Marilyn’s 2013 Memorial at Westwood

Photo by David Hume Kennerly

First posted here on August 6, 2013

The annual service hosted by Marilyn Remembered – marking the 51st anniversary of her death – was held at Westwood Memorial Park on August 5, 2013. This year’s speakers included Monroe biographer James Spada; photographer George Barris; Marian Collier Neuman and Joan Nicholas from Sweet Sue’s band in Some Like It Hot; actor, dancer and choreographer George Chakiris; and Donelle Dadigan of the Hollywood Museum.

Additional events included Becoming Marilyn Monroe, an art installation by Alice Toohey, and a book signing with Douglas Kirkland and Lois Banner, on August 4th; and a screening of Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days, a documentary about the making of Something’s Got to Give, at the El Portal Theatre on the 5th. 

Writing for Buzzfeed, Ariane Lange met some of those who attended, or paid their respects at her crypt (regular readers may notice some familiar names.)

“A bearded man appeared and started taking photos on his phone; I asked him if he was a Marilyn Monroe fan. He said no, he was working on a photography project where he takes one photo each day, and also he was the photographer David Hume Kennerly.

Kennerly won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and was Gerald Ford’s personal photographer (I also met him once, as a teenager). He said he was a freshman in high school when Monroe died. ‘She was just a rumor then.’ His father loved Marilyn Monroe, which made sense because ‘they were about the same age.’

‘Somebody is signing her picture — that’s weird, he said as he looked at the photo of Monroe autographed by someone else.

Diana Herbert was ‘about 16’ when she met Monroe. They would sometimes see each other at parties. Her father, F. Hugh Herbert, wrote and directed the 1948 film Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! in which Monroe had a small part. Monroe’s small part involved a canoe. ‘It was fun knowing her,’ Herbert said. ‘That’s about 102 years ago.’

There were 100 chairs in the chapel for the memorial service, and only a handful were empty … By 5 p.m., Jackie Craig and Ashlee Davis were back from the memorial reception, sitting on the bench dedicated to Monroe by her fans. They talked about Monroe’s rough upbringing, and said they were taking roses over to her foster mothers, buried nearby in the cemetery. After a while, Davis said she needed a ‘moment.’ She moved toward the grave and stood there silently. When she turned around, there were tears in her eyes, and she put her sunglasses on.”