Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) remains one of the most famous faces in Hollywood.
The dresses that she put on are today museum pieces;
the works she inspired break records at auction.
Her brand is still making a lot of money, but the actress died penniless.
So much so that she couldn't even afford a "decent funeral" after her death nearly 60 years ago.
This is what the writer Joyce Carol Oates, 84, has assured.
The author of
Blonde
, the biography on which the upcoming Netflix film of the same name is based, has reflected on the tragic end of the actress at the 21st Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland.
Published in 2000, Oates's novel combines elements of fiction with detailed episodes from the actress's life throughout its 700 pages.
In them, the New Yorker describes how Norma Jeane Mortenson lost her identity to become Marilyn Monroe.
The person was a far cry from the character that made songs like
Diamonds are a girl's best friend
popular .
More information
The inexhaustible mystery of Marilyn Monroe's death
On and off screen, Monroe created a completely invented identity for herself, becoming a product that the film industry knew how to exploit, defends Oates.
“He gained worldwide fame, but created an identity that he couldn't live with.
An identity with which she made a lot of money for many men, but not so much for herself.
When she died, at the age of 36, she did not have enough money even for a good funeral”, she has assured.
The writer has also reflected on the star's frustration with her career and how it may have contributed to her death.
“As Marilyn got older, she kept getting these roles that she played a young star, and she felt humiliated.
You can't keep playing this dumb blonde who's approaching 40 years old."
She believes that this dissatisfaction could have degenerated into something worse: “Some say that she committed suicide.
I don't necessarily think so.
I think she may have died of something akin to extreme despair.'
Ana de Armas will be Marilyn Monroe in 'Blonde' (Netflix).
Oates took the opportunity to bless the film adaptation of his work, which will premiere on Netflix on September 23.
The film, directed by Andrew Dominik and starring the Hispanic-Cuban actress Ana de Armas, sounds strong ahead of the new awards season.
And, according to the author, rightly so.
“Andrew Dominik is a very brilliant director.
I think he has managed to show the experience of Norma Jeane Baker from the inside.
Instead of seeing her from the outside, from a masculine prism, he immersed himself in her perspective ”, the writer has analyzed.
Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose at her Los Angeles home on August 4, 1962. An officer found her body in bed and discovered empty bottles of antidepressants scattered around the room.
It was Monroe's ex-husband, baseball player Joe DiMaggio, who was in charge of planning her funeral at Westwood Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
It was held four days later and it was a very intimate ceremony.
DiMaggio prohibited the presence of the best known faces of Hollywood and the Kennedy family.
He buried her beloved with a bouquet of roses and since then ordered the Le Parisien Florist in the city to send three bouquets of these flowers every week to her grave.
He did it for 20 years and a month, until 1982. His resting place, a sober pink marble niche,
It remains a place of pilgrimage for all Marilyn fans.
And from Norma Jeane.