Somber Anniversary Of Marilyn Monroe’s Death Nears

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — It was 50 years ago this weekend that Marilyn Monroe was found dead.

CBS2 and KCAL9 reporter Suraya Fadel looks back at the Marilyn mystique and why she is still remembered so fondly.

Fadel spoke with the Trujillo family. They came from Miami, Florida to see Monroe’s Brentwood home up close.

This is the home where Monroe was found dead, on August 5, 1962, at the age of 36.

“When you talk about a movie star she is it,” says Timothy Gray, editor in chief of the show business trade paper Variety.

“There is a mystique about her whole life. She is beautiful, successful, rich. She was lonely, sad, she died under mysterious cirumstances. Some think suicide, or it was a murder plot, conspiracy. She was married to Joe DiMaggio then icon writer Arthur Miller.”

Gray says the reason for the mystique is simple. He life reads like a Hollywood novel. And that story has fascinated fans from day one and continues to transcend generations.

“She projects sexy and smart and you cant get your eyes off her. You want to anna know her better. Fifty years later, she is still fresh and classic.”

Monroe was a big star in the late 40s, 50s and 60s. Gray believes her estate today controls a constant image that keeps her contemporary.

“When you realize the impact she had in such a short time and 50 years later still remembered it is interesting,” he says.