From the Archives: Episode 2On many cold nights, snuggled up in a blanket beside the fire, I've often heard Michael tell me 'I prefer blondes'. Never before had I guessed that Michael may have been involved with the most loved blonde of all time and no, not me, Marilyn Monroe...
My journey began with travelling to a small town east of L.A, a town that perhaps has seen better days. With research in tow I began visiting relatives of the late Marilyn Monroe to try and understand the photograph I had discovered. After much door-knocking, I finally met someone who was willing to talk.
Geraldine Stevens had been a childhood friend of Marilyn's, and probably one of the few good friends she had all her life. Geraldine was reluctant at first, but on the edge of the grand age of nintey, she felt it was probably time to talk.
It all began in June 1961, when Marilyn phoned Geraldine with an announcement: she was to marry again for the fourth time and she wanted her to meet the lucky man. Later that month, Marilyn and her fiance visited Geraldine at her home where she revealed to Geraldine she wanted her to be her bridesmaid. "Oh it was wonderful news, I mean poor Marilyn had such unfortunate times with those other fellas, I was just so happy for her...and he was so lovely, so charming and he absolutely adored Marilyn...he called himself Austin Templeton, yeah that was it, such a lovely young man...".
According to Geraldine, the ceremony was small and private, with Geraldine as both bridesmaid and witness and Austin had a childhood friend act as his best man and witness also. "Austin had a rather, shall we say, strange friend with him...Tony...he wore spectacles and I think he was Jewish, he certainly looked Jewish, I thought he was some Hollywood hotshot or somethin'..." It appears that as they were leaving the registry office, a passing tourist snapped some pictures of the wedding party and Tony got very upset and threatened the poor man. This story might partially explain where the photo originated. Geraldine said they were happy and had been until Marilyn's unfortunate death in 1962, "I was devastated, truly and utterly devastated, it was a time in which I really could have done with some support from Tony and Austin, we had all become real close friends in that past year but I couldn't find them anywhere, they just up and left, nowhere to be found..."
Once again I am faced with disturbing evidence about the identities of Michael and Conor. It is quite clear that there is a lot that we don't know, but what actually happened to them? Could they explain the mystery surrounding Marilyn's death? And what connections does Conor have to the Kennedy and Monroe deaths?
