Los Angeles City Council Acts to Spare Marilyn Monroe House from Demolition

The official poster of the 65th Cannes Film Festival featuring US actress Marilyn Monroe is seen on the facade of the Festival Palace in Cannes May 14, 2012. (Reuters)
The official poster of the 65th Cannes Film Festival featuring US actress Marilyn Monroe is seen on the facade of the Festival Palace in Cannes May 14, 2012. (Reuters)
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Los Angeles City Council Acts to Spare Marilyn Monroe House from Demolition

The official poster of the 65th Cannes Film Festival featuring US actress Marilyn Monroe is seen on the facade of the Festival Palace in Cannes May 14, 2012. (Reuters)
The official poster of the 65th Cannes Film Festival featuring US actress Marilyn Monroe is seen on the facade of the Festival Palace in Cannes May 14, 2012. (Reuters)

The Los Angeles City Council voted on Friday to launch a process to designate actress Marilyn Monroe's former home, where she died of a drug overdose in 1962, a historic and cultural monument, blocking plans to demolish the property.

The motion to initiate consideration of the Spanish Colonial-style house in L.A.'s Brentwood section for historic preservation was introduced by Councilwoman Traci Park and approved unanimously the same day, according to her spokesperson Jamie Paige.

In response to the 12-0 vote, the city's Board of Building and Safety Commissioners immediately revoked a demolition permit that had been issued a day earlier. The City Council motion itself also bars major alterations to the property while review of its potential status as a landmark is under way.

Paige said she visited the house on Thursday and that no work had been done at the site, currently owned by a little-known entity called Glory of the Snow Trust.

Monroe purchased the single-story, 2,900-square-foot (270-sq-meter) house in the early 1960s for $75,000 after the end of her third marriage, to playwright Arthur Miller, according to the Los Angeles Times. It was the only residence the actress, who spent part of her childhood in an orphanage and foster care, ever independently owned.

The screen legend, star of such films as "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "Some Like It Hot" and "The Misfits," was found dead in a bedroom of the home in August 1962 at the age of 36. The cause of death was ruled to be acute barbiturate poisoning.

The Times reported that the half-acre (0.20-hectare) property, which included a swimming pool and guest house, was purchased in 2017 for $7.25 million by Glory of the Snow LLC, then managed by a hedge fund executive. It was sold to the Glory of the Snow Trust for $8.35 million earlier this year.

No representatives for the trust have been identified by Councilwoman Park, and the reason for the planned demolition remained unclear, Paige said. The Times said the trust is not listed in property records alongside any person's name.

Word that the gated, four-bedroom hacienda at the end of a cul-de-sac was slated to be torn town sparked expressions of outrage on social media, the Times reported. Park, whose council district includes Brentwood, said her office had received hundreds of calls urging her to take action to spare the house.

"For people all over the world, Marilyn Monroe was more than just a movie icon," Park said at a news conference, calling the performer "a shining example of what it means to overcome adversity.

The actress named the home Cursum Perficio, a Latin phrase meaning "My journey ends here," which adorned tiles on the home's front porch.



New Spielberg, Nolan Films Teased at CinemaCon

US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
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New Spielberg, Nolan Films Teased at CinemaCon

US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP
US actress Scarlett Johansson presents the film 'Jurassic World Rebirth' onstage during CinemaCon. VALERIE MACON / AFP

Hollywood studio Universal Pictures on Wednesday teased new movies from Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan, while showcasing footage from its upcoming sequels "Jurassic World Rebirth" and "Wicked: For Good" at the CinemaCon event.

Spielberg "is currently shooting a film that promises to be a return to form, in the spirit of his monumental classics," said Universal executive Jim Orr, at the movie theater industry summit in Las Vegas.

The untitled film, out June 2026, is widely rumored to be a blockbuster sci-fi. Orr promised it would contain "a propulsive, modern, out-of-this-world twist," without sharing further details.

Meanwhile, Nolan is in the Mediterranean shooting his star-studded version of "The Odyssey," based on the millennia-old Ancient Greek epic saga written by Homer.

It is due July 2026, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya and Anne Hathaway, AFP said.

In a prediction bold even by the standards of Hollywood marketing, Orr suggested the film "will be a once-in-a-generation cinematic masterpiece that Homer himself would, quite frankly, be very proud of."

The comments came at CinemaCon, an annual week-long summit at which Hollywood studios present their biggest upcoming movies to theater owners and press.

A theme of this year's event has been a drive to get studios to commit to keeping new movies in US theaters for at least 45 days before they appear on streaming.

A source with knowledge of the talks told AFP Wednesday that three of Hollywood's six biggest studios have committed.

Universal, which has in recent years brought many of its films to on-demand streaming very soon after they debut in theaters, has not yet agreed to the new 45-day "window," the source said. The studio did not immediately comment.

But its efforts to court movie theater owners Wednesday included showing extended new footage and A-list stars from the next Jurassic movie -- out this July.

It comes from the writer of the original 1993 "Jurassic Park." The action returns to that film's island setting.

Unlike the "Jurassic World" films where dinosaurs freely roamed the globe, the fearsome reptiles are now once again scarce, surviving in a few remote spots.

Star Scarlett Johansson said the film would "put the scares back into Jurassic" by keeping the dinosaurs hidden and ratcheting up the suspense.

Universal's presentation ended with surprise appearances from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, whose second and final "Wicked" film will hit theaters November.

CinemaCon concludes Thursday with presentations from Paramount and Disney.