DirectorMike Nichols, late husband ofDiane Sawyer, was never too far from celebrities — including, according to a new book, once watchingMarilyn Monroein dishabille during a particularly memorable moment with PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.
“When Marilyn sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Jack Kennedy in the famous dress she had to be sewn into, the sequined Jean Louis gown, Mike was there that night,” Dowd told authors Ash Carter and Sam Kashner. “He told me, ‘I was standing right behind Marilyn, completely invisible, when she sang “Happy birthday, Mr. President,” and, indeed, the corny thing happened. Her dress split for my benefit, and there was Marilyn, and, yes, indeed, she didn’t wear any underwear.’ ”
Dowd’s anecdote about her performance is just one of many poignant and sometimes playful reflections on Nichols,who died in 2014 at 83.
Featuring interviews with his friends and former colleagues like Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman, the book explores both Nichols’ triumphs and struggles as well as other colorful scenes from his A-list life.
Marilyn Monroe with the Kennedy brothers.Cecil Stoughton/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
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Monroe’s appearance one May night in 1962, at a fundraiser in celebration of President Kennedy’s birthday, is iconic for a number of reasons. When the actress sang at Madison Square Garden, itencouraged rumors that she was having an affairwith the commander-in-chief. President Kennedy’s brother Robert F. Kennedy, then the attorney general, was in attendance as well. Some believed that Monroe was also having an affair with him.
The birthday celebration became even more weighted when Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose a few months later, on Aug. 5, 1962. She was 36.
“What happened to Marilyn Monroe is one of the great mysteries of the 20th century,” her biographer James Spadatold PEOPLE in 2012, ahead of the 50th anniversary of Monroe’s death.
Monroe’s second husband, baseball greatJoe DiMaggio,blamed the Kennedys for her death, according to Dr. Rock Positano, who along with brother John Positano wrote the 2017 biographyDinner with DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero.A number of others shared the same theory.
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(President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963; brother Robert was assassinated five years later.)
A rare photo taken after her Madison Square Garden performance during a party at the home of movie executive Arthur Krim is reportedly the only known image of either Kennedy with Monroe. The image has only added to the mystery surrounding Monroe’s connection to them.
“[I]t was Marilyn who was the hit of the evening,” read TIME’s 1962recap of the event. “Kennedy plainly meant it when he said, ‘I can now retire from politics after having hadHappy Birthdaysung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.’ ”
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source: people.com
