ON Aug 5, a memorial service for Marilyn Monroe was held at Los Angeles’ Westwood Village Memorial Park, the cemetery where she was laid to rest.
That Friday marked the 60th anniversary of the blonde bombshell’s death. She was found dead in her Los Angeles home at the age of 36.
Established in 1982, Monroe’s fan club, called Marilyn Remembered, hosted the annual memorial service with flowers from fans around the globe to commemorate her passing.
Speakers at the memorial included Greg Schreiner, Oscar winner George Chakiris, Monroe’s actress friend Terry Moore, and Luke Yankee, the son of one of Monroe’s costars, Eileen Heckart (who starred in Bus Stop with her).
Marilyn Monroe Collection, the world’s largest private collection of Monroe’s personal property and archives, also shared the actual vintage programme from the star’s funeral service six decades ago, which also included the guest list for the private ceremony.
The Instagram account also shared that Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland was played during Monroe’s funeral.
Born Norma Jeane Mortensen, Monroe’s career was launched after a photographer “discovered” her photogenicness while she was working in a California munitions factory.
At the start of her acting career, she dyed her brown hair blonde and changed her name, and Marilyn Monroe was born, later becoming one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s.
Interest in the screen legend has reignited after Netflix released the official trailer for the Monroe biopic Blonde.
In the upcoming film out on Sept 23, Cuban actress Ana de Armas is transformed into the blonde bombshell. Directed by Andrew Dominik and based on the bestselling novel by Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde boldly reimagines Monroe’s complicated life. Blurring the lines of fact and fiction, the film artfully explores the tension between her public and private life.
