In three days and three nights, New York photographer Bert Stern took more than two thousand photographs to movie diva, Marylin Monroe. In a suite at a luxury hotel in Los Angeles, the actress gave her the privilege of being the last one she posed for. Six weeks later it was found lifeless and these images, captured almost fifty years ago, continue to go around the world in numerous exhibitions.
Suite 261 at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles and three bottles of Dom Pérignon's 1953 champagne were the two demands that movie star Marylin Monroe imposed on Bert Stern to allow himself to be photographed.
The New Yorker could scarcely imagine that accepting these conditions would be not only face-to-face with the woman he aspired to know, as he would be the last to photograph her. In 1962 and at only 36 years old, Norma Jean Baker (his real name) had already left aside the image that had won so many admirers.
Or maybe not. In John Huston's "The Inadapted" (1961), the character of the actress curiously has a saying that "Everyone thinks I'm gay." And in real life, that was exactly what happened. They all dreamed up a happy Marylin, without any drama or trouble, because after all this was only common mortals. She was a diva, one of the most beautiful women on the planet, but she was not a real woman in the public eye.
Bern Stern was no exception. The 82-year-old photographer was known for his work in fashion and publicity, and was the author of some photographic scenes in Stanley Kubrick's film Lolita. And I wanted to meet Marylin. I wanted to undress it and record those moments. For three days, more than two thousand images were taken. Sixty are now exhibited at the Cultural Center of Cascais (Fundação D.Luis I), after having visited São Paulo, London, Paris and Seoul.
Returning to the session. With five hours of delay, the actress finally arrives at the hotel. And little by little, Bern is able to relax it - he and the glasses of champagne - and firing the flashes. Already without any clothes, Marylin lets herself be photographed in various poses between the sheets and the floor of the suite. Until, at some point, he falls asleep. Don Pérignon's bottles were becoming increasingly empty.
Even so, the photographer's session does not shake Marylin's everlasting image. She had been operated on in the abdomen, her blister had been removed, but she did not want to disguise the scar, as Bern had suggested. I wanted to show "your imperfection". This side of her, which many refused to accept. Only six weeks later, she was found dead, naked (as in the last session), by the personal nurse. The tests confirmed that he was under the influence of drugs (one of the problems with which he struggled every day), but theories of a possible CIA conspiracy persist because of his connection to the Kennedy.
Still published in Vogue magazine in 1962, the photographs were only to be seen again in the book "The Last Sitting" in 1982. Marylin Monroe, who (apparently) had everything to be happy, was not after all. An image of perfection they attributed to her, a legend they created, leading her to depression and personal chaos. A portrait that does not fit the simplicity and ingenuity of your images. Maybe that's why reality was behind the scenes.
Photos by Bert Stern