Written By: Ben Cosgrove
LIFE staff photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt took these color photos of Marilyn Monroe at the movie legend’s Hollywood home more in the spring of 1953, when the actress was just 26. The blonde icon led a troubled life, but what’s perhaps most striking about these photos is how relaxed, self-possessed and (dare we say it?) how happy she looks.
It may be why these images of Marilyn are among the best sellers at the LIFE print store. She was photographed by LIFE many times, but this is the photo session that stands out among all the rest. Other shoots are more revealing, but none are more intimate.
In 1953, her biggest, brightest roles in Bus Stop, The Seven Year Itch, and the American Film Institute’s greatest American comedy of all time, Some Like It Hot were still ahead of her, as were her unlucky marriages to Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller and her increasingly lonely, desperate last years. But it’s worth noting that she really does not resemble a legend, an icon or an idol in these pictures. Instead, she looks like a beautiful young woman evidently at peace with herself and her place in the world.
All of that, of course, would soon change, and change for the worse.
But not yet, Eisensteadt’s portraits seem to say. Not yet.
Marilyn Monroe at home, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A black-and-white contact sheet from Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1953 photo shoot with Marilyn Monroe.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Marilyn Monroe posed casually at home, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Marilyn Monroe gazed into Alfred Eisenstaedt’s camera, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A black-and white-contact sheet from Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1953 photo shoot with Marilyn Monroe.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Marilyn Monroe gazed into Alfred Eisenstaedt’s camera, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Marilyn Monroe at home, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A black-and-white contact sheet from Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1953 photo shoot with Marilyn Monroe.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Marilyn Monroe at home, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A black-and-white contact sheet from Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1953 photo shoot with Marilyn Monroe.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Marilyn Monroe at home, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Marilyn Monroe at home, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
A black-and-white contact sheet from Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1953 photo shoot with Marilyn Monroe.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Marilyn Monroe, 1953.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
