1953 Beverly Hills Session Sadness: The Last Photographs of Marilyn Monroe Taken by Andre de Dienes

This session was to be the last one between Marilyn Monroe by Andre de Dienes, even though he asked to take photos of her several years later. Marilyn suffered from insomnia throughout her adult life. One night yet again in 1953 when she couldn’t sleep she called Andre de Dienes who came and took these poignant photos.

h/t: vintag.es

She proposed that they meet to take pictures somewhere in a dark valley in Beverly Hills. Without a flash or professional lighting, he lit Marilyn’s face with the headlight of his car. This was the first time that de Dienes “came face to face with the dark side of Marilyn.”

“She was alone, unhappy, on the edge of despair,” de Dienes said. “She wanted me to come and fetch her. She suggested we could take a series of photos with one of the darkened streets of Beverly Hills as a backdrop.”

Although they stayed in touch until her death in 1962, that night in Beverley Hills was the last time he ever photographed her.