Marilyn Monroe was fooled by RFK into killing herself, says a newly released FBI file

Marilyn: The case for 'assisted suicide'

The star was fooled into killing herself, says a newly released FBI file. Did her friends deliberately let her die? Kathy Marks reports

Published: 18 March 2007

Marilyn Monroe may have been tricked into killing herself as part of a plot hatched with the knowledge of the former US attorney general, Robert Kennedy, according to a secret FBI file.

The document, uncovered by an Australian film director, Philippe Mora, suggests Monroe was "induced" to make a suicide attempt, in the belief she would be found in time, and her stomach pumped. Instead, it suggests, she was left to die by staff and friends, including the actor Peter Lawford, who was married to Kennedy's sister, Patricia.

The 36-year-old actress was found naked and face down on her bed on 5 August 1962, with a large quantity of barbiturates in her system. For 45 years conspiracy theorists have claimed that her death was not a simple suicide, with some linking it to alleged affairs with Kennedy and his brother, the then President, John F Kennedy.

According to the FBI report, Robert Kennedy called Lawford from a San Francisco hotel that night "to find out if Marilyn was dead yet". Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, Mr Mora, who is based in Los Angeles, says he found the file among thousands of classified documents recently released under freedom of information laws. Compiled by a "former Special Agent" whose name is deleted, it is headed "Robert F Kennedy".

The FBI received the file on 19 October 1964. It contains a report that claims Monroe was deliberately given the means to fake a suicide attempt. Those in on the conspiracy, as well as Lawford, were her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, and her secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb.

The former agent warns he cannot evaluate the authenticity of the information. Even so, saysMora, his file was circulated to five top FBI officers, including Clyde Tolson, right-hand man of bureau chief J Edgar Hoover.

The report that it cites suggests the motive was to silence Monroe, who had threatened to make public a "romance and sex affair" with Robert Kennedy. Monroe had, it says, realised Kennedy was never going to divorce his wife and marry her, as promised. Kennedy had also reneged on a pledge to "take care of everything" after the actress's contract with 20th Century Fox was cancelled. The pair had "unpleasant words" on the phone.

The file - parts of which were deleted before its release - states that Lawford "knew from Marilyn's friends that she often made suicide attempts and that she was inclined to fake a suicide attempt in order to arouse sympathy". He reportedly made "special arrangements" with Greenson, who was treating her for "emotional problems and getting her off the use of barbiturates". On her last visit, Greenson gave Monroe a prescription for 60 tablets of Seconal, used to relieve insomnia and anxiety. The prescription was "unusual in quantity", the report says. Murray left the pills on Monroe's night table.

That day Kennedy left the Beverly Hills Hotel and flew to San Francisco. The report says: "Robert Kennedy made a telephone call to Peter Lawford to find out if Marilyn was dead yet."

Lawford called and spoke to Monroe, "then checked again later to make sure she did not answer". According to the file, Murray then called Greenson to tell him Monroe had taken the pills. "Marilyn expected to have her stomach pumped and get sympathy for her suicide attempt. The psychiatrist left word for Marilyn to take a drive in the fresh air but did not come to see her until after she was known to be dead."

Officially, Monroe was found dead in the early hours by Murray. Within 48 hours, the report says, Newcomb and Lawford had flown to the Kennedy compound at Hyannisport, Massachusetts.

French-born Mora admits he is not sure what to make of the file. He asks: "Is all this the elaborate dirty tricks of Kennedy haters from decades ago, or are we getting closer to the historical truth?"

FBI file links Kennedy to Monroe's death

Looks like former US AG RFK knew and or participated in a plan "to induce" her suicide.

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March 17, 2007

For four decades there have been rumours that Marilyn Monroe's death was not a simple suicide. Now a Los Angeles-based Australian writer and director, Philippe Mora, has uncovered an FBI document that throws up a chilling new scenario.

The screen legend Marilyn Monroe...the FBI report says she "expected to have her stomach pumped out and get sympathy for her suicide attempt", but it suggests she was left to die. Photo: Harold Lloyd/The Harold Lloyd Collection

The screen legend Marilyn Monroe...the FBI report says she "expected to have her stomach pumped out and get sympathy for her suicide attempt", but it suggests she was left to die. Photo: Harold Lloyd/The Harold Lloyd Collection

BOBBY KENNEDY'S affair with the screen idol Marilyn Monroe has been documented, but a secret FBI file suggests the late US attorney-general was aware of - and perhaps even a participant in - a plan "to induce" her suicide.

The detailed three-page report implicates the Hollywood actor Peter Lawford, Monroe's psychiatrist, staff and her publicist in the plot.

The allegations suggest the 36-year-old actress, who had a history of staging attention-seeking suicide attempts, was deliberately given the means to fake another suicide on August 4, 1962. But this time, it is suggested, she was allowed to die as she sought help.

The document, hidden among thousands of pages released under freedom-of-information laws last October, was received by the FBI on October 19, 1964 - two years after her death - and titled simply "ROBERT F KENNEDY".

It was compiled by an unnamed former special agent working for the then Democrat governor of California, Pat Brown, and forwarded to Washington by Curtis Lynum, then head of the San Francisco FBI. Despite a disclaimer that it could not be sourced or authenticated, it was considered important enough to immediately circulate to the FBI's five most senior officers, including director J. Edgar Hoover's right-hand man, Clyde Tolson.

The report was in effect buried for decades as a classified document, and even the released version contains censored sections. Never before mentioned despite thousands of articles, books and documentaries about her death, it details aspects of Kennedy's on-and-off affair with the movie star, including sex parties and a lesbian dalliance, as well as her emotional departure from 20th Century Fox and descent into depression.

Critically, it raises an alleged conspiracy, apparently overseen by Lawford, for Monroe to unwittingly commit suicide with the drug Seconal, a barbiturate used to treat insomnia and relieve anxiety. The document gives no precise reason why she would be killed but hints it may be linked to her threats to make public her affair with Kennedy, as other conspiracy theories have previously claimed. It states in part: "Peter Lawford, [censored words blacked out] knew from Marilyn's friends that she often made suicide attempts and that she was inclined to fake a suicide attempt in order to arouse sympathy.

"Lawford is reported as having made 'special arrangements' with Marilyn's psychiatrist, Dr Ralph Greenson, from Beverley Hills. The psychiatrist was treating Marilyn for emotional problems and getting her off the use of barbiturates. On her last visit to him he prescribed Seconal tablets and gave her a prescription for 60 of them, which was unusual in quantity especially since he saw her frequently. On the date of her death … her housekeeper put the bottle of pills on the night table. It is reported that the housekeeper and Marilyn's personal secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb, were co-operating in the plan to induce suicide."

It goes on to say that on the same day, Kennedy had booked out of the Beverley Hills Hotel and flown to San Francisco where he booked into the St Charles Hotel, owned by a friend. "Robert Kennedy made a telephone call from St Charles Hotel, San Francisco, to Peter Lawford to find out if Marilyn was dead yet."

Lawford called and spoke to Monroe "then checked again later to make sure she did not answer". The document claims the housekeeper, Eunice Murray, who had been hired by the actress on the advice of Dr Greenson, then called the psychiatrist.

"Marilyn expected to have her stomach pumped out and get sympathy for her suicide attempt. The psychiatrist left word for Marilyn to take a drive in the fresh air but did not come to see her until after she was known to be dead."

Officially, the actress was found by Murray in the early hours of August 5, naked on her bed lying on top of her telephone. The others are now dead, too.

The FBI report says Kennedy had promised Monroe he would divorce his wife and marry her, but the actress eventually realised he had no intention of doing so. About this time, he had told her not to worry about 20th Century Fox cancelling her contract - "he would take care of everything". When nothing happened, she called him at work and they had "unpleasant words. She was reported to have threatened to make public their affair."

Hoover, keeper of America's secrets, was obsessed with the private life of celebrities, particularly those with leftist leanings. The files show the FBI tracked Monroe from the Cold War mid-1950s to her death in 1962, but particularly after she met and married the playwright Arthur Miller, who was being watched as a possible communist.
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Documents: Read the FBI papers