A whopping six decades after the release of her final film, Marilyn Monroe remains a draw! Case in point? A crypt neighboring the spot where the legendary actress was laid to rest 59 years ago recently hit the market with a spine-tingling $2 million price tag! Located at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary at 1218 Glendon Ave., the chamber was previously owned by Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, of “Hello, Dolly!” and “La Cage aux Folles” fame, who purchased it in 1997 for $75,000. Los Angeles real estate, even of the six-feet-under variety, is always a good investment, it seems – especially if it’s Marilyn adjacent!
Concerned about his life expectancy, Herman acquired the space about a decade after testing positive for HIV. A real estate aficionado with exquisite taste (he even attended Parsons School of Design!), Jerry knew that in death, as in life, it’s all about location, location, location. As such, when getting his affairs in order, he zeroed in on Pierce Brothers Memorial Park as his preferred resting place, drawn to both the beauty of the site as well as the thousands of fellow creatives who made it their final home. As Jerry’s goddaughter Jane Dorian of Avenue 8 realty, who is representing his estate in the sale, expressed, “Leave it to Jerry to find such a remarkable spot.”
Thanks to advancements in medicine, Jerry wound up living until the ripe old age of 88, passing away from natural causes in December 2019. By that time, his final wishes had changed and per The Wall Street Journal, he ultimately “decided to be buried with his mother in New Jersey, in a spot overlooking the lights of Broadway.” And now his hallowed Pierce Brothers crypt, which sits two spots over from Marilyn, directly next to the burial vault of Hugh Hefner, is up for grabs. As Dorian told the WSJ, “He’s next to the two sexiest people that were ever alive.”
Marilyn’s official final resting place is Crypt 24 in the Corridor of Memories, which can be found in the northeast section of the cemetery. It is there that she was laid to rest on August 8, 1962, following her unexpected death from acute barbiturate poisoning three days prior. The funeral was arranged by her former husband Joe DiMaggio, business manager Inez Melson and half-sister Berniece Baker Miracle. Only a handful of people were invited, with Marilyn’s Hollywood friends and acquaintances specifically barred. Cloaked in her favorite green Pucci dress, she was the first major celebrity to be buried at Pierce Brothers Memorial Park.