For decades, Fred Otash was accused of hiding the darkest secrets of Hollywood stars, including America’s most famous sex symbol.
Tinseltown’s most notorious private investigator died in 1992 at the age of 70. A World War II Marine Corps veteran is the subject of a new book. “The Fixer: Moguls, Gangsters, Movie Stars, and Marilyn.”
Delve into shocking revelations from his never-before-seen investigative files.
The book’s co-author, Manfred Westphal, was given access to Otasz’s archives with the blessing of his daughter Colleen. Ms. Westphal, who first met Colleen at her Otash funeral, developed a close friendship with her over the years.
Josh Young and Manfred Westphal have written a new book, The Fixer, about the late private investigator Fred Otash. (Grand Central Publishing)
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“One of the driving forces was to tell the story of his life, the cases he was involved in, and what actually happened,” co-author Josh Young told FOX News Digital.
Fred Otash passed away in 1992. He was 70 years old. This circa-1960 photo shows him holding a watch microphone at his desk in the Fred Otash Detective Agency. (© Otash/Hook Archive)
“This was not only a chance to do that, but also a chance to delve into this fascinating world of extraordinary…larger-than-life characters straight out of Raymond Chandler’s novels,” Young said. “He was involved with all the big stars, gangsters and studio executives during Hollywood’s golden age of the ’50s and ’60s.”
”[Colleen] “We were given unrestricted access to his never-before-seen personal archives, which became the primary source for this book,” Westphal told FOX News Digital.
“In short, he’s speaking from the grave.”
Fred Otash has previously claimed to have audio recordings proving Marilyn Monroe had an affair with President John F. Kennedy. (Murray Garrett/Bettman/Getty Images)
According to the authors, Otash was the son of a Lebanese carpet merchant whose life was marked by tragedy.
He lost his father and only brother in the Great Depression, and in order to support his mother and sisters, he dropped out of high school at age 16 and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. He volunteered for the Marine Corps and fought in the South Pacific when World War II began.
Head shot of Los Angeles Police Department Officer Fred Otash, circa 1947. (© Otash/Hook Archive)
Otash landed in Los Angeles in 1945 and enrolled with the Los Angeles Police Department. There he made a name for himself as a renegade cop, starting his own detective bureau in 1955 and overwhelming his contemporaries thanks to his access to emerging technology. He worked as a freelance reporter for the LA tabloid Confidential.
He was reportedly not present for the first meeting between President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. (Getty Images)
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“Fred leveled the playing field for a lot of people,” Young explained. “The Los Angeles Police Department and FBI were wiretapping celebrities and getting information that way, but Fred had his own wiretapping system that was just as sophisticated, if not more so, than theirs. …Early in his career, he tore down the Hollywood casting couch that producers were sitting on. [girl] A person who came to town.
Marilyn Monroe is still recognized as Hollywood’s most famous sex symbol. (Frank Povolny/20th Century Fox/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
“He helped many famous people at a time when they had nowhere else to go and traditional law enforcement wasn’t an option.”
In 1985, Otash claimed: Los Angeles Times He was hired by Peter Lawford and tasked with “doing whatever it takes to remove the stigma” of the actor’s brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. . The Kennedys were rumored to have had a romantic relationship with Monroe.
Fred Otash claimed that President John F. Kennedy also had a brief relationship with Jane Masenfield, a Hollywood blonde beauty and rival of Marilyn Monroe. (20th Century Fox/Getty Images)
In the book, Otaş claims to have heard the president having a “sexual meeting” with a sexy blonde woman.
“Yes, these were audio recordings,” Young argued. “These were created in Peter Lawford’s Santa Monica beach house. And they were created through a series of circumstances that I will give readers a detailed explanation of in the book. .”
The book claimed that Monroe’s relationship with Kennedy was a secret that Lawford was determined to hide from the hungry press. Otash described Lawford as “Jack Kennedy’s sexual archivist.”
According to the book, Lawford’s beach house was known as an emergency base for Kennedy, who had affairs with numerous women, including a popular actress.
Actress Marilyn Monroe sings “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday at Madison Square Garden. (Getty Images)
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“Marilyn Monroe is certainly the most famous movie star ever recorded to have sex with Kennedy, but she was not the first,” the book claims. “That dubious honor for her went to fellow bottle-blonde actress Jayne Mansfield. A close friend of Lawford’s, the Girl Can’t Help It star is Monroe’s rival at 20th Century Fox. Some people thought that.
Fred Otash poses with an array of surveillance equipment at the Fred Otash Detective Agency, circa 1956. (© Otash/Hook Archive)
As quoted in the book, Otash says in one of his recordings that “Monroe became the central character. Initially the electronic surveillance had nothing to do with her. But now Monroe is Jack It proved to be Kennedy.” Because she was the most famous, she became the main character. ”
Mr. Young claimed that audio recordings proving that Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Monroe had an affair went missing.
The only known photo of Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy together was taken during his birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. (Alamy)
“We believe they were destroyed,” he explained. “No one knows for sure, but…they were turned over to one of Fred’s confidants at the LAPD. In the book he details what he thinks happened to them. But he was never sure where they actually ended up. Maybe they ended up in the attorney general’s office, but again, he didn’t know.”
According to the book, Monroe first met Kennedy in 1955 at a party at the home of Charles Feldman, the producer of the blockbuster film “The Seven Year Itch.” Her husband at the time, Joe DiMaggio, did not want to attend her celebration, and neither did his wife.
During the filming of “The Seven Year Itch” in New York City, actress Marilyn Monroe tries to hold down her dress as wind from the subway grate blows it upwards. (Getty Images)
His wife, Jackie Kennedy, remained in Boston while Kennedy visited the city to visit his sister and brother-in-law. The book described how Kennedy allegedly “went hunting” and “slept with Hollywood stars” while his wife was away. It is said that Kennedy and Monroe’s meeting that night was platonic, and that the two had an affair at Lawford’s home two years later.
British actor Peter Lawford (1923-1984) was married to Patricia Kennedy from 1954 to 1966. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
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Otash, who was personally monitoring Monroe, also claimed to have heard the blonde bombshell die. He claimed that in August 1962, Monroe called Lawford twice from his home and then once to Kennedy. She then called Lawford again and she allegedly said, “Let’s say goodbye to her.” [your wife] Pat. Say goodbye to the president and say goodbye to yourself because you’re a good person. ”
Fred Otash claims that in her last phone call with Peter Lawford, Marilyn Monroe said, “Say goodbye to Pat, say goodbye to the President, and say goodbye to yourself. Because he’s a good person,” he is said to have said. (Alamy)
After the call, Lawford ran to Monroe, where he found her dead. Otash claimed that instead of calling police, Lawford “walked around trying to pick up any information that might implicate someone”. Mr Otash later told his friends: “I always knew Lawford was weak, but it is beyond my imagination that she would do nothing to help her so-called dear friend who may still be alive.” “It was,” he said.
John F. Kennedy speaks with his sister Pat as Peter Lawford listens. (Getty Images)
“Fred had Marilyn’s house on Fifth Helena Drive bugged for various reasons detailed in the book,” Young explained. “And the night she died, the wires were moving. We uncover what Fred heard on those audio tapes, and it brings us closer to the mystery of what happened the night Marilyn died.” .
“For me, I think it added another piece to the puzzle,” Young admitted. “Marilyn’s death is one of those things that has been mythologised, misunderstood and written about…even by many of the people involved at the time and those who claimed to have gone to her home after her death. later changed his story for profit.
Fred Otash and his 6-month-old daughter Colleen, December 1949. (© Otash/Hook Archive)
“I think it would have been nice to know a little bit more about what happened. Fred himself recorded his experiences. Through those tapes we collected quotes from him about what happened that night. I was able to do.” “
Marilyn Monroe appears in George Cukor’s unfinished final film, “Something’s Got to Give.” (AFP via Getty Images)
Ms. Young thought that Mr. Otash might have regrets about Monroe’s death.
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Marilyn Monroe was seen here in 1955 and died in 1962. She was 36 years old. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
“Ultimately, he saw how she was sucked into the system,” Young explained. “He saw how it affected her. … I don’t know if ‘regret’ is the right word. … But what happened to her affected him. …And those feelings evolved not only when he knew Marilyn, but also after he knew her.” ”
Monroe died at home in 1962 from a barbiturate overdose. She was 36 years old.
