Product Description

Icon, legend, actress, star - all these words can be used to describe Marilyn Monroe and yet they simply do not do her justice, because she was so much more. Norma Jean has inspired and created more headlines than any other movie actress - yet her marriages, affairs and life choices all distract us from the talent of this very beautiful woman. Part of the successful "Life in pictures" series, this book presents Marilyn at her very best. Following her from toddler to teen, to one of Hollywood's best-loved celebrities, we gain a unique insight into her life, loves and career. Over 160 pictures represent impressive iconographic research, including personal photos, images from national archives, private collections and press agencies - some not published before. Famous quotes on and from Monroe further reveal the thoughts of her closest friends, collaborators and admirers. This is both a unique collection and a visual reminder of why Marilyn has endured as one of our most fascinating and best-loved Hollywood stars.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98702 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

About the Author
A part of the "Life in Pictures" collection: JFK (2003), Jackie Kennedy (2004), John-Paul II (2005), John Kennedy Jnr (2005), Francois Mitterrand (2005)

Customer Reviews

Pictures speak louder than words!!!
The books in this series (JFK, Jackie, Grace, Audrey) are stunning with big full page pictures of the subjects. The Marilyn book has a nice blend of rare images and classic poses, there's childhood images, some of which were recently published in Michelle Morgan's book, Marilyn Monroe: Private & Undisclosed, and it goes right through the spectrum of photographers Marilyn worked with including George Barris, Bert Stern, Eve Arnold, Sam Shaw, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Philippe Halsman.
Curiously and perhaps disapointingly, there's no works by David Conover, and only one credit to Andre De Dienes and Milton Greene who were all important photographers in Marilyn's life. The Andre credit is a Picture Post cover and Milton's one picture was taken at the 1955 benifit in aid of arthritis, so it's not a typical Milton Greene photo. But then their works have had exposure in their own books, although Conover's aren't seen so readily available and this would have been a great outlet for them.
There's a brief 5 page biography at the start of the book and I was quite surprised by it's content. Most of it isn't very flattering to Marilyn and I feel it's a bit out of place in an otherwise lovely book. I don't know whether he has translated this from the original French text (it was first published in France), but it's like he's pasted together his account or his views of her life and work based on magazine clippings that are a bit gossipy and negative towards Marilyn. Basically going on about how awful she was to work with, how bad she was at acting and that she wasn't quite in the same league as Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn and that she only had herself to blame etc etc This spoils the book for me. I think that there's nothing wrong with being critical of someone but when it becomes brutal then that's another matter!!!
However, the text is only on the first 5 pages and not really important to the book. Most people probably wouldn't even read it be honest.
The book itself is really lovely, coffee table style, that you can just pick up and look at randomly. And it has some rare shots that you don't often see published or published in other Marilyn books so it's a worthwhile addition to any collection.