“Marilyn Monroe Found Dead,” ran the headline in the South China Morning Post on August 6, 1962.

“Miss Marilyn Monroe, the film star, died today from an apparent overdose of barbiturates,” the news story continued. “[Her] housekeeper, Mrs Eunice Murray, told police she saw a light shining under her mistress’s bedroom door at midnight. When she saw the same light three hours later, she tried the door and found it locked.”

Monroe’s physicians were called and, on gaining entry through a bedroom window, found the actress “nude in bed with the sheets pulled up around her neck”.

A doctor had given Monroe a prescription for pills the day before, the Post continued, and the bottle was found empty. “Police were working on the assumption Miss Monroe had taken an overdose. Police officers who went to Miss Monroe’s apart­ment after her death said that her hand was clutching the receiver of her telephone. No notes were found.”

On August 7, a Post column mourned the star’s passing: “How sad that anyone as beautiful and gifted as Marilyn Monroe should die so unnecessarily and so young […] Her ravishing looks brought her to fame after an unloved orphan childhood. Her instinctive acting ability and an almost unconscious wit, allied to her beautiful face and seductive figure, brought her box-office and, presumably, financial success.”