Slatzer, Robert F(ranklin) 1927–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born April 4, 1927, in Marion, OH; died March 28, 2005, in Los Angeles, CA. Film director, producer, and author. Slatzer was best known as the author of two books about actress Marilyn Monroe, whom he claimed to have once married. After attending Ohio State University, he initially worked as a journalist, writing for such newspapers as the Columbus Dispatch. In 1946, however, he moved to Hollywood, where he met Monroe and began a relationship. He later wrote in his The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe (1974) that he married the actress in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1952. However, her studio objected to the marriage and Darryl F. Zanuck, who was then head of Twentieth Century-Fox Studios, told the couple to dissolve their union. With Monroe's career on the line, the couple returned to Tijuana and had the marriage license burned. Though no records remained of this marriage, Slatzer insisted the rest of his life that he was briefly Monroe's husband. Slatzer went on to have a career as a screenwriter and director of mostly low-budget films, and during the late 1940s and early 1950s worked for such studios as RKO, Monogram, and Paramount. In 1953 he became an executive producer for Republic Studios, and in 1959 joined Jaguar Pictures. Slatzer gave up movies in 1960 when he founded Slatzer Oil and Gas Co., serving as president there until 1963. In the late 1960s he served on the board of directors for United Mining and Milling Corp. He returned to his movie roots as a director for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1972, and from 1978 to 1993 headed Robert F. Slatzer Productions. Among his screenplays are The Hellcats (1968), Cowboy and the Heiress (1970), The Young Wildcats (1971), Campaign Girl (1972), and The Punishment Pawn (1973). Slatzer had better success with his biographies, however, authoring Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne (1985) and another book on Monroe titled The Marilyn Files (1992). His last book was The Celluloid Cowboy.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Independent (London, England), April 30, 2005, p. 43.

Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2005, p. B11.