On 5 August 1962, Marilyn Monroe—one of the most recognisable stars in cinema history—was found dead at her home in Los Angeles.
Monroe was only 36 years old.
The discovery brought a sudden end to a life that had taken her from an unsettled childhood to the summit of Hollywood fame. More than six decades later, her image, films and carefully constructed public persona remain embedded in popular culture.
Found at her Brentwood home
Monroe was found in the bedroom of her home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood during the early hours of Sunday 5 August.
Her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, became concerned after noticing that a light remained on behind Monroe’s locked bedroom door. Monroe’s psychiatrist, Dr Ralph Greenson, was contacted and entered the room through a window.
Monroe was found unresponsive on her bed. Her physician, Dr Hyman Engelberg, subsequently confirmed her death, and the Los Angeles Police Department was notified.
Investigators found containers of prescription medication in the room.
Although Monroe was discovered on 5 August, the official investigation concluded that she had probably died during the late evening of 4 August.
What was the official cause of death?
The Los Angeles County coroner recorded Monroe’s cause of death as acute barbiturate poisoning. The official conclusion was “probable suicide.”
The ruling followed toxicology tests and an examination of Monroe’s medical and psychiatric history.
Questions and conspiracy theories about her death subsequently became an industry of their own. Various books and documentaries have proposed accidental overdose, murder and political involvement.
However, those theories have not displaced the official finding. A review conducted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office in 1982 reported no credible evidence supporting a murder investigation and did not overturn the original conclusion.
The distinction remains important: speculation surrounding Monroe’s death should not be presented as established historical fact.
From Norma Jeane to Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles on 1 June 1926. Much of her childhood was spent in foster homes and an orphanage while her mother experienced serious mental illness.
She married James Dougherty at 16, partly to avoid returning to institutional care.
During the Second World War, she was photographed while working at a factory connected to the war effort. The pictures helped begin a modelling career which eventually attracted the attention of Hollywood studios.
She adopted the name Marilyn Monroe and gradually progressed from minor appearances to leading roles.
Films including Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire established her as one of Hollywood’s biggest attractions.
The image of Monroe standing above a subway grate as her white dress billows upwards in The Seven Year Itch became one of the most reproduced moments in cinema history.
More than a Hollywood image
Monroe’s public persona was often built around the stereotype of the glamorous and naïve blonde. Behind that image was an ambitious performer who wanted greater control over her career and to be taken seriously as an actor.
She challenged the studio system, studied acting with Lee Strasberg and established her own production company.
Her performance alongside Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot demonstrated her skill as a comic actor and remains among her most celebrated films.
Monroe’s final completed film was The Misfits, released in 1961. Written by her then husband Arthur Miller, it also became the final completed film of Clark Gable.
At the time of her death, Monroe had been working on Something’s Got to Give. The production had been troubled by her illnesses and absences, and the film was never completed.
Fame and private difficulty
Monroe’s private life attracted almost as much attention as her films.
Her marriages to baseball star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller placed her at the centre of American celebrity culture, but both ended in divorce.
She also experienced depression, anxiety, insomnia and dependency on prescription medication. The contrast between her public image and private distress became an enduring part of how her life was subsequently understood.
News of her death produced shock around the world. Her funeral took place on 8 August at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
DiMaggio helped organise the private service.
An image that survived its creator
Monroe’s death froze her public image in time. She never grew old in the view of her audience, and photographs of her continued to appear in advertising, art, fashion and popular culture.
Andy Warhol’s brightly coloured portraits helped turn her face into one of the defining images of modern art.
Yet reducing Monroe to a photograph or tragic celebrity overlooks the intelligence and determination involved in creating her career. She confronted an industry that controlled performers’ roles, salaries and identities and attempted to gain greater authority over her own work.
The British Film Institute has described her as a self-made star whose screen presence continues to captivate successive generations.
That legacy has particular resonance in 2026, the centenary year of her birth.
On 5 August 1962, the world learned that Marilyn Monroe had died. One hundred years after she was born—and more than 60 years after her death—her place in cinema history remains undiminished.
Sources
- History: Marilyn Monroe is found dead
- Library of Congress: Marilyn Monroe’s death and its contemporary portrayal
- British Film Institute: Marilyn Monroe centenary season and legacy
- BFI: Marilyn Monroe’s enduring stardom
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