"You Are The First One I'm Telling This To. I'll Tell You All. . ." No one looked like her. No one walked like her. No one talked like her. Sexy yet vulnerable, and unexpectedly talented, she was no ordinary screen goddess. Few really knew her. What others wrote, she called "Lies! Lies! Lies!" Here, at last, is Marilyn Monroe's account, in her own singular voice. It was June 1, 1962, her thirty-sixth birthday. Famed photographer and reporter George Barris had come to see Marilyn on the set of what would be her final, unfinished, film. They had met eight years earlier, became friends, and planned to do a picture book and autobiography. Now the time was right. For the next six weeks Barris photographed and interviewed the actress. "Don't believe anything you read about me except this. . ." she told Barris. And so she began to confide the truth about herself. Barris last talked to Marilyn on August 3, less than twenty-four hours before she was found dead in her apartment. At their last meeting, she was effervescent and eager to embrace life. "I feel I'm just getting started," she said. Barris firmly believes that murder, not suicide, caused Marilyn's untimely end and he could not bring himself to publish her thoughts or the haunting photos of that summer--until now. Marilyn: Her Life In Her Own Words is a candid memoir enhanced by 150 black-and-white and color photos, many never before published. A highlight is "The Last Photo Shoot" where Marilyn appears luminous without makeup on the beach at Santa Monica and in a North Hollywood house. This moving book brings Marilyn Monroe back--beautiful, flirtatious, and sweet as a first kiss--for one rare and radiant farewell. George Barris has worked as a photojournalist for many of the country's major magazines, from Life to Cosmopolitan. He is the co-author (with Gloria Steinem) of Marilyn-Norma Jean, and contributed to Norman Mailer's book, Marilyn. He lives in California.

The late actress's story, told in her own words as well as one hundred and fifty photographs, culled from conversations with the author in 1962.

Norma Jean has inspired and created more headlines than any other movie actress, yet her marriages, affairs and life choices all distract us from the talent of this very beautiful woman. Famous quotes on and from Monroe further reveal the thoughts of her closest friends, collaborators and admirers.

The author of Vendetta: The Kennedys reopens the Marilyn Monroe case, using previously unreleased tapes illuminating the emotional life of the actress, as well as forensic evidence, to reconstruct the last days of Monroe and prove that her "suicide" was actually foul play. Reprint.

Written at the height of her fame but not published until over a decade after her death, this autobiography of actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) poignantly recounts her childhood as an unwanted orphan, her early adolescence, her rise in the film industry from bit player to celebrity, and her marriage to Joe DiMaggio. In this intimate account of a very public life, she tells of her first (non-consensual) sexual experience, her romance with the Yankee Clipper, and her prescient vision of herself as "the kind of girl they found dead in the hall bedroom with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand." The Marilyn in these pages is a revelation: a gifted, intelligent, vulnerable woman who was far more complex than the unwitting sex siren she portrayed on screen. Lavishly illustrated with photos of Marilyn, this special book celebrates the life and career of an American icon—-from the unique perspective of the icon herself.

With an in-depth look at the two most empowering years in the life of Marilyn Monroe, The Girl details how The Seven Year Itch created an icon and sent the star on an adventure of self-discovery and transformation from a controlled wife and contract player into a businesswoman and unlikely feminist whose power is still felt today. When Marilyn Monroe stepped over a subway grating as The Girl in The Seven Year Itch and let a gust of wind catch the skirt of her pleated white dress, an icon was born. Before that, the actress was mainly known for a nude calendar and one-dimensional, albeit memorable, characters on the screen. Though she again played a "dumb blonde" in this film and was making headlines by revealing her enviable anatomy, the star was now every bit in control of her image, and ready for a personal revolution. Emboldened by her winning fight to land the role of The Girl, the making of The Seven Year Itch and the eighteen months that followed was the period of greatest confidence, liberation, and career success that Monroe lived in her tumultuous life. It was a time in which, among other things, she: Ended her marriage to Joe DiMaggio and later began a relationship with Arthur Miller; Legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe, divorcing herself from the troubled past of Norma Jeane; Started her own production company; Studied in private lessons with Lee and Paula Strasberg of the Actors Studio and became a part of the acting revolution of the day The ripple effects her personal rebellion had on Hollywood, and in trailblazing the way for women that followed, will both surprise and inspire readers to see the Marilyn Monroe in an entirely new light.

This investigation into the debates surrounding Marilyn Monroe's life and the cultural attitudes that her legend reveals relies on the unreliable and unverifiable--but highly significant--stories that have framed the greatest Hollywood legend.

Based on new interviews and research, this ground-breaking biography explores the secret selves behind Marilyn Monroe’s public facades. Marilyn Monroe: her beauty still captivates, her love life still fascinates, and her story still dominates popular culture. Now, drawing on years of research and dozens of new interviews, this biography cuts through decades of lies and secrets and introduces you to the Marilyn Monroe you always wanted to know: a living, breathing, complex woman, bewitching and maddening, brilliant yet flawed. Explored through the lens of new interviews and meticulous research, Marilyn Monroe unveils Marilyn's story against the backdrop of pre-feminist times. Experience her journey from a distressing childhood to the pedestal of stardom, eloquently explaining her pursuit of ambition in face of a continuous struggle with bipolar disorder. Each phase of her life, marked by celebrated love affairs and heartrending tragedies, is a stepping stone towards immortality. The tell-all narrative includes eye-opening revelations, from the concealed compassionate act of Elizabeth Taylor towards Marilyn to her lost semi-nude love scene with Clark Gable, chronicling the few nights before her death with Warren Beatty, where she divulges her despair during their fateful encounter. This biography also provides a comprehensive account of her final days, meticulously examining the series of miscommunications and misjudgments contributing to her calamitous end. Embark on this enlightening journey of the life and legacy of Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe’s image is so universal that we can’t help but believe that we know all there is to know of her. Every word and gesture made headlines and garnered controversy. Her serious gifts as an actor were sometimes eclipsed by her notoriety -- and the way the camera fell helplessly in love with her. But what of the other Marilyn? Beyond the headlines -- and the too-familiar stories of heartbreak and desolation -- was a woman far more curious, searching and hopeful than the one the world got to know. Even as Hollywood studios tried to mold and suppress her, Marilyn never lost her insight, her passion, and her humour. To confront the mounting difficulties of her life, she wrote. Now, for the first time, we can meet this private Marilyn and get to know her in a way we never have before. Fragments is an unprecedented collection of written artifacts -- notes to herself, letters, even poems -- in Marilyn’s own handwriting, never before published, along with rarely seen intimate photos. These bits of text -- jotted in notebooks, typed on paper or written on hotel letterhead -- reveal a woman who loved deeply and strove to perfect her craft. They show a Marilyn Monroe unsparing in her analysis of her own life, but also playful, funny and impossibly charming. The easy grace and deceptive lightness that made her performances so memorable emerge on the page, as does the simmering tragedy that made her last appearances so heartbreaking. Fragments is an event -- an unforgettable book that will redefine one of the greatest stars of the twentieth century and which, nearly fifty years after her death, will definitively reveal Marilyn Monroe’s humanity.

Like her art, Marilyn Monroe was rooted in paradox: She was a powerful star and a childlike waif; a joyful, irreverent party girl with a deeply spiritual side; a superb friend and a narcissist; a dumb blonde and an intellectual. No previous biographer has recognized-much less attempted to analyze-most of these aspects of her personality. Lois Banner has. With new details about Marilyn's childhood foster homes, her sexual abuse, her multiple marriages, her affairs, and her untimely death at the age of thirty-six, Marilyn is, at last, the nuanced biography Monroe fans have been waiting for.