered his design for their house to be built on their CT property (both the land & plans went to Miller in the divorce, I believe). At any rate, he chose not to build.

Fast forward about 50 years, and the design finally found fruition half a world away where, with minor alterations (the designated shade of pink stucco/concrete retained), it now serves as the clubhouse for the King Kamehameha Country Club & Golf Course on Maui.

I visited it a few years back, and even though it serves as a clubhouse to a golf course, the interiors are still stunning, from the circular living room to the unparalleled details that make a Wright home "Wrightian".

Anonymous said...

"Whomever buys this house on 5th Helena Drive is buying a whole mess of history and confusion regarding Miss Monroe..."
What an astonishingly stupid thing to say!

fairfield girl said...

that is a house with bad juju.

Anonymous said...

I can tell you what I think but I cannot prove it is correct. I think the Kennedy brothers got the Mafia to off Marilyn (they asked a lot of favors from the Mafia) and later when Bobby turned on the Mafia and tried to destroy it, it offed his brother and then it offed him. The Mafia doesn't like to be double-crossed, I suspect.

Anonymous said...

Dr.Hymen Busted the window with a Poker... Damn, I wish i could have written that.

Rosco Mare said...

This posting left a bittersweet lump in my throat. In the early 90s, I met Dr. and Mrs. Nunez’s daughter at a doctor’s office where she worked. She noticed I was reading Monroe’s biography, then told me that she grew up in the house. Monroe had out-bid her parents , but as referenced in the blog, they eventually bought it from her estate. The sale included furniture, clothing and other things. Monroe’s sister took much of the clothing, including Pucci dresses. I believe they sold the house upon Dr. Nunez’s death. Anyway, the Nunez family still owned some of the furniture and other items, but really did not know what to do with it any more. They also kept extra tiles Monroe purchased in Mexico for the house. I suggested that they sell the tiles at a Hollywood memorabilia sale, and they did! Included was a copy of the Nunez’s deed to the house, a photo of the shower decorated with the tiles (white tiles with small flowers), and an affidavit signed by Mrs. Nunez who graciously gave one of the tiles to me as a gift. I still have it.
Monroe’s furniture and personal effects continue to come up for auction. Check out Juliensauctions.com.
One more thing. Isn’t it amazing that nearly 50 years later, Monroe’s headshot that graced VANITY FAIR’s cover last year can give Angelina’s current VANITY FAIR cover a good run for its money?
Thanks for the great reporting, Mama.

Anonymous said...

...in late 1961 Miss Monroe and Miss Murray came upon a modest Monterey Spanish casa...

Mister Hunter perished in December of 1962–right about the time Miss Monroe found and bought the house


those dates don't add up

Anonymous said...

similar to carla,
my family's final home in the area was also on carmelina,
past all the helenas
(& next door to hw's current "it" girl! )
and each time i'd drive up
i'd always wonder what maniacal developer named all those helenas the way he did!
( i think there's 25...)
e

Carla Ridge said...

A Lil Gay Boy -- great reporting on the Kamehameha clubhouse! I'd add to it that the design actually stems from one Wright originally tried to foist of on a Mr. Raul Bailleres of Acapulco from about 1952. Hilariously, in the Miller/Monroe version, the setting was switched to Connecticut without basically changing a thing. On Wright's drawings, there are spaces coyly marked "Mrs. Miller's Dressing Room" and the poignant "Nursery".

Anonymous said...

Not one of my prouder moments, but I do know that Anna Nicole Smith did live in this house. J Howard Marshall rented it for her before they got married and after her Guess jeans ad. Also I have heard that Casey Johnson had also rented it at one time......How weird is that? 3 blonds, only lived in the house a short time, and all died misterously.

Dick Hunter and Dr. Hymen, were they Marilyn's gay's?

Miss Caswell said...

I feel like I just swam the English Channel........

E.J. said...

Mama, just to clarify some of your historical points. First, MM's psychiatrist Greenson was indeed "prominent" but was far from "accomplished." In fact, his care of MM was so poor and violated so many medical ethics rules at the time that he was later censured for his work. He was an awful person; he socialized with her, let her visit with him and his family at his home (big no-no), and in fact placed caretaker "dedicted" housekeeper Murray at the home to spy on MM. Murray was his former secretary. It was well-known that MM hated her because she knew what she was doing. All the evidence points to her direct involvement in MM's death.

One of Murray's responsibilities was to provide MM with her drugs, which were poorly prescribed by Greenson. Among them were the barbituates that let her sleep. MM's preferred method of intake was via enema. The reason no drugs were found in her upper GI tract and all were found in the lower tract was that the drugs were injected via enema. Murray accidentally OD'd her.

Greenson was summoned from a concert at the Hollywood bowl sometime before 11 pm (confirmed by witnesses) but police weren't call for 4 hours. The reason? Her death was messy and had to be cleaned up; the reason police thought the scene was staged (it was). The first policeman on the scene publicly wondered why Murray was "doing laundry" the entire time police were there. Well, she had to. It was dirty.

Not a great conspiracy story but true stories often aren't very sexy. MM's relationship with both Kennedys is pretty easy to confirm, as is the fact that Robert K. was at the house earlier that day in an attempt to try to stop MM from her alleged threats to go public with her relationships. I've been to the house many times and it's a very narrow street with only a few homes. The strongest witnesses to a 2-car caravan with Robert K. in the group was a group of women playing cards in the front room across the street who watched them arrive and testified to that. They were roughly 75 feet away with a clear view of the street.

Just a bizarre coincidence that the Kennedys were dealing with her issues, the mob knew of the relationships and were trying to leverage that threat against Bobby (who was going after the mob even though they helped get Jack elected), and Murray accidentally killed her. That's the reason the rumor mill has gone wild over the years but the truth doesn't appear to be that sexy.

Anonymous said...

I agree with EJ. MM died of an accidental overdose, the same fate as Michael Jackson. All the other conspiracy theories are interesting but untrue. May MM rest in peace.

Great article btw. Can we all start a collection and buy Mama MM's house so we can all visit?

Village said...

Great Post

The comments reminded me of when the estate of Tony Randall sold his massive apartment in one of the important buildings in New York, and the buyers gutted it, they discovered recording equipment embedded in the walls of the guest room, with the monitors in the master bedroom. Yikes. I wouldn't have wanted to be one of their past guests.

And regarding Frank Lloyd Wright, of whom I am a fan, he designed a 10,000 home for Stanley Marcus, of Neiman Marcus fame. That house wasn't built either. It contained NO closets. It was rumored Mr. Wright disliked Mr. Marcus, and charged him one hundred thousand dollars for a set of plans for a house WITHOUT CLOSETS.

lil' gay boy said...

I tend to fall into E.J.'s camp vis-a-vis the conspiracy theories; the particular details seemed best left alone to leave poor Marilyn some dignity at the end. It always seemed like a simple case of Occam's Razor to me.

Carla, I'm impressed with your homework! The locals/club members refer to it as the "Marilyn House". The design was indeed recycled from the one for Acapulco, the major difference being a large opening to the sky (now a glass skylight, originally modeled on the Pyrex tubing used in the Johnson Wax admin building) in the preliminary sketches to create an open air lanai out of the circular living room a la Lautner's 1973 Casa Marbrisa, better known as the Arango House, also in Acapulco, strangely enough.

Village, that's one of many anecdotes, possibly apocryphal, about Wright's abuse of his clients, whether he liked them or not. When Hib Johnson called him during a dinner party to complain that the wigwam-like glass roof of Wingspread was leaking onto him at the dining room table, Wright told him to move his chair...

I wonder if William Haines suggested to the previous owner of MM's house the stage name Dick Hunter? Billy's bio, Wisecracker, is a must read for every Friend of Dorothy.

Anonymous said...

What is weird is that I heard Cat Deeley on Fox 11 maybe one month ago or so saying very clearly that she lives in Marilyn Monroe's former house. Very odd!

Anonymous said...

magnum opus of a post!
go on wit your bad self mama!

StPaulSnowman said...

Funny how childhood memories define what you feel about people.......... I remember my mother saying that Marilyn Monroe had made a lot of noise about how awful Clark Gable's breath was when they worked together. It is a little thing but my childhood memory is a testimony to the power of a mother's disgust.....and mine didn't even have a wooden spoon!

E.J. said...

Cat Deeley lives up on Westridge and has for a while. MM lived in over 20 confirmed houses and hotels in the L.A. area but never on Westridge. Maybe I'll start telling my friends that MM lived in the Chicago burbs in my house from now on...

lil' gay boy said...

Snowman, I remember the same anecdote from the time; funny how such a trivial detail grows legs & struts its way through history.

"Maybe I'll start telling my friends that MM lived in the Chicago burbs in my house from now on..."

All-in-all not a bad plan, E.J., except for the fact that everyone knows Marilyn lived in the back house of our LI North Shore estate and commuted to Hollywood...

;-)

Anonymous said...

Clark Gable's halitosis is well documented.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/20221

"He had almost a full set of dentures when he was only 32. Because of a bad gum infection in 1933, he had to have most of his teeth removed and replaced by dentures, which caused him to suffer from halitosis. During the filming of Gone with the Wind, Vivien Leigh complained about how foul the stench was… but they got along really well other than that. "

Anonymous said...

Here is the list of her addresses

http://www.movielanddirectory.com/star.cfm?star=319990

Village said...

Iil'-I understand Wright couldn't make a living without designing houses for the very rich, and he hated it. An engineer he wasn't.

lil' gay boy said...

Oddly, Village, of the paltry formal training he did receive:

"When he was 15, Frank Lloyd Wright entered the University of Wisconsin as a special student. The school had no course in architecture; Wright studied engineering."

He only lasted a few semesters.

But almost all of his houses leaked, sagged or otherwise had problems (but then, on the other hand, the Imperial Hotel was the only significant building in Tokyo to survive the 1923 earthquake intact; it is believed his unique foundation was the reason).

It's only recently I've come to realize, from the number of current restorations, that the available technology has just only now caught up with his aspirations.

dining set said...

Wow! Marilyn Monroe is the sexiest woman for me. I can see her personality in her house. I can still see her sexiness in that house.

Village said...

A beautiful hotel he designed in Japan was destroyed by the Japanese. Is it the same one you are referring to? I always thought it was because it wasn't their culture.

Scott said...

I toured the property yesterday. Read about the house and view before/after photos on my blog here: http://themarilynmonroecollection.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-tour-of-marilyns-last-home.html.

I find it hard to believe the house was bugged. I've read the home was bugged in the attic and in the walls. The problem is there is no attic as the ceilings are all open beamed in every room (cathedral style in the living room) and the walls are solid concrete.

The tiles on the front step reading "Cursum Perficio" still exist today.

lil' gay boy said...

Village, although it is true that the Japanese did choose to demolish & replace the FLLW original Imperial Hotel ca. 1968, it was done because adjacent high-rises had caused uncorrectable subsidences in the hotel (the area is largely semi-liquid just below grade) ––– that was the genius of FLLW's foundation at the time, concrete slabs "balanced" (like a tray on a waiter's fingers was the description he used). This mud-like soil liquefies during an earthquake, and in 1923 the hotel virtually floated on the site.

However, the Japanese did show proper respect for the building; not only was the entire structure "broom cleaned" prior to demolition, but a portion was dismantled & re-assembled in the Meiji Village Open Air Architectural Museum in Nagoya. Hubby and I visited it back in '92, and it was a rare treat to sit in the restored lobby at tea time, overlooking the water, whilst dining on reproduction FLLW china designed for the original hotel.

Anonymous said...

I'm an agent, and I've been to this house. Have a bad feeling Persians will buy this house, tear it down, and put up a tacky-ass mega-mansion like they tend to do all over town.

Anonymous said...

Anna Nicole Smith did NOT live in the house. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

The MM house is in escrow......multiple bidders well above the asking price.

Anonymous said...

Saw the house in the 80's during an open house. Knew before hand who's home it was. Great private lot with lots of room. Living room ceiling seemed uncomfortably low, offset was fantastic 20's cobalt blue tiles in master bath. The then current owners had an attack of art nouveau and installed several stained glass windows which looked ridiculous in a 20's Spanish house. Heard & read all the rumors about MM's death over the past 40+ years. Most likely scenario, that I believe, is that she was getting barbiturate injections to sleep & the RN couldn't come over so her doctor (shrink Greenberg) instructed the housekeeper to inject her & she overdid it. Housekeeper "disappeared" to Europe for several months after death. RFK WAS spotted in neighborhood that weekend by neighbors, hence disappearance of phone records. When I saw house didn't get creepy feeling from master bedroom, but when viewing backyard saw very secluded guest house below backyard patio area & did think it strange that guest house wasn't open for viewing. Subsequently read MM died in guest house not master bedroom. Also read Peter Lawford (actor & brother in law to JFK & RFK) received phone call that night from MM & was left note by MM.

Anonymous said...

Anna Nicole Smith did leave at 5th Helena for a few months in the mid 90s. She rented the property. There are a series of photographs of her in the house and taped interviews of her talking about her time there.

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Anonymous said...

This is all fascinating reading! X

Unknown said...

This house is undoubtedly beautiful but not amazing. Perhaps this new non-celebrity owner hasn’t done much renovations to preserve the historical and sentimental value of this house that used to belong to Marilyn Monroe, a global icon. In the past, there hasn't been much influence yet to renovate and decorate houses to a huge extent. That is perhaps the reason why this house is left simple, yet beautiful. Can see that this owner likes the idea of book shelves. They are indeed a simple storage idea but the items placed on them need to always be arranged neatly regardless of their size and shape. Looks like this owner knows that pretty well.