Erin Fleming: Circe of Groucho’s Senescence

Marx Brothers fans know of Erin Fleming (Marilyn Suzette Fleming, 1941-2003) chiefly through books like Steve Stoliar’s Raised Eyebrowsand Charlotte Chandler’s Hello, I Must Be Going. The wider public may remember her from the public controversy surrounding Groucho’s last years and the battle for his estate after his passing. Initially his personal assistant, Fleming rapidly insinuated herself into his life, becoming his manager, and then (though 50 years his junior) his “companion”, who accompanied him to public functions, hosted parties at their home, and even came on television with him on The Dick Cavett Show and The New Bill Cosby Show.

Millions would have loved to have been in her shoes. Fleming (one feels) would have been just as glad to have latched on to some other celebrity, it was just her dumb luck to have crossed paths with Groucho, second only to perhaps Santa Claus as a beloved public figure. She came from the most obscure of places, a rural community in Northeastern Ontario. She divulged some plausible details in her Cavett appearance, such as that she attended boarding school in Toronto, and that she had studied acting with Herbert Berghof (which is true, I found some credits proving her involvement at HB Studios in the mid ’60s.) In 1965 she landed the largest acting role of her career, a scream queen in the low-budget horror film The Legend of Blood Mountain, starring George Ellis a.k.a. Bestoink Dooley, a local tv horror host in the Atlanta area. Coincidentally (she claimed, and Cavett seemed to confirm) she was to appear opposite Cavett in a play at HB in 1968 at the time his talk show was greenlit, making him unavailable. In 1970 she played a Greek goddess in Hercules in New York starring the two Arnolds: Schwarzenegger (in one of his first movie roles) and Stang (in one of his last).

It was in 1971 that writer/producer Jerry Davis (then part of the creative team on The Odd Couple) passed her along to Groucho. Apparently the stars were aligned to make this happen. Groucho’s wicked wit made it hard for him to keep a secretary for any length of time; the females who were closest to him (wives, daughters, assistants) generally became alcoholics, fled for their lives, or both. So there was a vacancy. At the same time, Fleming was pestering Davis for work, and was apparently given to making inappropriate suggestions in hopes of securing it. So he fobbed her off on Groucho. Th fact that she (coincidentally) had the same surname as Harpo’s widow, had to have been an early conversational point. And very quickly (within months) she took over Groucho’s life.

It would be inaccurate to say, as many do, that Fleming “revived Groucho’s career”. I’m looking at his IMDB. Though it’s true his last movie role had been in Skidoo (1968), he continued to make several TV appearances a year after that. It’s true that 1969 was kind of a light year, but even so that was also the year he debuted on Cavett’s show, which was very hot at the time. But Fleming put him at the center of Hollywood’s social scene, and the top stars of the day were frequent guests at their home. One friend of hers, Bud Cort (Harold and Maude, M*A*S*H) even moved into the house. And Fleming pressured the ailing Marx into making live personal appearances, the most famous of which was the Carnegie Hall concert in 1972, which was recorded and released as an album. There was money to be made off this commodity. But this activity was, I remind you, also taking place in the midst of a series of strokes that marred Groucho’s final years. Fleming’s resemblance to Louise Fletcher had always inspired me to picture her as a type of Nurse Ratched figure.

It may more accurately be said that Fleming revived her OWN career (a little). Surely as a result of her connection to Groucho she appeared in episodes of Adam-12 and Marcus Welby M.D. She had small roles in the movies Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York (1975), with Jeannie Berlin and Roy Scheider. Most significantly, she had a showy part in Woody Allen’sEverything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask (1972). She was also cast in a great part in Love and Death (1975) but stormed off the set, a clear sign of that mental instability which became increasingly apparent soon thereafter. It could have led to other things but it ended up being one of her last acting jobs. The part went to Olga Georges-Picot.

Fleming’s prominent and controlling role in Groucho’s life wound up alienating some of his old professional friends, and many in his family, particularly his son Arthur. There were charges of elder abuse. Towards the end, the Arthur faction won the custodial battle. After Groucho’s death in 1977, Fleming and various Marxes fought over Groucho’s estate, a court case that lasted over a decade. In the end, Fleming was ordered to repay nearly half a million dollars to her legal adversaries. Needless to say, she longer had it to give back.

Very rapidly, Fleming dropped out of the Hollywood social scene. A few years later reports began to circulate of sightings of her as a homeless person, often spotted near a drugs and alcohol rehab facility. She was diagnosed as schizophrenic, it later emerged. In 1990 she was arrested for bringing a loaded weapon into the offices of the L.A. sheriff’s department. In 1993 a fictionalized TV movie likely inspired by Erin and Groucho called A Stranger in the Mirror, based on Sidney Sheldon’s novel, was released. A decade later Fleming was living in a senior facility — where she fatally shot herself at the age of 61.

Dick Cavett’s 2014 book Brief Encounterspaints a rosier portrait of Fleming than we are accustomed to seeing. Most commentators present her as an obvious parasite. Cavett, who knew her socially, tries to shade it a little, to give it a bit of “she put life in the old boy” stuff. But surely she’s not the only one who might have done that.

Two excellent episodes from the Marx Brothers Council Podcast illuminate the portrait of Fleming for us considerably.

The first features a 1979 interview with Fleming conducted by Jay Hopkins.

The second is an in-depth interview with her nephew David Fleming.

Speaking of the Marx Brothers, I sure do hope you will check out my new book The Marx Brothers Miscellany: A Subjective Appreciation of the World’s Greatest Comedy Team (2024).