James Dougherty (police officer)

James Edward "Jim" Dougherty was born on April 12, 1921, in Los Angeles, California. He was the fifth and final child of Edward and Ethel Dougherty (née Beatty), natives of Pueblo, Colorado.{{Cite web|title=Eben R. Dougherty born c. 1850 I |url=https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/dougherty/1918/|access-date=October 26, 2020 |website=www.genealogy.com}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=September 2024}} After moving to Globe, Arizona, the family suffered from the Great Depression, living in a tent.{{Cite book|last=Vitacco-Robles|first=Gary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8xhDwAAQBAJ&q=%22James+%22Jim%22+Dougherty%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT123|title=Icon: The Life, Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe Volume 1 – 1926 to 1956|date=2015|publisher=BearManor Media|language=en}} Dougherty attended Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles, California, where he became the popular, attractive football captain and class president.{{Cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Sean |date=2022-09-30 |title=James Dougherty: Who Was Marilyn Monroe's First Husband? |url=https://www.trillmag.com/entertainment/tv-film/james-dougherty-who-was-marilyn-monroes-first-husband/ |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=TrillMag}} Dougherty graduated high school in 1938, in the same class as actress Jane Russell. Dougherty turned down an athletic scholarship from the University of California at Santa Barbara.{{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Jennifer Jean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXTdAgAAQBAJ&q=to+norma+jeane+with+love%2C+jimmie+-wikipedia&pg=PT34|title=Marilyn Monroe & Joe DiMaggio – Love In Japan, Korea & Beyond|date=2014|publisher=J.J. Avenue Productions|isbn=978-0-9914291-6-5|language=en}}

In 1941, Dougherty began working the night shift at Lockheed Aircraft. Around this time, Dougherty met 15-year-old Norma Jeane Baker (later known as Marilyn Monroe) at Van Nuys High School.{{Cite web |last=Sheedy |first=Karen |date=2023-04-03 |title=Marilyn Monroe's Sadness Was Deeper Than Anyone Knew (And Owed to Her Mother) —Here's the Story of Their Relationship |url=https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/celebrities/marilyn-monroes-early-life |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Woman's World |language=en-US}} Monroe was living with her foster parents, Dougherty's neighbors named Grace and Doc Goddard, as her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker, had been committed to a sanatorium for paranoid schizophrenia in 1934.{{Cite web |last=Ott |first=Tim |date=2020-09-09 |title=How Marilyn Monroe's Childhood Was Disrupted by Her Mother's Paranoid Schizophrenia |url=https://www.biography.com/actors/marilyn-monroe-mother-relationship |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=Biography |language=en-US}} Dougherty would often drive Monroe home from school.{{Cite web |last=Lion |first=Ed |date=1984-07-14 |title=Marilyn Monroe to the world, but 'The girl I knew was Norma Jean' - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/07/14/Marilyn-Monroe-to-the-world-but-The-girl-I-knew-was-Norma-Jean/2145458625600/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=United Press International |language=en}} and despite Monroe's young age, she and Dougherty began dating around 1941,{{Cite web |last=McDowell |first=Erin |date=1 June 2024 |title=50 rare photos of Marilyn Monroe that show another side to the film star |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/rare-photos-marilyn-monroe-2019-8#her-mother-gladys-baker-suffered-from-paranoid-schizophrenia-2 |access-date=2024-08-15 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} their first date being a Christmas dance.

In 1942, Doc Goddard got a job in West Virginia. However, state laws prevented them from taking Monroe with them, and Monroe faced the possibility of being sent to an orphanage.{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Michelle |date=2022-09-27 |title=Who was Marilyn Monroe's first husband? |url=https://www.yours.co.uk/leisure/nostalgia/marilyn-monroes-first-husband-james-dougherty/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Yours Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=Lauren |date=2022-10-02 |title=Who was James Dougherty, Marilyn Monroe's first husband? |url=https://www.womanandhome.com/life/news-entertainment/who-was-james-dougherty-marilyn-monroes-first-husband/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Woman&Home Magazine |language=en}} To prevent this, Grace approached Ethel with the proposition that Dougherty marry Monroe. Ethel agreed, and they approached Dougherty and Monroe with the idea. Both were reluctant due to Monroe's young age, but they began dating in January 1942. Despite the circumstances, the two of them got along well.

The two were married in Los Angeles on June 19, 1942, just after Monroe's 16th birthday. Monroe's first foster parents Ida and Wayne Bolender were in attendance, as was her foster sister Nancy Jeffrey. After the wedding, they held a wedding reception at Florentine Gardens.{{Cite web |date=2004-10-21 |title=FOR THE RECORD - Oct. 21, 2004 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-oct-21-a2-correx21.1-story.html |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Though numerous reports claim that both parties were skeptical about marriage, especially Monroe, Dougherty said "[We] loved each other madly. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world."{{Cite web |last=Milner |first=Richard |date=2022-09-21 |title=Whatever Happened To Marilyn Monroe's First Husband, James Dougherty? |url=https://www.grunge.com/1019027/whatever-happened-to-marilyn-monroes-first-husband-james-dougherty/ |access-date=2024-08-15 |website=Grunge |language=en-US}} Monroe allegedly also told Grace that being married to Dougherty, whom she fondly called "Daddy" or "Jimmie", felt wonderful.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-15 |title=Marilyn Monroe Wedding {{!}} How Many Times Was Married {{!}} Husbands, Wedding Dresses |url=https://thewed.com/magazine/flashback-marilyn-monroes-three-weddings |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=THEWED |language=en}} Following the marriage, Monroe dropped out of high school and became a housewife.{{Cite book|last=Norman|first=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z91VDwAAQBAJ&q=%22James+%22Jim%22+Dougherty%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT53|title=Making Sense of Marilyn|date=April 17, 2018 |publisher=Fonthill Media|language=en}} After honeymooning on a lake in Ventura County, California, they moved into a studio apartment in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.{{Cite web |date=2022-09-28 |title=50 Rare Photos From Marilyn Monroe's Turbulent Marriages |url=https://www.elle.com/life-love/news/g29955/marilyn-monroe-husbands-photos/?slide=2 |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Elle |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Chen |first=Joyce |date=2022-02-01 |title=A Look Back at Marilyn Monroe's Three Wedding Looks |url=https://www.theknot.com/content/marilyn-monroe-wedding-dress?srsltid=AfmBOor9u2NlbjfF8FPUhBIxIy1Oho7Y8VFfdbsKiaE2QHAGNZtFzRo8 |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=The Knot}}

In 1944, they moved to Santa Catalina Island, where Dougherty joined the Merchant Navy and taught sea safety.{{Cite web|date=2005-08-18|title=James Dougherty, 84; Was Married to Marilyn Monroe Before She Became a Star|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-18-me-dougherty18-story.html|access-date=October 26, 2020 |website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} In April 1944, Dougherty was posted to the South Pacific.Spoto, Donald Marilyn Monroe: The Biography (Cooper Square Press, 2001 {{ISBN|978-0-8154-1183-3}}), pp. 83–86 Monroe moved back to Van Nuys, where she resided with Dougherty's parents so she wouldn't be alone. To help the war effort, she began working at the Radioplane Company that year, where she was noticed by photographer David Conover.{{Cite web |last=Beschloss |first=Michael |date=2014-06-03 |title=Marilyn Monroe's World War II Drone Program |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/upshot/marilyn-monroes-world-war-ii-drone-program.html |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=The New York Times}} In 1945, Monroe began modeling, much to the disappointment of Ethel, who disapproved of her having a career.{{Cite web |date=2017-08-07 |title=YANK - USA Edition - YANK USA 1943 - World War II Archives of Wartime Publications |url=http://www.wartimepress.com/archives.asp?TID=YANK%20USA%201943&MID=YANK%20-%20USA%20Edition&q=357&FID=42 |access-date=2024-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807072009/http://www.wartimepress.com/archives.asp?TID=YANK%20USA%201943&MID=YANK%20-%20USA%20Edition&q=357&FID=42 |archive-date=2017-08-07 }}{{Cite web |last=Roshanian |first=Arya |date=2024-02-20 |title=Marilyn Monroe Was Married 3 Times, But She Never Found A Soulmate |url=https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/marilyn-monroe-husbands |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Bustle |language=en}} She later signed a contract with the Blue Book Model agency and 20th Century Fox, who stipulated that she must be unmarried, as they did not want her to become pregnant.{{Cite book|last=Banner|first=Lois|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aEQEcif3uiYC&q=Dougherty&pg=PT646|title=Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox|year=2012|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4088-3330-8|language=en}} Due to this and his opposition of her career, Monroe filed for divorce from Dougherty in 1946. He received the divorce papers while on the Yangtze and was heartbroken. "It was like getting kicked by a mule," Dougherty said. "You don't know whether to throw up, jump over the side, commit suicide or what to do."{{Cite web |date=September 30, 2022 |title='Like Getting Kicked By A Mule': Marilyn Monroe's First Husband Details Heartbreak After Being Served Divorce Papers From Love Of His Life |url=https://radaronline.com/p/marilyn-monroe-first-husband-talks-split-divorce/ |access-date=June 4, 2024 |website=RadarOnline |language=en-US}}

After Dougherty returned home, he tried to talk Monroe out of divorcing him, to no avail.{{Cite web |date=2005-08-18 |title=Marilyn Monroe's first husband dead at 84 |url=https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2005/08/18/Marilyn-Monroes-first-husband-dead-at-84/84471124374596/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=United Press International |language=en}} Though Monroe offered to continue the relationship as an unmarried couple, Dougherty was not open to this, and the two scarcely interacted with each other save during legal and personal proceedings.{{Cite web |last=Fraga |first=Kaleena |date=2024-02-24 |title=James Dougherty, The Man Who Married 16-Year-Old Norma Jeane Baker Before She Became Marilyn Monroe |url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/james-dougherty |access-date=2024-08-15 |website=All That's Interesting |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Cremona |first=Patrick |date=2022-09-29 |title=Who were Marilyn Monroe's husbands? Accuracy in Netflix film Blonde |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/marilyn-monroe-husbands-blonde-netflix/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Radio Times |language=en-GB}} Monroe later admitted, "My marriage [to Dougherty] didn't make me sad, but it didn't make me happy either. My husband and I hardly spoke to each other. This wasn't because we were angry. We had nothing to say. I was dying of boredom."{{Cite web |last=Jeffrey |first=Joyann |date=2022-09-06 |title=Marilyn Monroe was married 3 times. A look back at the star's love life |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/popculture/marilyn-monroe-husbands-rcna45580 |access-date=2024-08-15 |website=TODAY |language=en}} The divorce was finalized on September 13, 1946.{{Cite web |last=Kashner |first=Sam |date=2010-10-05 |title=Marilyn and Her Monsters |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/11/marilyn-monroe-201011 |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}} In 1976, Dougherty told People magazine that "If I hadn't gone into the Merchant Marines during World War II, she would still be Mrs. Dougherty today."{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Mike |date=2024-05-21 |title=Who Were Marilyn Monroe's Most Famous Lovers? Revisiting Her Relationships and Rumored Affairs |url=https://people.com/marilyn-monroe-dating-history-8651634 |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=People |language=en}}

Following the divorce, Dougherty followed Monroe's career as an actress. On one occasion, Monroe allegedly called Dougherty, saying she was bored of Hollywood, missed him and wanted to resume their relationship. Instead of accepting her back, he sold their story to a film magazine. This deeply agitated Monroe, who cut off most communications with him and rarely spoke about him in public.

In 1947, Dougherty married Patricia "Pat" Scoman,{{Cite web |date=2005-08-18 |title=Another Marilyn Monroe Husband Dies (N/A) |url=https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/another-marilyn-monroe-husband-dies-n-a.3393/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Pilots of America |language=en-US}} and they had three daughters. In 1949, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department and eventually became a detective. He played a part in the creation of the Special Weapons and Tactics group, becoming the first officer to train it. He also broke a plot to kidnap American actor James Garner.{{Cite web|date=March 25, 2015|title=Marilyn Monroe's First Husband Dies|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/marilyn-monroes-first-husband-dies|access-date=December 2, 2020 |website=Associated Press|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=James Dougherty, Monroe's First Husband|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4809027|access-date=October 26, 2020 |website=NPR.org|language=en}} He worked for the LAPD for 25 years. In 1950, Dougherty was stationed at the premiere of one of Monroe's early films, The Asphalt Jungle, to help with crowd control.{{Cite web |last=Deezen |first=Eddie |date=2019-07-15 |title=Wit's End The Marriage of Norma Jeane and The love story of "What Ifs" |url=https://www.times-news.com/allegany_magazine/wit-s-end-the-marriage-of-norma-jeane-and-the-love-story-of-what-ifs/article_7ea5ecc2-99c5-11e9-97ae-eb66277bb5b3.html |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=The Cumberland Times-News |language=en}}

Dougherty learned of Monroe's death in 1962 through a coworker at LAPD. Heartbroken, he told Scoman to "Say a prayer for Norma Jeane, she's dead." He had to spend his day driving in a squad car to avoid the paparazzi. Unlike Monroe's second husband Joe DiMaggio, Dougherty never visited her grave, as "it was too painful."{{Cite web |last=McCord |first=Michael |date=2005-08-22 |title="Marilyn?s Man" more than footnote |url=https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/2005/08/22/marilyn-s-man-more/50236807007/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Portsmouth Herald |language=en-US}} While speaking about Monroe's death in 2002, he said:

{{Quote|text="It was like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I had almost been expecting it. Fame was injurious to her. She was too gentle to be an actress. She wasn't tough enough for Hollywood. And once someone starts getting into pills –uppers and downers, the way she was –people can go downhill. They can't sleep, so they take more and more pills."|author=Dougherty|title=|source=interview with Associated Press in 2002}}

By this time, Dougherty's marriage to Scoman had become strained, as she was jealous of Monroe and her success. When Scoman learned he had appeared on the CBS show To Tell The Truth, she was furious and threw a pan at him. In futile attempts to please her, he burned all of Monroe's letters to him and refrained from watching her movies. In 1972, he and Scoman divorced, Scoman's jealousy of Monroe fueling the divorce.

Dougherty retired in 1974. That same year, he married his final wife, artist Rita Lambert, in California.{{Cite book|last=Vitacco-Robles|first=Gary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8xhDwAAQBAJ&q=James+Dougherty&pg=PT616|title=Icon: The Life, Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe Volume 2 1956 to 1962 & Beyond|date=November 11, 2014 |publisher=BearManor Media|language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Frederick |first=Bill |date=2014-05-19 |title=The man who married Norma Jean |url=https://billfrederickportfolio.com/2014/05/19/867/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Bill Frederick's portfolio |language=en}} Through the marriage, Dougherty had two stepchildren. Unlike Scoman, Lambert did not have any problems with Monroe; a huge fan of the starlet, she encouraged Dougherty to remember and embrace the years he had spent with Monroe. Together, they moved to Arizona and, in 1978, to her hometown in Sabattus, Maine, where he taught at the Criminal Justice Academy and worked as an Androscoggin County commissioner.{{Cite web|last=services|first=Tribune news|title=James Dougherty|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2005-08-18-0508180277-story.html|access-date=October 26, 2020 |website=chicagotribune.com|date=18 August 2005 |language=en-US}} He and Lambert were married until her death in 2003. He also worked for the Maine Boxing Commission.

In 1976, he released a memoir called The Secret Happiness of Marilyn Monroe.{{Cite book |last=Dougherty |first=James E. |url=https://archive.org/details/secrethappinesso00doug |title=The secret happiness of Marilyn Monroe |date=1976 |publisher=Chicago : Playboy Press |others=Internet Archive}} In 1990, he told the United Press International, "I never knew Marilyn Monroe, and I don't claim to have any insights to her to this day. I knew and loved Norma Jeane." He appeared in the 1991 documentary The Discovery Of Marilyn Monroe, along with actor Robert Mitchum and Russell, Monroe's costar in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.{{Cite web |title=The Discovery of Marilyn Monroe |url=http://www.globaltelemedia.com/videos-documentary/discovery-marilyn-monroe.html |access-date=2020-10-26 |website=www.globaltelemedia.com}}

Dougherty and Russell also appeared on Sally in 1992, accompanied by Susan Strasberg.{{Cite web |title=Marilyn Monroe on Sally Jesse Part 2 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=oh8itsg-QPo&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dsally%2Btalk%2Bshow%2Bjames%2Bdougherty%26sca_esv%3Dbb131c624befd149%26sca_upv%3D1%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D813%26sxsrf%3DADLYWI&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=YouTube| date=23 May 2014 }} On September 5, 2000, James Dougherty Elementary School opened in Dublin, California, named after Dougherty.{{Cite web |last=Austen |first=Jane |date=2024-08-31 |title=The James Dougherty Just Marilyn Monroe's First Husband |url=https://journalpress.co.uk/james-dougherty/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Journal Press |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=California School Directory: James Dougherty Elementary |url=https://www.cde.ca.gov/schooldirectory/details?cdscode=01750936118038 |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=California Department of Education}} He released a second memoir, To Norma Jeane With Love, Jimmie in 2000.{{Cite web |last=Rock |first=Audrey |date=2022-04-26 |title=Marilyn Monroe's Spouses: Everything To Know About Her 3 Marriages |url=https://hollywoodlife.com/feature/marilyn-monroe-spouses-4717125/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Hollywood Life |language=en-US}} Both of his books were written upon receiving advice from Lambert.

Marilyn's Man, a documentary about Dougherty, was filmed in 2004.{{Cite web|date=October 18, 2007 |title=Marilyn's Man – Trailer – Showtimes – Cast – Movies – New York Times|url=http://movies.nytimes.com:80/movie/309493/Marilyn-s-Man/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018211420/http://movies.nytimes.com:80/movie/309493/Marilyn-s-Man/overview|archive-date=October 18, 2007 |access-date=October 18, 2020}}

At the age of 84, Dougherty died on August 15, 2005, due to leukemia complications. His death made a standalone obituary in several outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times.{{Cite news|agency=The Associated Press|date=August 19, 2005 |title=James Dougherty, 84, Detective, Dies (Published 2005)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/movies/james-dougherty-84-detective-dies.html|access-date=2020-10-26|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|date=August 18, 2005 |title=Monroe's first husband dies at 84|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4162356.stm|access-date=December 2, 2020}} Dougherty is buried in Maine.

In 2015, James Dougherty Elementary School became the first school of the Dublin Unified School District to be named a National Blue Ribbon School.{{Cite web |last=Morehead |first=James |date=2015-09-30 |title=Dougherty Elementary School Named National Blue Ribbon School by U.S. Dept of Education |url=https://onedublin.org/2015/09/30/dougherty-elementary-school-named-national-blue-ribbon-school-by-u-s-dept-of-education/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=OneDublin.org |language=en}}

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Category:1921 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:United States Merchant Mariners of World War II

Category:Van Nuys High School alumni

Category:People from Globe, Arizona

Category:People from Los Angeles

Category:Los Angeles Police Department officers

Category:People from Androscoggin County, Maine