Marilyn Monroe and Douglas, photographed by Douglas Kirkland in Hollywood, 1961

Marilyn, Björk, and Liza, Through the Lens of Douglas Kirkland

By Françoise Kirkland

Photographed by Douglas Kirkland

February 4, 2026

At the pinnacle of photojournalism in the 60s and 70s, Canadian-American photographer Douglas Kirkland somehow made his 2D images multi-dimensional in feeling. Tomorrow, the Morrison Hotel Gallery will present Romance: A Love Letter to The Douglas Kirkland Archive, a curation of limited-edition Kirkland photographs imbued with intimacy, as well as copies of Kirkland’s book, Romance, available with Damiani Books. Hosting the book signing and exhibition is Françoise Kirkland—his wife, collaborator, and enduring muse. Even from the other side of the aperture, she knows how he saw the world was special. “I find it totally irresistible.”

Hints of something sadder … a 1956 photo by Cecil Beaton.Photograph: © National Portrait Gallery, London

Review

Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait review – the radiant, uncontainable star she always wanted to 

National Portrait Gallery, London
The actor’s life in pictures, from mousey-haired teen to American icon to her shocking death at 36, beams with the charm that defined a century. But why aren’t we shown more of what lay behind the smile?

Charlotte Jansen
Friday 5 June 2026

Iwanted to hate the National Portrait Gallery’s new blockbuster show, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait. It represents two things that really should be binned: anniversary exhibitions (it marks Monroe’s 100th birthday) and exhibitions of celebrity portraits. Anniversaries rarely signify anything other than the passing of time, which is an inevitable and uninteresting fact of life. As for exhibitions of celebrity photographs – they’re like anniversary shows, only with faces.

Marilyn Monroe by Bert Stern

 

Marilyn Monroe

by Bert Stern

1962

Women we love / Marilyn Monroe

 

WOMEN WE LOVE

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe by Milton H. Green

 

Marilyn Monroe, 1954
Photographies by Milton Greene 

Feet / Marilyn Monroe

 

FEET
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses by James Joyce

 

Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses by James Joyce, Long Island,1955 by Eve Arnold.

Venom Queen / Marilyn Monroe

 

MARILYN MONROE

Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles, California, would come to define Hollywood’s golden age with a mystique that blended vulnerability, ambition, and unmatched visual allure. Raised in a series of foster homes during the Great Depression, she found solace in dreams of cinema and glamour. Around 1945, while working at the Radioplane Munitions Factory in Van Nuys, she was discovered by Army photographer David Conover. This pivotal moment marked the beginning of a modeling career that quickly transitioned into film, with her early contracts at 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures positioning her within the orbit of postwar screen sirens

By the early 1950s, Monroe’s ascent was unstoppable. Her roles in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and The Seven Year Itch (1955) not only showcased her comedic timing and visual charm but also challenged the archetype of the Hollywood blonde bombshell. Underneath her studio-crafted persona lay an intellectual spirit—Monroe studied at the Actors Studio in New York alongside Marlon Brando and Paul Newman, driven to prove her depth beyond the camera’s lens. Her tumultuous marriages to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller placed her at the epicenter of American celebrity culture. She navigated fame amid insecurities and studio pressures, enduring frequent battles with Fox over creative control and personal dignity.

Her final years, marked by fragile health and creative frustration, unfolded against the backdrop of political speculation and tragic isolation. Monroe’s sudden death on August 5, 1962, in Brentwood, California, echoed across continents. Yet her legacy only magnified with time—her image immortalized on murals, fashion, and digital art. She remains an eternal symbol of optimism and complexity, guiding generations through the tunnels of doubt with her incandescent resilience and unforgettable humanity.

 

BOOK OF THE DAY

Review

Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold review – intimate, tender and witty photographs

In front of the camera Monroe was luminous, but in this reissued and sumptuous collection of pictures Arnold also captured the insecurity and pain

John Banville

Monday 6 January 2025

The story is told of Marilyn Monroe and a friend walking down Fifth Avenue one day in the 1950s discussing Marilyn Monroe. MM was wearing a headscarf and a plain, belted raincoat. The friend remarked on the great difference there was between the woman he knew and the star the world thought it knew. “You want me to be her?” Marilyn said. “Watch.” She whipped off the scarf, opened the raincoat, thrust out her chest and put on The Walk. Within seconds, she was surrounded by a gaggle of excited fans clamouring for her autograph.

Marilyn Monroe in New York

 

Marilyn Monroe at a Central Park bench in New York City, photographed by Sam Shaw, June 12th, 1957

 

Nude images of Marilyn Monroe offer snapshots of taboo Hollywood history

This article is more than 9 years old

Art connoisseurs and fans will get to see rare photos in their original state in San Francisco exhibit headed to Chicago and New York

The dark history of Frank Sinatra’s mansion

The 8,000-square-foot mansion sits on a three-and-a-half acre estate in the heart of the Chatsworth Nature Preserve. It has a splendid view of the San Fernando Valley, the Los Angeles foothills and the surrounding mountains. It also features gardens, terraces and an outdoor pool.SCOTT EVERTS PARA SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY 

ARCHITECTURE

The dark history of Frank Sinatra’s mansion: The Rat Pack’s gambling and alleged encounters between Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy 

Farralone was the name of the legendary singer’s home. It was designed by architect William Pereira with the assistance of his then-student, Frank Gehry. The house has just gone on sale for more than $8 million

MIQUEL ECHARRI

NOV 16, 2024 - 23:15 COT

Poker was played there until the early hours of the morning, while million-dollar rounds of bourbon and French champagne were served. The host — Frank Sinatra — and famous guests, such as Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop, all partook in the activities.

Marilyn Monroe in New York

 

Marilyn Monroe in New York

Marilyn Monroe wear a sleeveless sheath white dress and gloves at the Plaza Hotel Fountain in New York City 1957. Photo by Sam Shaw.

Source:ELLE

Marilyn Monroe

 

Fame is not what it used to be: Why stars like Marilyn and Elvis don’t exist anymore

In a world consumed by social media influencers and superheroes, the film industry is wallowing in nostalgia for the great icons of yesteryear

Begoña Gómez Urzaiz
Barcelona, November 3, 2022

It happens more often now, even to people well versed in pop culture: one day, you discover that you don’t know half of the actors and actresses featured in the Hollywood issue that Vanity Fair puts out to coincide with the Oscars. Who is that actress next to Nicole Kidman? No idea. Who is at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100? No clue (Morgan Wallen, Steve Lacy). Emma Chamberlain’s house goes viral, and we are not quite clear about who she is, let alone what the 21-year-old has done to earn enough money to buy a $4.3 million mansion (answer: she is a social media phenomenon who has signed deals with Levi’s, Cartier and Louis Vuitton). This lack of pop culture knowledge isn’t just a matter of getting old; it shows that intergenerational and “inter-bubble” conversation has become increasingly difficult.

Book Review 049 / Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos

 

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 

by Anita Loos

1925

The 100 best novels written in English / The full list

Book Review

The 100 best novels / No 49 / Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos (1925)

10 July 2018

What a marvellous novella this turned out to be. Smart, engaging and uproariously funny – another great summer read for me.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was the debut novel of the American screenwriter and author Anita Loos. (You can read a little more about her career here.) The book was an instant success on its release in 1925 – the individual sections had previously been published in Harper’s Bazaar, so the market was ripe for its appearance as a complete text.

Ana de Armas' Emotional Portrayal of Marilyn Monroe

ANA DE ARMAS’ EMOTIONAL PORTRAYAL OF MARILYN MONROE IN FIRST TEASER

“He wanted the world to experience what it actually felt like to not only be Marilyn, but also Norma Jeane,” Ana de Armas previously explained.

Daniel Neira
Miami, June 16, 2022

Ana de Armas looks incredible, channeling old Hollywood glamour and portraying the late star Marilyn Monroe in the upcoming Netflix film ‘Blonde’. The actress can be seen in the new teaser, playing some of the most iconic pop culture moments, including the visuals from the hit song ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ and a slow version of the track.

Ana De Armas Transforms Into Marilyn Monroe in the Latest Trailer for Blonde

Ana de Armas Transforms

Into Marilyn Monroe

in the Latest Trailer

for Blonde

BY HAYLEY MAITLAND AND RADHIKA SETH
July 28, 2022

In the pantheon of ill-fated 20th-century blondes, Marilyn Monroe might be the only character more difficult to portray than Diana, Princess of Wales, so interest in Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’s 2000 novel has been enormous from the start. Ahead of its much-delayed 2022 release on Netflix, here’s a summary of every major talking point about the film so far.

Blonde / Writing in the Femenine

 

Blonde

Writing in the Feminine

Tony McKibbin

September 3, 2018

Blonde is almost a thousand pages long in the Fourth Estate paperback and an unequivocal account of Marilyn Monroe without quite passing for a biography. It is a work of literature rather than of research, with Joyce Carol Oates saying “I’d hoped to evoke a poetic, spiritual, “inner” truth”, and insists she did not do “considerable research” (Prairie Schooner) It is instead an autobiography of the dead, ghostwritten, with Oates trying to find her way into the mind of Norma Jeane Baker/Marilyn Monroe. It is a work of interiority rather than exteriority and this requires the skills not of the logistical tabulator of life experience, but the novelist who wants to put together the emotional reality of somebody’s life. We would make very poor biographers of our own existence as we so often settle for the approximate over the precise: our childhoods, for example, are a jumble of impressions, of imprecisions, yet they are held together by a consciousness giving them a contiguous place, allowing us to marshal them according to various emotional and psychological needs in the present. Even in therapy, we wouldn’t be expected to remember our past with biographical accuracy; simply to give it a fuller context in relation to the impact events have had on our lives.

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HBO/Getty Images/Ringer illustration

Marilyn and Miller: Star-crossed Misfits

A new documentary takes a deep dive into the mind of playwright Arthur Miller and his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, and reveals why their short-lived relationship fascinates us to this day

By Lindsay Zoladz  Mar 19, 2018, 5:50am EDT

When Arthur Miller met Marilyn Monroe, she was crying. Or at least that’s the story he always told her, the one she repeats in footage used in the new documentary Arthur Miller: Writer: “As he describes it, I was crying when he met me.” As he describes it.

They met on the set of the 1951 movie As Young As You Feel. At the time Marilyn was broken up over the recent death of her agent and paramour Johnny Hyde, and she was also casually involved with Miller’s friend Elia Kazan. When he first shook Monroe’s hand that day, Miller later wrote, “the shock of her body’s motion sped through me.” Having watched a few of her takes, he told her he thought she should act on the stage. “People around heard him say it,” Marilyn recalled, “and they laughed.” But she suddenly felt she could tune them out: Here was someone seeing a side of her she had always wanted to be seen, a woman not just with luminous beauty but a potential to become a serious artist when her other powers inevitably diminished. She wrote about their encounter in her diary: “Met a man tonight … It was, bam! It was like running into a tree. You know, like a cool drink when you’ve had a fever.”