Erin Fleming

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

Fleming was born Marilyn Suzanne Fleming on August 13, 1941, in New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada. She appeared in minor roles on television and in six feature films between 1965 and 1976. Her most prominent film role was in the 1972 Woody Allen movie Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask).

Fleming's influence on and relationship with Groucho Marx were controversial. Marx had been introduced to Fleming by television producer and writer Jerry Davis in 1971 and she was initially (and extemporaneously) hired as his secretary. She eventually assumed the role of his manager. Many of Marx's friends and colleagues 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 recorded and issued on a best-selling record album. She also successfully lobbied for the honorary Academy Award Marx received in 1974.^[2] Several of Marx's friends, family and employees, including his son Arthur and youngest daughter Melinda, charged Fleming 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 psychological and suspected physical abuse.^[3] 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.^[4]

In the years leading up to Marx's death, Fleming was Groucho's guardian until a court appointed Groucho's friend, screenwriter Nat Perrin, in May 1977, in the midst of a contentious court case with Groucho's heirs.^[5]

Groucho Marx died on August 19, 1977, aged 86. Litigation over his estate was eventually resolved in 1988 in favor of his three children: daughters Miriam and Melinda and son Arthur Marx. Fleming was ordered to repay $472,000 which she had fraudulently taken from Groucho's estate.^[6]

En 1983, a Fleming le diagnosticaron esquizofrenia paranoide . Fue arrestada en junio de 1990 bajo sospecha de portar un arma de fuego cargada y oculta, la cual llevó a la oficina del sheriff de West Hollywood . ^{[ 7 ]} Pasó gran parte de la última década de su vida en la pobreza, sin hogar, con delirios y entrando y saliendo de diversas instituciones psiquiátricas. ^{[ 8 ]}

Fleming murió de una herida de bala autoinfligida en Hollywood el 15 de abril de 2003, a los 61 años. Fue incinerada y sus cenizas fueron depositadas en el cementerio de Hornings Mills, en Horning's Mills, Ontario . ^{[ 9 ]}

En una adaptación televisiva de 1993 de Un extraño en el espejo , Lori Loughlin interpretó el papel inspirado en Fleming. ^{[ 10 ]}

• La leyenda de la montaña de sangre (1965) - Phyllis Stinson
• Hércules en Nueva York (1970)
• La conquista del planeta de los simios (1972) - Cliente de la cafetería (sin acreditar)
• Todo lo que siempre quisiste saber sobre el sexo* (*pero tenías miedo de preguntar) (1972) - La chica
• Sheila Levine está muerta y vive en Nueva York (1975) - Chica
• La montaña de McCullough (1975) - Phyllis Stinson

• Miriam Marx Allen, Amor, Groucho: Cartas de Groucho Marx a su hija Miriam (1992), ISBN 978-0306811036.
• Charlotte Chandler, Hola, me tengo que ir: Groucho y sus amigos (1978), ISBN 978-1416544227.
• Stefan Kanfer, Groucho: La vida y la época de Julius Henry Marx (2000), ISBN 978-0375702075.
• Arthur Marx , Mi vida con Groucho (1992), revisado a partir de Mi vida con Groucho (1954), ISBN 978-0942637458.
• Steve Stoliar, Cejas levantadas: Mis años dentro de la casa de Groucho (1996), ISBN 978-1593936525.

• "Amar a Groucho arruinó mi vida" en Wayback Machine (archivado el 11 de mayo de 2013), un artículo de Erin Fleming del número de julio de 1983 de Movie Star .
• Episodio del podcast 'The Marx Brothers Council Podcast' que incluye una entrevista de 1979 con Erin Fleming.
• Erin Fleming en Find a Grave
• Erin Fleming en IMDb