Simply Marilyn

Norma Jeane Mortenson

June 1, 1926, August 5, 1962, Los Angeles, California, United States
1.66 m

"A beauty-symbol becomes a thing, I just hate being a thing. If I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it beauty than some other things we've got symbols of. "

Among her thousands and thousands photographs, I wanted those which captured her inner truth, her sadness, her sickness. I know all about her, she's my idol since my 12.

Today, maybe she could have been cured or appeased, but would she have avoided her fascination for the powerful men of this world ? She died with her secrets we now know. Like Icarus, she burned her wings.

By Eve Arnold

A Private Moment

By Ed Feingersh

Taken on the roof of Hotel Ambassador in New York

By George Barris 

For Cosmopolitan

By Ed Feingersh 

Quiet Moment, 1955

For Time Magazine

By Milton H. Greene

By Sam Shaw

New York, 1957

By André De Dienes

1953, Bel Air Hotel

Pin-up girl Marilyn Monroe with Earl Moran

Norma Jeane Mortenson

June 1, 1926, August 5, 1962, Los Angeles, California, United States
1.66 m

"In Hollywood a girl's virtue is much less important than her hairdo. You're judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty."

Marilyn Monroe and Earl Moran

Adapted sources : Immortal Marilyn

One of his most famous models whilst in Hollywood was the young Marilyn Monroe, then Norma Jeane, who modeled for Moran between 1946 and 1950.

Earl Moran hired Marilyn through the Blue Book Agency in Los Angeles, in 1946. This was one of Marilyn’s earliest regular modeling assignments, to help pay the rent while she fought for an entree into the movie business.

She posed for him off and on for the next four years. He paid Marilyn ten dollars an hour to photograph  her in various costumes and states of toplessness.

He usually took photos of her, which he used as reference for his pin-up illustrations. 

Between 1946 and 1950

From 20 to 24 years old