Marilyn Her Life in Her Own Words Author:George Barris Marilyn Monroe's Revealing Last Words and Photographs — Here is Marilyn Monroe’s own, never-before-published account of her life, as well as over 100 color and black-and-white photos, most of which have never before appeared in print. — On June 1, 1962, George Barris, internationally renowned photographer and journalist, arrived... more » at the Hollywood movie set where Marilyn Monroe was making her last film, Something’s Got to Give. It was Marilyn’s thirty-sixth birthday, and George Barris was assigned by a national magazine to photograph and interview her. Eight years earlier, Barris first met Marilyn while she was filming The Seven Year Itch in New York. They got on famously then and agreed to someday produce a picture book and autobiography together. Now the time had come for them to carry out Marilyn’s dream.
For the next six weeks, George Barris photographed Marilyn on the beach at Santa Monica and in a house in North Hollywood where she was unencumbered by makeup and artifice. During these sessions, she told him the story of her life.
George Barris talked to Marilyn Monroe one more time, on Friday afternoon, August 3. During the days and nights that Barris saw her, she was exuberant, carefree, and eager to get on with her life. She was found dead on Saturday, August 4, less than twenty-four hours after Marilyn had phoned him. It is Barris’s belief that she did not die by her own hand, intentionally or accidentally, but was, in fact, murdered.
The tragic news of Marilyn’s death shocked the nation…and George Barris. For over thirty years, he kept from publication her complete story as she told it to him, and most of the photographs taken during that enchanting summer. Now, decades later, as he approaches his own final years, he believes it is time to share Marilyn’s legacy with the world.« less