reply to RivkahChaya:
Is Richie a person? Yes Is this something like “When one of her movies was on TV, Richie the cat stretched out on his stomach across the warm TV"? No.
OMG. Did he molest her corpse?
reply to RivkahChaya:
OMG. Did he molest her corpse?
No. We will indeed be scraping the bottom of the lateral thinking barrel if we resort to puzzles about necrophilia. 
Is “Richie” his real name?
Is “Richie” his real name?
Richard
Is Richie a real person?
reply to Zyada:
Is Richie a real person? Yes
How about Greta Garbo, or Dietrich?
reply to Peter Morris:
No other celebrity involved.
Was this due to the fact that she was married to DiMaggio at the time, and he was known to be very jealous, or was it due to the fact that it happened after her death, and DiMaggio was the one who planned her funeral?
Does this have anything to do with sex?
Did Richie work in the film industry?
If yes, as an actor? If not as an actor, as a stuntperson? Otherwise, as a techie?
Oh, wait a minute, is “Richie” the photographer Richard Avedon? Did he lie on his stomach at some point to photograph her?
Did Joe punch or otherwise strike Richie?
reply to RivkahChaya:
Was this due to the fact that she was married to DiMaggio at the time, and he was known to be very jealous, or was it due to the fact that it happened after her death, and DiMaggio was the one who planned her funeral? Neither scenario here is correct. DiMaggio is not really to “blame” at all. He did something at one point which eventually led to the situation upon which this puzzle is based, but he almost certainly did not foresee it. I am afraid my DiMaggio hint is more of a distraction.
Does this have anything to do with sex? Not overtly…
Did Richie work in the film industry? No
If yes, as an actor? If not as an actor, as a stuntperson? Otherwise, as a techie? None of these.
No.
No.
We seem to be stuck here so I offer this further hint:
If it was not for Marilyn Monroe, Richie would have lain on his back and there would be no riddle.
Does this have anything to do with the famous ‘subway grate’ picture/film?
reply to Folly
Does this have anything to do with the famous ‘subway grate’ picture/film?
No
Could any arbitrary attractive female celebrity of the time (and/or her spouse) have had this effect?
Could any arbitrary typical man have been affected in this way?
Could a similar phenomenon occur now, with appropriate people?
reply to Chronos:
Could any arbitrary attractive female celebrity of the time (and/or her spouse) have had this effect? Yes. But only after a similar chain of events.
Could any arbitrary typical man have been affected in this way? [B]I don’t think the typical man would be affected this way, but it could theoretically be possible given the right circumstances for anyone.
Could a similar phenomenon occur now, with appropriate people? Yes. But the appropriate unlikely conditions would have to be met.