| GEO Entertainment | | Marilyn Monroe's former home on the market for $3.6m | Updated at: 1037 PST, Monday, July 19, 2010
 LOS ANGELES: The actress lived in the Brentwood 'hacienda' — the first home she had ever owned independent of a husband — for only a brief time before she died of a sleeping pill overdose in 1962.
A nomad from birth who bounced from coast to coast and from foster home to apartment to hotel, Marilyn Monroe at age 35 finally found in Brentwood a place where she could cozily nest after three failed marriages.
The red-tile-topped, stuccoed "hacienda" stood behind tall gates at the end of a shady cul-de-sac on more than half an acre of wooded grounds. The Latin inscription on tiles embedded in the front stoop served notice that Monroe felt she had succeeded in her quest for a safe haven: "Cursum Perficio," or "I have completed my journey."
But, after the talented and troubled actress died in the house on 5th Helena Drive of a sleeping pill overdose in August 1962, the words seemed instead a cruel foreshadowing.
Last week, news spread quickly through the "Marilyn community" of fans and admirers that the rambling, four-bedroom, three-bathroom house was on the market for $3.6 million.
After Prudential California Realty's David Offer posted the listing on his website, a Tuesday showing drew not only real estate agents but also TV news trucks.
Offer's website describes it as "the crown jewel and largest property of all the Helenas (one of Brentwood's most romantic and coveted locations) affording lovely vistas and great privacy & seclusion."
Monroe, baptized Norma Jean Baker, would scarcely recognize the house, which has been altered and updated by subsequent owners. It has changed hands several times since she died.
It was the first home she had ever owned independent of a husband, and at the time of her death she was putting her rustic mark on it with items she had selected in Mexico, including hand-hewn tables and hand-painted tiles.
"This home was to be a dream come true where she could furnish it as she wanted and make it into a sanctuary," said Greg Schreiner, president of the Marilyn Remembered fan club and a collector of Monroe memorabilia. "It is ironic she would die in the only home she ever owned." |  |
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