Marilyn Monroe Behind the Lens of the Lens

Remind Staff June 1, 2023

385923 01: Photographs Of Hollywood Icon Marilyn Monroe Will Be Offered At An Auction March 22, 2001 At Butterfields, A San Francisco Auction House Owned By Ebay Inc., During What Could Be A Million-Dollar Offering; Including Images, Negatives And The Model's Release Signed By Monroe From The Red Velvet Series Of Nudes Shot By Tom Kelley Studios In 1949. — Getty Images

Up until the late 1940s, Norma Jeane was simply a model and aspiring actress. But once she became Marilyn Monroe, radically transforming herself into the face of Hollywood glamour — a blond bombshell with long, prominent brows, heavy-lidded eyelashes and trademark red lipstick — the rest was history. Photographers loved her almost more than the red-blooded American male. Twentieth Century Fox photographer Frank Powolny took this publicity still (below) of Monroe in 1953 prior to the release of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. (Powolny also had snapped the iconic photo of Betty Grable.) They became friends and he photographed her many times, including the last known still photos of Monroe before her death in 1962. Another photo from the 1953 session, a head shot of Marilyn by Powolny, which was signed by Monroe, sold at auction in 2016 for $24,959.