Well, I reckon you’ve heard of that Hollywood star, Marilyn Monroe, haven’t ya? Oh, she was somethin’, wasn’t she? So pretty, everyone wanted a piece of her. Now, there’s somethin’ special I gotta tell ya about her, somethin’ you might not have heard before. It’s about her last photoshoot, the one she did just before she passed away. It’s a real sad story, but also a bit beautiful, in a way. So sit tight, I’ll tell ya all about it.

Now, this happened in 1962, ya see. Marilyn Monroe was only 36 years old, and she was still the talk of the town. A lotta people, especially the photographers, just loved takin’ pictures of her. One of the last folks who had that honor was a fella named George Barris. You might not know his name, but you sure know his work, ’cause he was the one who took those final, famous pictures of Marilyn. They weren’t just any pictures, neither. They were something real special, taken on a beach in Santa Monica and up in the Hollywood Hills, just a couple weeks before she was found dead in her bedroom. Ain’t that somethin’?
Now, what makes these pictures stand out, ya might wonder? Well, for one thing, Marilyn was lookin’ more relaxed than folks had ever seen her. She wasn’t all stiff and posed like in some of the old pictures. Nah, she was more natural. She was laughin’ and smilin’ like she didn’t have a care in the world. Those photos really show a side of her most people never saw. You know, just a woman who’s lettin’ go of all the pressures of life for a minute.
And, I gotta say, some of them photos, well, they were a little daring, weren’t they? I reckon they showed Marilyn in a way that was real intimate. Some of them had her in the latest fashions, lookin’ all glamourous like she did in the movies. But there were others where she was, well, in her birthday suit, as folks like to say. Those pictures mighta shocked some people back then, but they sure didn’t hide what was real about her.
Her final photoshoot took place between June 1 and July 18 of 1962. Just think about that—only a few weeks before her tragic end. A lotta people say this was the last time she really felt like herself. Maybe that’s why these photos are so important—they’re like a final glimpse of Marilyn Monroe, the person, not just the star. They give ya a sense of who she was, beyond all the fame and the bright lights.
It wasn’t just the pictures that left an impression on folks. There were some things Marilyn said around that time, too, that stuck with people. A fella named Peter Lawford, who was close to her, said that just before she died, she was actin’ all strange, slurring her words. She told him she was tired and wouldn’t be comin’ to dinner, and then she said somethin’ real strange: “Say goodbye to Pat. Say goodbye to Jack. And say goodbye to yourself, because you’re a nice guy.” Now, ain’t that just chillin’?
Marilyn, she was a troubled soul, wasn’t she? But she sure did have a way of capturin’ hearts, both on screen and in those photos. They say she worked with a lotta photographers in her time, but George Barris, well, he was the last one to snap her picture. After that, it was all over. The pictures he took that summer of 1962, well, they went on to become some of the most iconic images of her, frozen in time.

In those photos, you can see her in all her glory, but also in her fragility. There’s somethin’ real human about ’em. Makes ya realize she was just a regular woman, with hopes, dreams, and problems, just like anybody else. People think of her as this perfect, glamorous movie star, but she had a lotta struggles. That’s somethin’ you can’t see in the movies. But those last photos, well, they show the real Marilyn Monroe. Ain’t that somethin’ to think about?
- She was a beauty, no doubt about it.
- She had a life full of ups and downs.
- Her last photoshoots were some of her most intimate moments.
- But in the end, she was just like all of us—facing the good and the bad in life.
So there ya have it. Marilyn Monroe’s final photoshoot. It was a sad time, but it’s also a reminder of just how much she gave to the world. Even in her last moments, she still had a whole lotta power to capture the hearts of folks around the world. I reckon that’s what makes those photos so special—they weren’t just pictures, they were her last goodbye, in a way. And I reckon we’ll never forget her, not ever.
Tags:[Marilyn Monroe, last photoshoot, George Barris, Santa Monica, Hollywood Hills, final photographs, 1962, iconic photos, movie star, Monroe’s life, celebrity photography, famous photos]