By Eve Arnold during the rehearsals for The Misfits. Marilyn Monroe dances with her husband Arthur Miller.
By Paul Goldfinger, Photography Editor @Blogfinger.net
Eve Arnold was a photojournalist who was often featured on the pages of Look and Life magazines in the 1950’s. She was known for her photo essays featuring world famous individuals such as Joseph McCarthy, Malcolm X, and many celebrities. She was the first woman to be accepted to the famed photo agency Magnum. Eve Arnold said that she wanted to be known as a photographer and not as a female photographer.
In 1960, Eve Arnold spent two months on the Nevada movie set for the John Huston film The Misfits. She had a special relationship with Marilyn Monroe. Arthur Miller wrote the screenplay especially for his wife. They had married in 1956, and they broke up in 1961 after the filming.
In an interview, he said, “I would not have written it except for Marilyn. I wrote it for her. It was the only time I did write anything for an actor and, had I not known her, I would not have begun such a thing. She had lost a child in early pregnancy, which really upset her a lot, so it was a kind of a gift. It was also the expression of a kind of belief in her as an actress.”
TOOTS THIELEMANS featuring TIL BRÖNNER
“This Time the Dream’s On Me” by Harold Arlen (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics)
The Misfits was one of the great movies of Hollywood. As Monroe’s last finished movie it was able to show her true acting abilities, which few people were willing to grant her. Her superb acting would have become more apparent if her untimely death hadn’t brought her time to an early close.
Kevin Chambers