Report: DiMaggio's Final Words

N E W   Y O R K, Aug. 9 -- Joe DiMaggio died with Marilyn Monroe’s name on his lips, according to the Hall of Famer’s lawyer and confidant.

“I’ll finally get to see Marilyn,” DiMaggio whispered.

Morris Engelberg, who was at the Yankee outfielder’s bedsidewhen he died, recalled DiMaggio’s last words in a story in VanityFair magazine.

It was not the first time DiMaggio had said that, Engelberg saidTuesday from his office in Hollywood, Fla.

“We were sitting together in the patio one night, talking abouthis illness, and he said, ‘I don’t feel bad about dying. At least,I’ll be with Marilyn again.’”

Blasts Report

Engelberg scoffed at a New York Daily News report quoting a hospiceworker who said DiMaggio had no last words when he died of lungcancer at 84 in March 1999.

“Of course, there were, and that’s what Joe told me,”Engelberg said.

He said DiMaggio never stopped loving Monroe even after theirnine-month marriage in 1954 ended in divorce. In Engelberg’s view,the actress may have been the only person DiMaggio really loved.

The list of people DiMaggio hated, according to the Vanity Fairstory, included Frank Sinatra, Presidents Kennedy and Clinton andRobert Kennedy.

The article, featured in the September issue of Vanity Fair, wasbased on a series of interviews with Engelberg.

Portrayed as a Loner

DiMaggio is pictured as a brooding, parsimonious loner who heldgrudges and demanded strict adherence to rules.

“Never mention Monroe, Sinatra or the Kennedys,” was one ofthe rules.

DiMaggio blamed Monroe’s drug and alcohol addiction, and herdeath from an apparent overdose, on Sinatra and the Kennedybrothers, Engelberg said.

DiMaggio believed Sinatra introduced Monroe to the Kennedys inreturn for possible political favors, and he despised John andRobert Kennedy to the point that he saw something deserved in theirassassinations, according to the article.