10 Facts About Erin Fleming

Erin Leslie Fleming was a Canadian actress best known as the companion, secretary and manager of comedian Groucho Marx during his final years.

Erin Fleming appeared in minor roles on television and in six feature films between 1965 and 1976, during which time she became acquainted with Groucho Marx and was initially hired as his secretary.

Groucho and Erin Fleming met in 1971 and she was initially hired as his secretary.

Erin Fleming successfully lobbied for the honorary Academy Award Groucho received in 1974.

Several of Groucho's friends and family, including his son Arthur and youngest daughter Melinda, charged Erin Fleming with embezzling money and pushing the increasingly frail Groucho to the limits of his endurance, largely for her own personal gain.

Litigation over his estate was eventually resolved in 1988 in favor of his three children: daughters, Miriam and Melinda and son, Arthur Marx; Erin Fleming was ordered to repay $472,000 to Groucho's estate.

Erin Fleming was arrested in June, 1990 on suspicion of carrying a concealed loaded firearm, which she brought into the West Hollywood sheriff's office.

Erin Fleming spent much of the last decade of her life impoverished, homeless, delusional, and in and out of various psychiatric facilities.

Erin Fleming took her own life in Hollywood on April 15,2003, at age 61.

Erin Fleming was cremated and her ashes interred in Hornings Mills Cemetery, Horning's Mills, Ontario.