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It's a mark of Marilyn Monroe's unique place in the pop-icon pantheon that her very death has taken on a life of its own. Over the three decades since she died, conspiracy meisters from the right, the left, and Mars have been coming up with accounts of her demise that rival the most arabesque takes on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. ''Next thing you know,'' Johnny Carson has observed, ''they'll be reporting that Marilyn Monroe was the second gunman in Dallas.'' Here is a guide to the Monroe doctrines and who has espoused them. CAUSE OF DEATH: Probable suicide ACCORDING TO: Los Angeles County medical examiner Thomas Noguchi (''Coroner of the Stars''), county coroner Theodore J. Curphey, and the Suicide Investigation Team appointed by Curphey in 1962 WHO WAS BEHIND IT: Only Marilyn WHY: Despondent over her fading movie career, she OD'd on barbiturates.

CAUSE OF DEATH: Accidental ACCORDING TO: Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe (1985) by Anthony Summers WHO WAS BEHIND IT: Bobby Kennedy, brother-in-law Peter Lawford, and the FBI. They hushed up the awful truth about her Kennedy affairs. Dumped by Bobby, a depressed Monroe accidentally overdosed, and a cover-up was orchestrated to clean out all incriminating material from her home. Key missing item: her diary, which supposedly contained security-sensitive information. WHY: To avoid ruinous scandal.

CAUSE OF DEATH: Murder ACCORDING TO: The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe (1964) by ultraright wing, red-baiting journalist and author Frank A. Capell WHO WAS BEHIND IT: Bobby Kennedy, with the help of the ''Communist Conspiracy'' WHY: He feared she would go public about their affair.

CAUSE OF DEATH: Murder ACCORDING TO: Who Killed Marilyn? (1976) by Tony Sciacca WHO WAS BEHIND IT: Fidel Castro WHY: Getting revenge for exploding cigars and other CIA assassination attempts by framing Bobby for the murder. (Apparently, Bobby managed to cover up any evidence.)

CAUSE OF DEATH: Murder ACCORDING TO: Double Cross (1992) by Sam and Chuck Giancana, godson and brother, respectively, of Chicago boss Sam ''Mooney'' Giancana WHO WAS BEHIND IT: The CIA and the Mob, through Mooney, who hired hit men Needles Gianola, Mugsy Tortorella, and two others to insert a lethal suppository into an already drugged-out Monroe WHY: CIA motive: Supposed CIA operative Monroe had become a security risk. Mob motive: To stop Kennedy administration attacks on organized crime by attempting to frame Bobby for her murder.

CAUSE OF DEATH: Murder ACCORDING TO: The Marilyn Files (1992) by Robert F. Slatzer WHO WAS BEHIND IT: Dr. Ralph Greenson, her psychiatrist. In one of this book's more imaginative conjectures, an ambulance driver claims he saw Greenson give a lethal injection to a comatose Monroe. (Greenson died in 1979.) WHY: Smitten with his patient, Greenson killed her out of jealousy and contributed to an elaborate cover-up.


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