Actress Anna Strasberg, the third wife of legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg and the ultimate inheritor of Marilyn Monroe’s estate, has died at the age of 84.
Her death was announced by The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, which she co-founded and where she served as artistic director, promoting his teachings, popularly known as Method acting.
“Anna ensured that The Institute became a beacon for aspiring actors, and remains a cherished space for artistic exploration and growth,” the announcement said. “Her lifelong commitment to The Method and unwavering devotion to The Institute have left an indelible mark on the world of acting and the countless talented people she inspired.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Her presence will be dearly missed, but her legacy lives on through The Method and every class of passionate students.”
Anna, a Venezuelan-born actress, met Lee, who was the director of the Actors Studio—where a veritable galaxy of stars from James Dean and Monroe to Al Pacino and Robert De Niro trained—in 1967. They married and had two children, Adam and David.
Lee Strasberg died of a heart attack in 1982. Monroe had left him much of her estate when she died, which then passed to Anna, who hired a company to license the blond bombshell’s image and auctioned off some of her belongings, eventually selling the estate to another company for a reported $20 to $30 million.
In an Instagram post, Scott Fortner, a collector of Monroe memorabilia, noted that many fans “have very strong feelings about the Strasbergs.”
“I can personally say, however, that she was very misunderstood. Intensely private, she rarely let Marilyn fans in. In fact, I may be the only one,” he continued. “In our many talks she would tell me, ‘I can’t talk about Marilyn to anyone else. You’re the only one who gets it.’
“I can say unequivocally that Anna was a Marilyn Monroe fan. She did her best to promote and protect Marilyn. With that said, it wasn’t a position she relished or asked for. Lee didn’t even know he was in Marilyn’s will until after she died. In knowing Anna, I came to understand that in some ways, inheriting Marilyn’s estate was both a blessing and a burden.”
