She was to renew her acquaintance with Arthur Miller and have an affair with him before their marriage over a year later. To Marilyn, Miller represented the serious theater and an intellect that she found attractive. To Miller, years later..."It was wonderful to be around her, she was simply overwhelming. She had so much promise. It seemed to me that she could really be a great kind of phenomenon, a terrific artist. She was endlessly fascinating, full of original observations...there wasn't a conventional bone in her body."

Marilyn returned to Hollywood in February 1956, after over a years absence, to film "Bus Stop". After completing the film she returned to New York in June. Miller also returned to New York after obtaining a divorce in Reno, Nevada. They where married June 29 in White Plains, NY.

The Millers departed for London soon after their marriage so that Marilyn could start production on "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Lawrence Olivier. As early as July, Arthur began to have doubts about the marriage. Sidney Skolsky remarked that..."Miller looked on Marilyn strictly as an ideal and was shocked to discover that she is a human being, a person, even as you and I and maybe Miller."

"Bus Stop" opened in London in October 1956. A Times review said..."Miss Monroe is a talented comedienne, and her sense of timing never forsake her. She gives a complete portrait, sensitively and sometimes even brilliantly conceived. There is about her a waif-life quality, an underlying note of pathos which can be strangely moving."

"It's not that I object to doing musicals and comedies...in fact, I rather enjoy them...but I'd like to do dramatic parts too."

Marilyn Monroe did not return to Hollywood until 1958 to make "Some Like It Hot" with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Her health continued to deteriorate due to increased dependency on drugs and involvement in an unhappy marriage. She often came to the set late and was unable to remember her lines. Director, Billy Wilder later said..."Anyone can remember lines, but it takes a real artist to come on the set and not know her lines and yet give the performance she did." Her next film "Let's Make Love" proved to be an unremarkable film with much publicity over her brief affair with co-star Yves Montand.

"I am invariably late for appointments...sometimes, as much as two hours. I've tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing."

Early in 1960, Marilyn was consulting with Dr. Ralph Greenson, a prominent psychoanalyst to Hollywood stars. As common during this period, he relied heavily on drug therapy...routinely prescribing barbiturates and tranquilizers in addition to his psychotherapy.

July 1960 marked the start of filming "The Misfits"...a short story by Arthur Miller adapted for film. While on location the Millers lived in separate quarters and were barely speaking. Meanwhile, pills for Marilyn were regularly flown in from her Los Angeles doctors, including Dr. Greenson. Allan Snyder recalled..."It took so long to get her going in the morning that usually I had to make her up while she lay in her bed." But once again, she managed to give an exceptional performance.

"Everybody is always tugging at you. They'd all like a sort of chunk out of you. I don't think they realize it, but it's like "grrrr do this, grrrr do that..." But you do want to stay intact...intact and on two feet."

On November 5th, the day after "The Misfits" was completed, co-star Clark Gable suffered a serious heart attack and died on November 16, 1960. Marilyn felt a great deal of guilt, commenting..."I kept him waiting...kept him waiting for hours and hours on that picture."

Evelyn Moriarty remembered..."Marilyn was being blamed for everything. All of her problems were exaggerated to cover up for Director Huston's gambling and the terrible waste of money on that production. It was easy for her to be made the scapegoat."

Marilyn divorced Arthur Miller in January of 1961, the same month that "The Misfits" was released. Another unhappy marriage was terminated.

"Mr. Miller is a wonderful man and a great writer, but it didn't work out that we should be husband and wife."

In 1961 Marilyn purchased a house in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. At the urging of her psychoanalyst, Dr Greenson, she hired Eunice Murray as housekeeper. Murray, calling herself a nurse, had neither the training or credentials. It is suspected that she was a "spy" for Dr. Greenson who continued to have more and more control over Marilyn's life, seeing her almost daily when she was in Los Angeles.

A reported affair with John F. Kennedy began in late 1961. At the President's gala birthday celebration in Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962, Marilyn sang her now famous "Happy Birthday" tribute to JFK. The Attorney General, Bobby Kennedy was also reported to have had an affair with Marilyn shortly before her death.

Marilyn began production on "Somethings Got to Give" in April 1962. Much has been said about her inability to show up on the set and her trip to New York for the Presidents birthday celebration...but her illnesses had been well documented by physicians and she had obtained permission from the Studio well in advance of the trip to New York.

"I feel stronger if the people around me on the set love me, care for me, and hold good thoughts for me. It creates an aura of love, and I believe I can give a better performance."

The Studio was deeply in debt over their production of "Cleopatra" starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The filming was way behind schedule and costing millions over budget. It is theorized, if Fox scrapped the Marilyn Monroe film with far fewer expensive sets and actors, they possibly could be reimburse by the insurance company for losses due to a star's illness, and recoup monies spent. Fox fired Marilyn and filed suit against Marilyn Monroe Productions on June 7, but the suit was later dropped.

Marilyn had been seeing Joe DiMaggio frequently during this time and had finally agreed to remarry him. The wedding date was set for August 8, 1962. Fox rehired her on August 1 to complete "Somethings Got to Give" with a salary of $250,000, which was two and a half times the original amount. Of course these events would never come to pass due to her untimely death on August 5, 1962.

Much has been speculated about the events surrounding her death and others involvement in it. But whatever the cause...it is highly unlikely that it was suicide. Possibly the result of a tragic accidental drug overdose...and possibly administered by someone other than Marilyn herself.

A saddened Joe DiMaggio made arrangements for the funeral, inviting no one from the Hollywood scene or press...but only close friends and relatives. As he said..."they had only hurt Marilyn." For over 20 years flowers were delivered weekly to her crypt from Joe...just as he had promised Marilyn when she told him of William Powell's pledge to the dying Jean Harlow.

"I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else."