He played autopsies on some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. But many do not know that the behind the scenes is struggling, the so -called coroner confronted for the stars while navigating to handle the dead of celebrities in public interest.
Dr. Thomas Noguchi, 98, a Japanese immigrant who served as the Chief Medical Examiner coroner of Los Angeles County from 1967 to 1982, is the subject of Coroner to the Stars, A new documentary premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in Los Angeles on February 23.
Directed by Ben Hethcoat and Keita Ideno and Executive produced by George Takei, the film not only investigates the rise of Noguchi into the speeching position, but also how he became the subject of criticism and racial targeting after his medical conclusions, an EVEN how much he revealed about These deaths – angry with an audience that he was intended to serve.
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The chairman of a series of dead by celebrities when tabloidmedia were on the rise, Noguchi was suddenly put in the spotlight shortly after he came to the office – often balanced what he could and could not say with what the stars of stars and their protective family And their protective family and friends were familiar with publishing.
Discover the story of Noguchi by the memoirs of the former medical researcher from 1983, Coroner, Hethcoat told Yahoo Entertainment that he was initially ‘intrigued by the celebrity of all this’.
“You think of these celebrity cases, these high-profile things, many of which have started their own kind of folklore about them, right?” he said. “The death of Marilyn Monroe, or the conspiracies around the murder of Robert Kennedy or Natalie Wood.”
Hethcoat said, in addition to his co-director and producer: “I met the man, and the man behind or outside the person who was in front of the press.”
What he and his team wanted to explore was a deeper element for Noguchi, someone who continues with the forensic and science who also fought against his own struggles – not only the precariousness of his work, but also his experience as a Japanese American and death From him wife, Hisako.
“The way in which he dealt with that personal sorrow and loss is in such a way he had to answer questions from the press after, for example, William Holden or Natalie Wood died,” said Hethcoat, “and I think he thinks that is just a real humanizing Element of the film “
The documentary also investigates whether Noguchi was seduced by its own growing fame.
Dr. Thomas Noguchi in the lab. (Fox Archives/Coroner of the Stars))
Shortly after he arrived at the office of the Chief Medical Examiner coroner for the county of Los Angeles in 1961 as a deputy medical investigator, Noguchi was confronted with the first of many closely studied cases-the deaths of August 1962 by Marilyn Monroe.
The MONOU Case “really helped create our public relationship with death research,” explained Hethcoat.
Through archive footage and interviews, the documentary delves into the meticulous process of Noguchi, so that the post -mortal of the movie star is performed, but also her psychological condition is investigating just before her death. He and his supervisor eventually ruled the Some like it nice hot The barbiturate overdose of the actress is a suicide, which confuse a largely unbelieving audience.
The report of the coroner of 1962 on the death of Marilyn Monroe. (Axel Koester/Corbis via Getty images)
“That is difficult for us to understand – how someone with so much fame and fortune and public respect could commit suicide,” said Hethcoat. “And if we are not happy with the answer, we start to change it or come to our own conclusions.”
Noguchi rose by the ranks and was appointed in 1967 in the Chief Medical Examiner function by the La County Board of Supervisors – an extraordinary achievement at that time for someone who was not born in the country.
His next and demonstrably most controversial matter was that of the murder on 1968 of the then presidential candidate senator Robert F. Kennedy in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Noguchi, in a stunning autopsy report of 63 pages, concluded controversial that the fatal bullet came from behind the politician instead of where the convicted shooter, Sirhan Sirhan’s, stood.
“Sirhan Sirhan was accused of the murder of Robert Kennedy because it was his act that started this series of events,” explained Hethcoat, “but the truth is according to Dr. Noguchi’s autopsy report, which was the most detailed, thorough, careful, Complete medical legal autopsy in the entire history … The shot that Robert Kennedy killed was behind the ear dismissed. “
“In my company, tell it as it is,” says Noguchi in the documentary.
After the case, Noguchi Lindon Hollinger, the Chief Administrative Officer of La County, would have “embarrassed”, when he crossed his head to request more financing for the department. Shortly thereafter, Noguchi was examined for his treatment of the RFK case and had filed more than 60 charges against him by the Hollinger office who were currently called ‘wild’.
Noguchi was accused of show farmers and celebrating the death of Kennedy as a way to become more famous. He was also called out for inappropriate humor while position, Something his defenders Said Wasn’t unique to a person dealing with the “horrors” or what was seen in Daily Work Life.
The film investigates the reaction of not only Noguchi and his wife, who accusing the all -white La County Board of Supervisors of racial discrimination for it unfairly aimed at her husband, but also his supporters. From that dispute, the organization united Japanese united in the search for truth (fair), whose members include Rigid trait Actor George Takei, was born and recorded the cloak of supporting Noguchi and the use of their voice to combat the stereotypes “Eternal Foreigners” and “Model Line”.
“It is a very important part of the story,” said Hethcoat, mentions Ideno, who is Japanese American, for bringing that “cultural experience and perspective for the film.”
During his research, Hethcoat had serendipitously found a 1968 letter from Takei to then-Board Supervisor Kenneth Hahn (whose daughter, Janice Hahn, a member of the LA County Board of Supervisors, appears in the film) expressing outrage that the county would go after Such a “respected, world famous coroner. “
“George Really Helped Bring Together This Community of Japanese Americans Who Felt That Dr. Noguchi was being missreated by the county, “Hethcoat Said,” And it’s really through that community that Dr. ir. Norchi was able to overcome thesis and this attempt by the council of supervisors to fire him. ‘
Noguchi was acquitted and restored with full repayment.
His experience just over 10 years later, however, was a different story. This time it was superstar Frank Sinatra, instead of a local government official, who questioned the work of Noguchi.
After Noguchi, who became the inspiration behind the popular TV series Culture“ A public statement about Sunset Boulevard The blood alcohol content of Ster William Holden at the time of his casual death in 1981, Sinatra evoked that the medical investigator was fired. Only weeks later, actress Natalie Wood died off the coast of the island of Catalina, and Noguchi’s statements about her cause of death were also questioned.
The Board of Supervisors has suspended Noguchi for alleged maladministration and “sensational” statements about his famous cases. He was also confronted with a possible criminal investigation after accusations of misplaced evidence and looting within the medical investigator’s office, stood up in an investigation by the Los Angeles Times.
Hahn said the suspension was a reaction to Sinatra’s criticism and others. Noguchi’s lawyer called it ‘sabotage’. Noguchi was then relegated from his position of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner to a doctor-specialist.
Although the documentary investigates the successes and obstacles of Noguchi, it leaves some questions to the public.
“I think you are in that position, to be in that position, you need a level of a healthy ego if you become the spokesperson for the dead. So, do I think he has an ego? I think he has a healthy ego, “said Hethcoat. “But when it comes to the desire for the spotlight or a media dog, I personally don’t think that was the goal of Dr. Noguchi.”
Or the director wants viewers to question Noguchi’s own relationship with fame: “I think the story makes it more interesting if the audience can come to their own conclusion,” he said.
