August 5 Birthday
On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bed at her home in Brentwood, California. She was thirty-six. The official cause was a barbiturate overdose. She had a phone in her hand. The circumstances of her death have generated conspiracy theories for decades — her connections to the Kennedy family, her relationship with the Mafia, the inconsistencies in the timeline. The most likely explanation remains the official one: an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Monroe had been struggling with depression, insomnia, and substance abuse. She had been fired from her last film and was under the care of a psychiatrist. Neil Armstrong, born this day in 1930, flew seventy-eight combat missions in Korea, test-flew the X-15 at Mach 5.74, and was nearly killed during a lunar landing trainer crash. He was selected as an astronaut in 1962. On July 20, 1969, he became the first human to walk on the Moon. He was a quiet, private man who avoided publicity. After Apollo 11, he taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He never wrote a memoir. People born on August 5 fall under the zodiac sign of Leo. The birthstone is Peridot and the birth flower is Gladiolus. Historical events on August 5 include 1962: Marilyn Monroe found dead at her home in Los Angeles, 1914: First electric traffic signal installed in Cleveland, Ohio, 1969: Mariner 7 spacecraft flies by Mars, sending back 126 images. Famous people born on August 5 include John Huston (1906), Neil Armstrong (1930), Loni Anderson (1945).