Marilyn and RFK. Again.

"Marilyn Monroe may have been tricked into killing herself as part of a plot hatched with the knowledge of the former US attorney general, Robert Kennedy, according to a secret FBI file." Kathy Marks reports for the Independent, while Australian writer and film director Philippe Mora lays out the evidence for his argument in the Sydney Morning Herald: "The document [PDF], hidden among thousands of pages released under freedom-of-information laws last October, was received by the FBI on October 19, 1964 - two years after her death - and titled simply 'ROBERT F KENNEDY.'"

Updated through 3/19.

In an accompanying piece, Mora notes that the file is only part of "a torrent of information from a huge investigative body that was run by J Edgar Hoover, arguably the most powerful man in US history, with his long tenure as the guardian of America's secrets.

"Hoover was obsessed with the private life of celebrities, particularly those with leftist leanings. It appears the FBI was tracking Monroe closely from the Cold War mid-1950s until her death, from the period she met and married the playwright Arthur Miller, who was being watched as a possible communist."

And that indeed would be the more interesting story if it weren't for the gruesomeness of the supposed plot to "induce suicide" and the all-star cast of characters in on it.

Update, 3/19: "An Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe is expected to fetch more than $15m (£7.7m) when it goes on sale at Christie's in New York in May." The BBC reports.

Posted by dwhudson at March 18, 2007 9:43 AM