August 4th marks the 60th anniversary of the death of actress Marilyn Monroe. The film star died in 1962 at the age of 36 under circumstances that have not yet been fully clarified. A few weeks earlier, Monroe completed a large photo shoot for the fashion magazine “Vogue”, which became known as “The Last Sitting”.
US photographer Bert Stern photographed the actress on two weekends in a row in a bungalow at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles. Over 2,500 pictures were taken, some of which were published in the September issue of Vogue after Monroe’s death.
The pictures can be seen in an illustrated book that was reissued by Taschen-Verlag to mark the anniversary of Monroe’s death. The photo book is supplemented by a text by the US writer Norman Mailer, Pulitzer Prize winner and one of the most important authors of the 20th century. Mailer published his work “Marilyn Monroe. A Biography” in 1973. The original text is now reprinted in the illustrated book.
Although Mailer never met Monroe in person, he did see almost all of her films and spoke to numerous people who were close to her, creating a portrait of a woman who continues to fascinate to this day.
“Marilyn Monroe” by Norman Mailer and Bert Stern is in Taschen-Verlag published and costs 80 euros
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Photo book “Marilyn & Me”: Marilyn Monroe posed naked on the film set – a few weeks later she was dead