Trivia

Erin Fleming was a highly ambitious Canadian actress who was Groucho Marx's controversial guardian from circa 1969 until his death in 1977. His family sued to have her removed from that status, saying she was pushing him into public performances against doctors' advice after he had suffered a series of minor strokes. She was considered mentally unstable and was reportedly living as a bag lady in Los Angeles in the last years of her life. She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2003.

When Erin was very young, she married a successful New York attorney. The marriage ended amicably. One of the reasons the marriage ended was because she wanted to pursue a career as an actress.

Sidney Sheldon wrote a roman-a-clef on Erin's relationship with Groucho Marx in 1976 called "A Stranger in the Mirror". It was adapted into a television movie A Stranger in the Mirror (1993), with Lori Loughlin playing the role that's inspired by Erin.

She appeared naked on stage in a Los Angeles stage production, but Groucho Marx said he didn't like her to appear nude in productions.

Under the guise of humor, it was strongly implied in the Dec. 16, 1971 "Dick Cavett Show" episode featuring the two principals that Groucho and Erin were lovers, to the extent of reference to the marriage possibility. He was 81 and she was 30. Erin referred to her enormous workload of attending to 100 fan mails a day.