Marilyn Monroe: The Biography

by Donald Spoto

Book Overview

Based on more than 150 interviews, this in-depth biography casts new light on every aspect of Marilyn Monroe's thirty-six years: her mysterious childhood and adolescence; her complex marriages; her personal and professional relationships; and the truth about her death.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060179872
• ISBN13: 9780060179878
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 698 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 9.6" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Never received.

Too bad. Never received the books. I think you all are a bunch of crooks.

only scholarly biography so far

Finally a professional biography, which does such elementary but necessary scholarship as comparing the Kennedy brothers' appointment books with Monroe's to show how miniscule the contact was. Compares accounts in previous bios with verifiable facts. (The outrageous way con-men fabricate and market a dead hero's story could make a separate book.) As Mr. Spoto documents Marilyn Monroe's endless small generosities and quirks, she becomes more lovable than one had dared to hope. Marilyn had an uncanny ability to awaken our protective instincts, and at the end, when Miller is cold and her therapist exploiting, Mr. Spoto grows furious. Otherwise, the first objective biography of this American culture hero: all serious criticism must now start with it. George J. Leonard, Prof of Humanities, San Francisco State University

The truth. Finally.

Donald Spoto must have done a lot of hard work to uncover all this information about Marilyn. In this extensive biography (the best I've read) we learn things that maybe we'd never heard about before.And, by interviewing people close to Marilyn such as Milton H. Greene and Inez Nelson (?), by reading papers from Marilyn to Lee/Paula Strasberg, Pat Newcomb, and others influential in her life, DS gives us further insight into the life of this beautiful but misunderstood immortal screen goddess. We also learn the truth about her death. No, Marilyn was not killed by the Kennedys. (Both Bobby and John had alibis, and the information DS presents show no reason why they would want to assassinate her anyway.) And from what DS says, Marilyn was planning to remarry Joe DiMaggio and to her friends it didn't seem that she was planning to kill herself.His hypothesis is that her suicide may have been accidental, after being fed all those barbituates by different people through all the years, and Dr. Ralph Greenson and her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, may have had a hand in it.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned so much from it!

Accurate, detailed biography.

Donald Spoto bases this book on the facts...not speculations and unseen sources. This is a very detailed account of Marilyn's Life,from the early years spent as a starlet thru her marriages...relationships with famous photographers and acting coaches thru ordinary people...Marilyn's last days are realistically brought back to Life with a plausible explanation of what really happened the night she died.One of the best parts of the book is the last chapter "Aftermath: the great deception", where Donald Spoto adresses all the tabloid biographies that sensationalize marilyn's death...the theories and speculations about her involvement with the Kennedys and the mafia and so called "best friends"....Such as Robert Slatzer and jeanne carmen, to name the worst offenders among them.I have read all the mayor Biographies on Marilyn and this one for me comes closest to what the truth might be about what happened to marilyn.

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK OF MARILYN.....EVER!

I have been a serious Marilyn collector for Years.Donald Spoto's book is the closest thing to finding the "real" Marilyn.He tells it like it was.I have long been sick with all the bull that's been written about Marilyn. Here the ending makes sense.Donald Spoto researched unbelievable amount of material,including Marilyn's spychiatrist's private papers.This book is very accurate as i have many, many pictures collaborating this biography.Don't waste your time with the outrageous claims of socalled Marilyn friends. The worst of them being that Robert Slatzer! I have THOUSANDS of Marilyn Pictures and he is only in 2 of them.And they look like tourist photographs, taking at Niagara Falls in '52. In all my books,NOBODY close in her Life EVER mentioned this man.I think the guy is full of .... myself.Get this BOOK! PS: I have a complaint about the review from "READER FROM USA" on January 8, 1999 - Get a grip! It is people like you that keep this rediculous stuff about murder going. Reading your review i realized u don't know what u are talking about."Donald Spoto just adds his own facts?", excuse me but did u see the amount of material this guy was into? AND THERE'S NEVER BEEN ONE IODA OF PROOF OF MURDER BY ANYBODY.

Don't read this if you dislike facts.

I've been reading MM books for a couple of decades now and I've become disgusted by the amount of sheer garbage that has been printed about this woman. What a relief to read a well-written book based on facts instead lies, rumors, and prurient gossip. Spoto discredits the absurd "Kennedy murder" theory and MM's supposed connection to "the Mob." Basically, he discredits all the trash that has become accepted as fact about MM, including Robert Slatzer's idiotic claim to be her husband. What I liked best about this book was its affectionate attitude toward its subject and its reliance on what can reasonably be determined to be true, as opposed to repeating scurrilous old rumors and wild gossip. Of course, it's the dirt that sells these days, which is why the more garbage-oriented books about MM sell better.