Marlon Brando believed Marilyn Monroe was murdered

“Marilyn was a sensitive, misunderstood person, much more perceptive than was generally assumed. She had been beaten down, but had a strong emo- tional intelligence — a keen intuition for the feelings of others, the most refined type of intelligence. After that first visit, we had an affair and saw each other intermittently until she died in 1962. She often called me and we would talk for hours, sometimes about how she was beginning to realize that Stras- berg and other people were trying to use her. She was becoming a much healthier person emotionally. The last time we spoke was two or three days before she died. She called from her home in Los Angeles and invited me to come over for dinner that night. I said I had already made plans for the evening and couldn't, but I promised to call the following week to set a date for dinner. She said, "Fine," and that was it. It's been speculated that she had a secret ren- dezvous with Robert Kennedy that week and was distraught because he wanted to end an affair between them. But she didn't seem depressed to me, and I don't think that if she was sleeping with him at the time she would have invited me over for dinner.

I’m pretty good at reading people's moods and perceiving their feelings, and with Marilyn I didn't sense any depression or clue of impending self-destruction during her call. That's why I'm sure she didn't commit suicide. If someone is terminally depressed, no matter how clever they may be or how expertly they try to conceal it, they will always give themselves away. I've always had an unquenchable curiosity about people, and I believe I would have sensed something was wrong if thoughts of suicide were anywhere near the surface of Marilyn's mind. I would have known it. Maybe she died because of an accidental drug overdose, but I have always believed that she was murdered.”

Excerpts from Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me