Marilyn Monroe Through the Lens of Milton Greene



1 / 13 Chevron Chevron Photographed by Milton H. Greene © 2017 Joshua Greene archiveimages.com . Taken from the book The Essential Marilyn Monroe, published by ACC Editions. On the set of the film River of No Return, Monroe sprained her ankle. So during her shoot with Greene in September 1953, she either had to sit, kneel, or lie on floor, says Greene’s son Joshua.

Many people have fond memories of Marilyn Monroe; few of them can say she was their babysitter who gave them bubble baths as a toddler. Joshua Greene, a son of famed fashion and celebrity photographer Milton H. Greene, can make that rare claim; he was a baby when his father and mother, Amy, a former Saks Fifth Avenue model,opened up their Connecticut home to the actress when she was at the height of her career, having recently starred in both Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire.

Milton Greene and Monroe first hit it off during a 1953 Los Angeles photo shoot for Look magazine. Soon he was encouraging the star, unhappy with her dumb-blonde image and an onerous 20th Century Fox studio contract, to move East while he helped extricate her from the deal that didn’t reflect her new status as one of the studio’s biggest stars. She spent two years living with the Greenes intermittently in a guest suite adjacent to their converted old farmhouse, from 1954 until the summer of 1956. After her contract was successfully renegotiated, Greene and Monroe formed Marilyn Monroe Productions, and produced the films Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl, all while she remained an honorary member of the family.

Joshua Greene with Marilyn Monroe. Photographed by Milton H. Greene © 2017 Joshua Greene archiveimages.com . Taken from the book The Essential Marilyn Monroe, published by ACC Editions.

"If you were famous, you had safe harbor in the Greene family," says Joshua, now 63, and a photographer and photographic printmaker. He says Monroe came and went as she pleased using one of two black Ford Thunderbirds she and Greene had swapped for the Cadillac comedian Jack Benny gave her after an appearance on his TV show in 1953. "The house gave her a certain sense of comfort and privacy," Joshua says.

When Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in 1956 her relationship with Greene soured, and he eventually sold Monroe his share of their company. In the summer of 1962, just before his Greene left for a work trip to Paris, Joshua says his mother dreamt Monroe was in distress and encouraged his father to call her. "They spoke for, like, an hour and a half on the phone," he remembers, with Greene promising to come see her in L.A. when he returned from Europe. Monroe overdosed while he was still in Paris.

Monroe posed for Greene during 50 photo sessions over the course of their friendship. Some of the resulting images have become iconic: in 1999, Time magazine named his 1954 "Ballerina" portrait one of the top three photos of the twentieth century. Other photographs were never published—until now. The Essential Marilyn Monroe, coming October 1, features 284 photographs, 176 of which have never been seen. The book includes photos of Monroe, Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis Jr., Marlene Dietrich, Milton Berle, Edward R. Murrow, as well as at her 1956 wedding to Arthur Miller.

"This is a tribute to the old man," says Joshua, who spent five years putting the book together in tribute to his father, who died in 1985. His aim was to use modern technology to restore his father’s photos in a way that honored his style. Five hundred limited-edition, hand-numbered copies, on high-quality paper, in a larger, 14-inch format, will also be available for $2,000.