Section 14

Doctors Feelgood and Nurse Ratched

Doctors Ralph Greenson and Hyman Engelberg along with Mrs. Eunice Murray are three persons who will be forever linked to the death of Marilyn Monroe. Dr. Greenson, her psychiatrist, perhaps more so than Engelberg, her internist, while the aging and often called meek Mrs. Murray, Marilyn’s housekeeper, is usually cast as the villainess. Eunice spent the night with Marilyn on August the 4th; and she was the first person to view, through an open bedroom window, Marilyn’s body as it lay stretched across her bed. All three, Marilyn’s caregivers by and large, were in the house with Marilyn’s corpse on that Sunday morning following, when then Los Angeles police officer Sgt Jack Clemmons arrived at 4:35 AM and entered 12305 Fifth Helena Drive.

Remarkably, all three became characters in Marilyn’s life at virtually the same time. Marilyn’s Manhattan therapist, Dr. Marianne Kris, recommended Dr. Greenson to Marilyn. So in January of 1960, Marilyn began consulting with Dr. Greenson during her temporary residencies in Hollywood. During her residencies in Manhattan, Marilyn also consulted with Dr. Kris. That arrangement persisted for approximately one year.

In early February of 1961, after the infamous Payne-Whitney episode, Marilyn dismissed Dr. Kris. In August of 1961 after Marilyn returned to Los Angeles, Dr. Greenson became Marilyn’s primary therapist rather by default more than any other prevailing reason. Once established in that role, Dr. Greenson recommended Mrs. Eunice Murray for the role of assistant and housekeeper; and he also recommended Dr. Hyman Engelberg for the role of Marilyn’s primary care physician and internist. Dr. Greenson and Mrs. Murray, along with Dr. Engelberg to a lesser degree, became fixtures in Marilyn’s daily life.

Ralph Greenson: Good Father and Psychiatrist
Hyman Engelberg: Internist and Prescriptionist
Eunice Murray: Housekeeper and Unreliable Witness
Ralph Greenson: Lover and Murderer