Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Marilyn Monroe's Sudden Death

Mailer's press release on the possible murder of Marilyn Monroe, distributed at his 18 July press conference and printed in the Village Voice with a prefatory note; later 'The Murder File' in the Marilyn softcover.

“Marilyn Monroe’s Sudden Death,” in the Village Voice (9 August 1973), consists of Mailer’s press release — distributed at his 18 July press conference urging investigation of Monroe’s death — with a brief introductory note questioning why Ron Rosenbaum had made little of the release in his 2 August Voice article. Reprinted, with added prefatory and concluding comments, as “The Murder File” in the softcover Marilyn: A Biography (75.3), and without context in 75.1.

First published: 1973-08-09
Form: essay
Lennon & Lennon: 73.33
Cite as: /works/1973-08-09-marilyn-monroes-sudden-death
Last updated: 2026-06-04