Marilyn Monroe, in the flesh

A deluxe edition by Taschen to count as, just months before her death, Marilyn Monroe gave a young photographer his big break, and this is his story

"As my ego was being fed and getting healthier, I would soon discover that Marilyn's was shrinking." — Lawrence Schiller Lawrence Schiller in his studio on Sunset Boulevard with Joan Staley, Playmate of the Month, Playboy magazine, November 1958. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN.

«You’re already famous, now you’re going to make me famous,»

— photographer Lawrence Schiller said to Marilyn Monroe as they discussed the photos he was about to shoot of her. “Don’t be so cocky,” Marilyn replied, “photographers can be easily replaced.” The year was 1962, and Schiller, 25, was on assignment for Paris Match magazine. He already knew Marilyn — they had met on the set of Let’s Make Love — but nothing could have prepared him for the day she appeared nude during a swimming pool scene for the motion picture Something’s Got to Give..

Marilyn & Me is an intimate story of a legend before her fall and a young photographer on his way to the top. Schiller’s original text and extraordinary photographs—over two thirds of which have never or rarely been published—take us back to that time, and to the surprising connection that allowed Marilyn to bond with a kid from Brooklyn, a kid with a lot of ambition but very little experience. Now, 50 years later, TASCHEN is publishing Lawrence Schiller’s story as a signed, numbered monograph limited to 1,962 copies, for the year of Monroe’s untimely death. Schiller’s is a story that has never been told before, and he tells it with tact, humor, and compassion. The result is a real and unexpected portrait that captures the star in the midst of her final struggle.

Lawrence Schiller. Marilyn & Me. A Memoir in Words & Photographs
Bookbinding.- Hardcover in clamshell box, 29 x 39,5 cm
Pages.- 210
Price.- € 750
Language.- English

EDITION FEATURES

Collector’s Edition of 1,712 numbered copies (No. 251–1,962), all signed by the photographer. Also available in two Art Editions of 125 copies, each with an original photograph

The book and clamshell box are covered in a custom woven duchesse silk from one of the world’s most distinguished silk mills, Taroni, of Como, Italy

Printed on archival paper

Four foldouts, with one gatefold measuring a full 110 cm (44 in.) across

Translation booklet of the text available in German, French and Spanish with purchase upon request.

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"Marilyn was a photographer's dream subject with her clothes on and even more stunning with them off. She was a week away from her thirty-sixth birthday, and she looked as good as she had ever looked." — Lawrence Schiller Marilyn: Color 2, Frame 29, Something's Got to Give, May 1962. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN and Steven Kasher Gallery.

"In 2007 I asked a friend to interview me two times a week, week after week, month after month, to preserve the events of my very full life, because, as I have often said to my own subjects, you owe it to history. It’s from this series of interviews, which are still ongoing, that I have gathered my recollections to write about Marilyn Monroe." — LS. Interior spread, Marilyn & Me by Lawrence Schiller, featuring the photograph Marilyn: Color3, Frame18, 05/1962. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN.

"Lawrence Schiller's book of photos on Marilyn Monroe, and the personal relationship that emerged between the movie star and the man she posed for, reveals insights well beyond the lens of his camera." — Gay Talese, author Signing page, Marilyn & Me by Lawrence Schiller. Available in a Collector’s Edition and two Art Editions, totaling 1,962 copies, the year of Marilyn Monroe’s death. Every copy is numbered, and signed by the photographer. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN.

"Well, Marilyn", I said, standing up, "you're already famous. Now you're gonna make me famous." — Lawrence Schiller The book features four foldouts, with one gatefold measuring a full 110 cm (44 in.) across, and featuring the photograph Marilyn: Color 2, Frame 21, May 1962. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN.

"I was stunned to discover that they had used one of my photographs on the cover...the ethereal shot where she looked like an angel. It's the Marilyn I most remember, and it was on the cover of Life magazine." — Lawrence Schiller Marilyn Monroe, May 1962. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN and Steven Kasher Gallery.

"I never wanted to be Marilyn — it just happened. Marilyn's like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane." — Marilyn Monroe, from Marilyn & Me by Lawrence Schiller Marilyn: Color 3, Frame 6, del set de Something's Got to Give, Mayo 1962. Lawrence Schiller/Cortesía TASCHEN y Steven Kasher Gallery.

"A huge birthday cake was brought in with sparklers for candles, and Marilyn posed behind it looking joyful and appreciative..." — Lawrence Schiller Monroe celebrates her 36th birthday on set, June 1, 1962. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN and Steven Kasher Gallery.

"I had been a photographer when I met Marilyn and I was a photographer when she died, but during the days that I was around her, something changed inside me." — Lawrence Schiller Lawrence Schiller and Marilyn Monroe on the set of Something's Got to Give, 1962. The film, which was never finished, would be her last. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN.

"Friday, June 1, was Marilyn's thirty-sixth birthday. It didn’t take long for the champagne to have its effect. Marilyn had changed from her working clothes into her white capri slacks, and when she sat on Wally's lap, she fake-humped him. He loved it."—LS Monroe celebrates her 36th birthday on the set of Something's Got to Give with co-stars Wally Cox(left) and Dean Martin(right) and Martin's driver(standing).This photograph has never been published prior toto this book. LSch./Courtesy TASCHEN.

"Looking over her left shoulder, she flashed a coy smile that told me all I needed to know about Marilyn Monroe: she knew who she was, she knew who I was, she knew what to do..." — Lawrence Schiller Monroe in her dressing room, on the set of Let's Make Love, 1960. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN and Steven Kasher Gallery.

"When I looked over the script it didn't take me very long to find the one scene I was sure I wanted to shoot." — Lawrence Schiller Monroe by the pool's edge, Whitey Snyder adjusting her makeup, May 1962. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN and Steven Kasher Gallery.

"On the set, you didn't need to hear rumors of a physical attraction between Marilyn and Montand, because you could feel the heat they generated." — Lawrence Schiller Monroe and co-star Yves Montand on the set of Let's Make Love, 1960. This photograph has never been published prior to this book. Lawrence Schiller/Courtesy TASCHEN and Steven Kasher Gallery.

Cover of Lawrence Schiller. Marilyn & Me. A Memoir in Words & Photographs. Courtesy of TASCHEN.

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LAWRENCE SCHILLER

Lawrence Schiller. Nacido en Brooklyn, 1936. La obra de Lawrence Schiller comenzó en la escuela secundaria en San Diego, cuando recibió su primera cámara.

A pesar de un accidente en su niñez que le dejó con problemas de visión en un ojo, se convirtió en un fotógrafo obsesivo, incluso mientras asistía a la universidad de Pepperdine, sus cuadros ya habían aparecido en Life, Sport, Playboy, Glamour, y el Saturday Evening Post. Los intereses y ambiciones de Shiller pronto se convirtieron en una profesión en la prensa escrita, documentando las principales historias principales de las revistas de moda de todo el mundo, incluyendo Life, Look, Newsweek, Time, Paris Match, Stern, y el London Sunday Times. Sus imágenes icónicas de Robert F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bette Davis, Barbra Streisand, Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, y Madame Nhu, entre otros, son homenajes a su tenacidad, ingenio y encanto, así como a su capacidad técnica.

En noviembre de 1963, mientras trabajaba para el Saturday Evening Post, llegó a Dallas a tiempo de fotografiar a Lee Harvey Oswald. Más tarde, consigue la entrevista final de Jack Ruby. Después de extensas entrevistas con la viuda de Lenny Bruce, Schiller y el escritor Albert Goldman publica Ladies and Gentlemen, Lenny Bruce (1974), y, con el fotógrafo W. Eugene Smith, produjo Minamata (1975), la crónica pictórica épica de la intoxicación de mercurio en Japón.

Schiller se trasladó a las imágenes en movimiento, dirigiendo una parte de Butch Cassidy y el Sundance Kid (1969), con Paul Newman y Robert Redford, y Lady Sings the Blues (1972), con Diana Ross. También dirigió el documental ganador del Oscar The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1972); The American Dreamer (1971), una película de Dennis Hopper, y, después de obtener la colaboraciónn extraordinaria del Kremlin, fue productor ejecutivo y co-dirigió Pedro el Grande (1986), ganadora del premio Emmy a la miniserie de televisión protagonizada por Maximilian Schell, Vanessa Redgrave, y Laurence Olivier.

Tal vez nada en la carrera de Schiller resultó más notable, que su colaboración con Norman Mailer - una amistad única en la historia de la literatura estadounidense. Durante casi treinta y cinco años, los dos trabajaron en estrecha colaboración, en libros como Marilyn (1973), The Faith of Graffiti (1974), Oswald’s Tale (1995), Into the Mirror (2002), y The Executioner’s Song (1979), por Mailer, que ganó el Premio Pulitzer. Schiller, que hizo gran parte del trabajo de campo, entrevistas y la investigación para The Executioner’s Song, más habil que otros periodistas en obtener acceso exclusivo al tema del libro, Gary Gilmore, pasó a producir y dirigir la miniserie de televisión premiada basada en ella, protagonizada por Tommy Lee Jones.

Del mismo modo, Schiller consiguió integrarse en el llamado "Dream Team" que denfendia a O. J. Simpson, y con ello tener una privilegiada y única perspectiva en el caso, co-escribió (con James Willwerth) del New York Times best-seller American Tragedy (1996).

Después de la muerte de Norman Mailer en 2007, Schiller fue nombrado asesor principal del patrimonio de Mailer, y es presidente y co-fundador del Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony en Provincetown, Massachusetts. Ha sido consultor de la NBC News y de los Annie Liebovitz Studios y ha escrito para The New Yorker, The Daily Beast, y otras publicaciones.

Tiene cinco hijos y cinco nietos, y vive en Nueva York y Los Ángeles. Marilyn & Me es su undécimo libro.

Fotografía de Lawrence Schiller, en 2011. / ©Lawrence Schiller / Cortesía MONDO GALERIA.

Published on: May 7, 2013

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