SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Erin Fleming worshipped Groucho Marx as someone who was 'greater than life' and did not want to make money off of him, a psychiatrist testified Thursday.
Dr. L. James Grold provided the most effective defense testimony yet in the trial, which has now lasted four weeks, of a Bank of America lawsuit charging that Miss Fleming bilked the late comedian out of more than $400,000.
'Erin's devotion to Groucho was based on seeing him as a genius, a person of great stature, someone she worshipped and saw as greater than life,' Grold, who examined both Miss Fleming and Marx on several occasions, told the court.
'Her motive was not of seeing someone she could latch on to make money.'
Grold said Miss Fleming was reered in a traditional Canadian family and had devoted almost six years to caring to her dying mother, who died just six months before she began caring for Marx. Miss Fleming was 30 when she met Marx in 1970 and was his close companion most of the time from 1971 until he died in 1977 at age 86.
Grold described their relationship as 'more sensual than sexual.' He said the Miss Fleming provided an 'almost maternal' figure for the aging Marx, and said she went out of her way to make sure he was socially and professionally 'stimulated' and taken care of.
'Erin had an extremely positive effect on him,' he testified. 'She was an essential part of his life. In many ways, she gave him reason for living.
'It was a very unusal type of relationship. It's unusual to have someone around that is so desirous that one is happy.'
Marx made his unsuccessful attempt to adopt Miss Fleming, he said, because his 'greatest fear' was that she might leave him.
'He was vey fearful of losing Erin, that she might leave him, that she might not have adequate funds to take care of herself, and that was his way to ensure that,' he explained.
'Erin had mixed feelings. She was was quite confident that she would be there for Groucho and that it was unnecessary.'
Grold said Marx's fears were intensified by the estrangement he felt from his children, who were aligned with the bank in a conservatorship fight that restricted the time Miss Fleming could spend with Marx in his final months.
'He felt very aliented from his children and was fearful they would try to put him in a nursing home to take away his money,' Grold said. 'He felt especially alienated from his son, Arthur.'
On Wednesday, defense attorney David Sabih said he would screen a videotape of the 1973 Academy Awards telecast, in which Marx accepted an honorary Oscar and gave Miss Fleming redit for his receiving the award.
Bank attorney J. Brin Schulman indicated he would protest the showing, however. The attorneys met in chambers before Thursday's session, and the presentation was cancelled at least temporarily.
