Sources

By Larry Jordan
    You may have noticed that in my 768-page book, "The Real Marilyn Monroe," there is a “Selected Bibliography” in the back of the book.
    In an effort to keep the page count down for my most recent book, “Silenced: New Evidence In the Suspicious Death of Marilyn Monroe” I did not include a list of sources but instead put a statement on the Copyright page that readers could go to this website to peruse same.
    However, it is important to stress that throughout the narratives of both of my Marilyn books, I cite sources. I tell you who said what, or where a lot of the information came from (eg., FBI files, press reports, people by name, etc.) I do not rely on anonymous sources (which is often a device used by hack writers to fill in gaps in their research or take their story in a new direction that is fictional).
    Since most of the people who were on the scene when Marilyn Monroe was alive are now deceased, it obviously has been impossible for me to talk with many of them. But I have managed to subsume rare interviews they gave to credible sources when memories were still fresh. I have also tracked down previously unknown and unpublished manuscripts by people close to MM, which yielded unprecedented insights into her life and death. (I quote from them in my narrative).
    One big advantage I have had over previous biographers is that in recent years, millions of newspaper pages dating back to the earliest publications in America have ibeen digitized. This proved invaluable to me in gleaning insight into contemporaneous accounts of Monroe and others who touched her life. I was able to canvass literally thousands of articles from Marilyn's birth to death and beyond. I have not compiled a complete list because there are so many.
    Much of this was unavailable to the authors of previous books on Marilyn. They seemed to fill in the gaps by simply making stuff up. Sorry to tell you this, dear readers, but a lot of these authors pretended to know more than they did, and played you for suckers.
    Previously secret government documents have also been declassified which shed more light on Marilyn and the times in which she lived. This includes files released under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Act as recently as March 2025. Believe it or not, these files contained references to people who appeared in Marilyn's life.
    My thanks to the research staff of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum which helped me examine Robert Kennedy’s desk diaries that no other MM author to my knowledge has ever gained access to, as well as detailed Secret Service records and White House phone and gate logs, plus oral histories by people close to the Kennedys. The latter are significant as these were people who had long-term friendships with JFK and yet they spoke candidly, even acknowledging his long-term involvement on a casual romantic basis with Marilyn Monroe.
    I used so many sources for both books, the best I can do is offer this sampling of some of the articles I perused.
    My appreciation goes to Scott Fortner (who reputedly has the world’s largest private collection of Monroe’s personal property and archives); Greg Schreiner (another erstwhile MM collector); as well as Steve Morewood, Ron McBride, Chris Jacobs, Andrew Mayo, Cathy Locks, Dean Haspiel, Eric Reinhart, Frank Gerard, Dan Hurst, Vic Sonny Stancarone and my beautiful daughter and award-winning journalist/author, Sara Jordan-Heintz.
    The late Bill Larson, one of the smartest men I've ever known (former airline pilot for 30 years, rodeo star, bon vivant, acutely knowledgeable and well-read man), served as a sounding board for me on a daily basis as I wrote “The Real Marilyn Monroe.” His friendship is deeply missed.
    Dr. Cyril Wecht, known as the “godfather of forensic pathology,” also gave me invaluable assistance. I taped interviews with him and we discussed a multitude of issues surrounding the autopsy of Marilyn. What he told me was his most recent thinking on the subject and in some significant ways, contradicts what he wrote in his own book years ago! I believe his insights into her death and the events surrounding it evolved. He scrutinized my work, called it “great,” and praised me for my “meticulous and extensive research.”
    Linda Nunez and her family were the first to move into Marilyn's home after her death and lived there for many years. They even acquired a lot of her furnishings. She was able to provide fascinating and important details about the house and also shared that her parents believed Marilyn was murdered. The most significant fact she offered is that NONE OF THE INTERIOR DOORS LOCKED, so this strengthens what I already reported -- that Marilyn could NOT lock her bedroom door. This means that the scenario by which Dr. Ralph Greenson supposedly had to break a window to gain access to her room was a lie.
    Paul Brogan was also helpful. As a young man he befriend Marilyn's longtime and close friend, hairdresser Sydney Guilaroff, who was likely the last man to speak with Marilyn twice by phone when they exchanged calls just before she died on the night of Saturday, August 4, 1962. Sydney shared very personal information about this matter with Paul that he was afraid to put in his own autobiography because he had been threatened. I have read appalling attacks on Guilaroff, dismissing his account in preference to stories told by Peter Lawford. But the latter was a habitual liar who absurdly claimed that RFK wasn't even in California when Marilyn died, despite the fact that he was photographed arriving at the San Francisco airport. Sydney was gay, which is noteworthy only because he was the FIRST SINGLE MAN to be allowed to adopt a child. This was before LGBTQ rights. Can you imagine? He went on to adopt three boys. That should tell you something about his sterling character.
    Guilaroff was convinced the Kennedys had a hand in Marilyn's death. Sydney was thought of so highly that Joe DiMaggio -- who planned MM's funeral and was insistent no Hollywood associates me invited -- nevertheless wanted Sydney to be one of the pallbearers (along with Marilyn's make-up artist and friend Whitey Snyder). Having access to Sydney's private comments about what transpired was important so Paul Brogan proved to be a unique source.
    Among the significant interviews I did were James Haspiel, who befriended Marilyn when he was a teenager and knew her the last 8 years of her life. He had countless conversations with her. His closeness to the star is documented by scores of original black and white and color photos and even color home movies he took of her. His encyclopedia knowledge of MM's career and unique perspective on the real Marilyn have proven to be invaluable as we have had many conversations over a period of the last several years.
   In the past, a few authors were given access to the private notes of MM’s friend Ralph Roberts, but strangely, only quoted a few lines and ignored the rest. When I obtained copies I was amazed by their intimacy and historical value. I shared my opinion with Chris Jacobs, whom Roberts’ nephew, Hal, had assigned to liaison with me. Apparently I was very persuasive because after these papers had languished unpublished for over 60 years, the decision was suddenly made to put them into print! The resulting book is called “Mimosa: Memories of Marilyn & the Making Of ‘The Misfits’”. In the spirit of good will I provided whatever assistance I could, and was acknowledged in that book. In return I was given carte blanche to use whatever I wanted of Ralph’s recollections in my own MM books. Please note that I have also included some of RR’s comments that did NOT make it into “Mimosa,” as well as quotes of his I gleaned from other sources.