In 1962, actress Marilyn Monroe was rushed to the hospital by her friend, actor Peter Lawford, after Lawford found her unconscious and near death in her Hollywood home from a combination of alcohol and an overdose of sleeping pills.

Rehabilitation by Eric LippsFollowing her release from the hospital, Ms. Monroe was persuaded to seek treatment for her reliance on drink and drugs in handling emotional difficulties. In 1966, she founded the Marilyn Monroe Clinic for the Treatment of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, attracting several high-profile therapists to its staff.

At the time of her near-death, Ms. Monroe had begun to branch out from the airhead/glamor girl roles in which she had been cast for years; her role as the blowsy, neurotic singer in the Bus Stop was one example of the new direction in which she was working to move her career. Further dramatic roles would follow, although she would continue to play glamorous women well into her forties.

She would retire from films in the 1980s, making only an occasional guest appearance on various television programs thereafter. Nevertheless, when she died in 1992 at the age of 63 Marilyn Monroe would still be considered a Hollywood icon.