Erin Fleming

Erin Leslie Fleming (August 13, 1941 – April 15, 2003[1]) was a Canadian actress best known as the companion and manager of Groucho Marx in his final years.

Erin Leslie Fleming
Born
Marilyn Suzette Fleming

(1941-08-13)August 13, 1941
New Liskeard, Ontario
DiedApril 15, 2003(2003-04-15) (aged 61)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityCanadian
OccupationActress

Early career

Fleming was born Marilyn Suzette Fleming on August 13, 1941, in New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada. She appeared in minor roles in six films between 1965 and 1976, during which time she became acquainted with Groucho Marx and was hired as his secretary. She appeared in the 1972 Woody Allen movie Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask).[2]

Relationship with Groucho Marx

Fleming's influence and relationship with Marx were controversial. She was initially hired as his secretary, but eventually assumed the role of his manager. Many close to Marx acknowledged that she did much to revive his popularity, by arranging a series of personal appearances and one-man shows culminating in a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall, which was released on a best-selling record album. She also lobbied for the honorary Academy Award Marx received in 1974.[3] Others, including Groucho's son Arthur, charged her with embezzling money and pushing the increasingly frail Marx to the limits of his endurance, largely for her own personal gain. There were also charges of mental and possibly physical abuse.[4] Marx's friend, writer Sidney Sheldon wrote a roman à clef on Fleming's relationship with Marx titled A Stranger in the Mirror, published in 1976. [5] In a 1993 television adaptation, Lori Loughlin performed the role inspired by Fleming.[6]

Marx died in August 1977. Litigation over his estate, which extended into the early 1980s, was eventually resolved in favour of Arthur Marx; Fleming was ordered to repay $472,000 to the Marx estate.[7]

Later life and death

Fleming was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. She was arrested in June, 1990 on suspicion of carrying a concealed loaded firearm, which she brought into the West Hollywood sheriff's office.[8] She spent much of the last decade of her life impoverished, homeless, delusional, and in and out of various psychiatric facilities.[9]

Fleming died of suicide in Hollywood on April 15, 2003, at age 61. She is buried in Hornings Mills Cemetery, Horning's Mills, Ontario.[10]

Filmography

Television

Sources
  • Stefan Kanfer, Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx (2000), ISBN 978-0375702075
  • Miriam Marx Allen, Love, Groucho: Letters from Groucho Marx to his Daughter Miriam (1992), ISBN 978-0306811036
  • Arthur Marx, My Life with Groucho (1992) revised from Life With Groucho (1954), ISBN 978-0942637458
  • Steve Stoliar, Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho's House (1996), ISBN 978-1593936525
  • Charlotte Chandler, Hello, I Must Be Going (1978), ISBN 978-1416544227
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References
  1. "Erin M Fleming". United States Social Security Death Index. index, FamilySearch. April 15, 2003. Retrieved August 24, 2014. citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
  2. Erin Fleming on IMDb
  3. Groucho Marx receiving an Honorary Oscar®. Oscars.org. 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2013-09-25 – via YouTube.
  4. Cavett, Dick (March 30, 2012). "Groucho Lives! (In Two Places)]". New York Times Online. New York City: New York Times Company. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  5. Beck, Marilyn (April 16, 1976). "Hollywood Closeup". The Milwaukee Journal. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Gannett Company. p. 55. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  6. Martinez, Julio (October 20, 1993). "ABC Sunday Night Movie: A Stranger in the Mirror". Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  7. "Obituary of Arthur Marx". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California: Tronc. April 15, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2018. In his father's declining years, Marx became a central figure behind a successful legal battle to wrest back control of Marx's affairs from his late-in-life companion, Erin Fleming.
  8. "Erin Fleming Arrested With Gun". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California: Tronc. June 13, 1990. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  9. Clothier, Gary (March 31, 2010). "Ask Mr. Know-It-All: Groucho's Sad Denouement". Star-Democrat. Easton, Maryland: Adams Publishing Group. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  10. Erin Fleming profile at Find a Grave
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