An intimate memoir recalling a young photographer's relationship with Marilyn Monroe just months before her death, with extraordinary photographs, some of which have never been published.
"With the precision of a surgeon, Schiller slices through the façade of Marilyn Monroe in his unflinching memoir. Revealing and readable, it’s a book I couldn’t put down." —Tina Brown
When he pulled his station wagon into the 20th Century-Fox studios parking lot in Los Angeles in 1960, twenty-three-year-old Lawrence Schiller kept telling himself that this was just another assignment, just another pretty girl. But the assignment and the girl were anything but ordinary. Schiller was a photographer for Look magazine and his subject was Marilyn Monroe, America's sweetheart and sex symbol. In this intimate memoir, Schiller recalls the friendship that developed between him and Monroe while he photographed her in Hollywood in 1960 and 1962 on the sets of Let's Make Love and the unfinished feature Something's Got to Give, the last film she worked on.
Schiller recalls Marilyn as tough and determined, enormously insecure as an actress but totally self-assured as a photographer’s model. Monroe knew how to use her looks and sexuality to generate publicity, and in 1962 she allowed Schiller to publish the first nude photographs of her in over ten years, which she then used as a weapon against a studio that wanted to have her fired—and ultimately succeeded. The Marilyn Schiller knew and writes about was adept at hiding deep psychological scars, but she was also warm and open, candid and disarming, a movie star who wished to be taken more seriously than she was.
Accompanying the text are eighteen of the author’s own photographs, some never previously published. Many writers have tried to capture her essence on the page, but as someone who was in the room, a young man Marilyn could connect with and trust, Schiller gives us a unique look at the real woman offscreen.
"In this short, splendid memoir, Lawrence Schiller offers us another cut on the scintillating diamond that is Marilyn Monroe. In clear honest straightforward prose, Schiller allows us to dwell in the heart of another time. He captures Marilyn, both in photographs and words, and in so doing he gives us intimate access into one of the great stories of the 20th century: the complicated cocktail of joy and sadness that goes along with both beauty and fame." —Colum McCann
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 29, 2012 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780385536684
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780385536684
- File size: 4480 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 28, 2012
Photojournalist Schiller had photographed plenty of celebrities before, including Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick, but when he was sent by Look magazine to shoot Marilyn Monroe on the set of 1960's Let's Make Love, he realized he had never met a star like Monroe. To hear him tell it in this brief memoirâthe companion to Taschen's oversized $1,000 tome of some of Schiller's most famous and unpublished pictures of Monroeâ the two quickly established a sort of professional camaraderie that enabled him to get shots that other photographers couldn't, including pictures of Monroe in the nude. A handful of iconic shots and unpublished photos are included here, like the "ethereal" portrait that graced Life magazine's cover when she died, and a moving shot of Joe DiMaggio (her second husband) at the star's funeral. But folks interested in gossip won't find it hereâSchiller's interactions with Monroe and his efforts to sell his shots to Life magazine and other media outlets dominate the slim book. While not particularly revelatory, fans of the late actress will appreciate his sympathetic approach and the release of new images timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of her death. Photos. -
June 15, 2012
A photographer's unfocused memoir of his time with Marilyn Monroe. Accomplished photojournalist Schiller (Into the Mirror: The Life of Master Spy Robert P. Hanssen, 2002, etc.) recounts his brief access to Monroe in a curiously sour volume that does little to reveal new facets of the famously troubled actress' life or art. Schiller photographed Monroe during the production of her final films, Let's Make Love and the unfinished Something's Got to Give, undistinguished entries in the Monroe filmography made as the actress' irresponsible behavior on set sabotaged her faltering career and the personal problems that would lead her to commit suicide began to dominate all aspects of her life. In Schiller's recollection, Monroe was alternately warm and wary, chatty and chilly, personable and remote. More consistent was her mercenary understanding of her sexual allure and a single-minded focus on exploiting her mystique to its fullest commercial potential. Schiller is equally self-interested, and the narrative is as devoted to his wheeling and dealing with various magazines and attempts to outmaneuver rival photographers as it is to presenting a compelling portrait of his most famous subject. The author's zeal in maximizing the profits from his shots of a nude Monroe, who desperately hoped their notoriety might improve her shaky position with the film studio, may strike some as offensive, and the memoir, ostensibly a compassionate look at a troubled star, becomes instead a queasy document of the ways in which prurience, opportunism and crass calculation drive the entertainment industry and exact a tragic human toll. An unhappy little book that fails to illuminate the Monroe legend or the woman underneath.COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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June 1, 2012
An ambitious 23-year-old in 1960, Schiller was already on the rise as a photojournalist when Look magazine sent him to the 20th Century-Fox studio to take pictures of Marilyn Monroe on the set of Let's Make Love. He was awed by her rapport with the camera, wit, and kindnessMonroe sent two dozen roses to his wife with a note of apology for keeping him on the set so late. Two years later, he was assigned to photograph Monroe during what turned out to be her last, ultimately unfinished production. After Schiller's pictures of Monroe swimming nude were seen the world over, he was trying to arrange future collaborations with the star when she died. Schiller went on to become a premier photographer, an Oscar- and Emmy-winning movie and television producer and director, and a best-selling author. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Monroe's death, Schiller succinctly and respectfully tells the compelling and gently revealing story of his unforgettable encounters with the smart, determined, witty, and lonely star, accompanied by his gorgeous photographs, some never before published.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)
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