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Arthur Miller “Dreadfully Shocked” by Ex-Wife Monroe’s Death

Aug. 5, 1962 - At his estate in Woodbury, Conn., Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe’s third husband, was asked today if he had any comment on her death. “I don’t, really,” the playwright said. “I’m dreadfully shocked.” He said he had not been in touch with Miss Monroe for “about a year.” Miss Monroe’s second husband, Joe DiMaggio, the former baseball star, was unavailable for comment. But her first husband, James E. Dougherty (pictured left in 1942), a policeman, was informed of her death while he was patrolling the North Hollywood area. “I’m just sorry,” he said quietly. Joshua Logan, who directed Miss Monroe in “Bus Stop,” said: “She was one of the most unappreciated people in the world.” Billy Wilder, while admitting it had been taxing to direct Miss Monroe in “The Seven Year Itch” and “Some Like It Hot,” said that it was nevertheless “worth any torment to get those luminous minutes on the screen.” In Miss Monroe’s final interview, published in the Aug. 3 issue of Life magazine, she spoke wistfully about her career and fame: “It might be kind of a relief to be finished. It’s sort of like — I don’t know what kind of a yard dash you’re running, but then you’re at the finish line, and you sort of sigh — you’ve made it! But you never really have. You have to start all over again.”

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