Iconic Hollywood movie star Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home at age 36 on this historic day, August 5, 1962.
The actress was discovered face down and naked on her bed holding a phone in one hand, according to History.com.
Scattered around his room were empty pill bottles, apparently prescribed to treat his depression, the source said.
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A brief investigation after her death resulted in the Los Angeles police concluding that Monroe's cause of death was suicide.
The report said Monroe's death was “caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative medications and the manner of death is likely suicide,” according to multiple sources.
Marilyn Monroe smiling while filming “The Seven Year Itch” in New York City. (Bonnie Siegler)
The coroner's report also provided more information about Monroe's mental state at the time.
“Miss Monroe had long suffered from psychiatric disorders… Her mood swings were abrupt and unpredictable,” Newsweek reported.
“Among the symptoms of disorganization, sleep disturbances stood out, for which he had been taking sedatives for many years.”
“She had called for help and had been rescued” on previous occasions.
The same report continued: “Miss Monroe had often expressed desires to give up, to withdraw and even to die. On more than one occasion in the past, she had attempted suicide using sedatives,” Newsweek also reported.
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“On those occasions, she had called for help and had been rescued. In our opinion, the same pattern was repeated on the night of August 4, except for the rescue.”
Monroe, who was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926, spent much of her early years in foster homes and an orphanage, according to Biography.com.
Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio make their way through a crowd of reporters after their wedding in the office of Municipal Judge Charles Peery at San Francisco City Hall on January 14, 1954. (Fake Images)
At the age of 16, she married a co-worker at an aircraft factory.
They divorced just a few years later.
She began working as a model in 1944 and in 1946 signed a brief contract with 20th Century Fox.
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She adopted the stage name Marilyn Monroe and posed nude for a calendar in 1949, the source also said.
Her role in The Seven Year Itch (1955) highlighted Monroe's comic ability.
Monroe's career began to gain momentum in the early 1950s, with performances in the films “Love Nest” (1951), “Monkey Business” (1952) and “Niagara” (1953), according to Biography.com.
Her next set of films—Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)—showcased Monroe's sex symbol image and voluptuous good looks.
Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe in a scene from “The Seven Year Itch.” (Fake Images)
Alternatively, her role in The Seven Year Itch (1955) highlighted Monroe's comic ability.
The film features the classic pop culture scene of her standing on a subway grate, her white skirt billowing in the wind created by a passing train, according to multiple sources.
While enjoying success on the big screen, Monroe married baseball legend Joe DiMaggio in 1954.
Although their love story was short-lived.
In 1956, Monroe tried her luck at marriage for the third time and married playwright Arthur Miller.
They divorced nine months later, according to MLB.com.
In 1956, Monroe tried her luck at marriage for the third time and married playwright Arthur Miller.
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A few years later, in 1959, Monroe appeared in the hit comedy “Some Like in Hot.”
The plot involves Chicago musicians Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), who witness a mob robbery and flee the city dressed as women to join an all-female band headed to Miami.
Marilyn Monroe in June 1956 after arriving at New York's Idlewild Airport from the West Coast, shortly after her 30th birthday. (Bettman/Getty Images Contributor)
The group's lead singer, Sugar Kane, played by Monroe, guides them through adventures in the film.
“'Some Like It Hot' is as deliriously funny and fresh today as it was when it first captivated audiences decades ago,” said the Criterion Collection.
In 1961, Monroe ended her marriage to Miller.
“The union would be plagued by a number of tensions, perhaps beginning when Monroe discovered a notebook in which Miller had scribbled his doubts about marrying her,” Life.com noted.
Marilyn Monroe. Critics have called her film “Some Like It Hot” “as deliriously funny and fresh today as when it captivated audiences decades ago.” (Baron/Hulton/Getty Images Archive)
Plagued by repeated miscarriages and other problems, Monroe turned to barbiturates, the source said.
Monroe's final film was “The Misfits” (1961), written by Miller and co-starring Montgomery Clift and Clark Gable (it would also be Gable's last screen appearance), History.com noted.
Then, in June 1962, 20th Century Fox fired Monroe because of her prolonged absences from the set of “Something's Got to Give,” the same source also indicated.
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Just weeks later, on August 5, 1962, Monroe was found dead of a barbiturate overdose at her home in Brentwood, California, several sources said.
Although her death was ruled a suicide, conspiracy theories still circulate about the circumstances of her passing.
“Monroe was presumed to have died late at night on August 4, 1962; however, Monroe's official time of death was given as 3:50 a.m. on August 5, 1962,” according to People.com.
Although her death was ruled a suicide, conspiracy theories still circulate about the circumstances of her passing.
Marilyn Monroe in a halter dress in the photo made famous by artist Andy Warhol. Monroe has been the subject of numerous documentaries, films, books and television miniseries, all of which chronicle the actress's short life.
The most notable of these rumors is that the cause of her death was somehow covered up by the Kennedy brothers (then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his brother, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy) with whom she was allegedly having affairs, according to Harper's Bazaar.
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“These theories were so prevalent that the investigation into his death was reopened in 1982, although no new conclusions were reached,” the same source said.
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Monroe's short and tragic life has been repeatedly referenced in American pop culture, as she was the inspiration for Elton John's song “Candle in the Wind,” which first appeared on his 1973 album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
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In the decades since her death, Monroe has been the subject of documentaries, films, books and television miniseries, all chronicling the actress's short life, Variety said.
