Bert Stern obituary

photographer and filmmaker who has taken some of the last photos of Marilyn Monroe

In the summer of 1962 Bert Stern, who has died aged 83, took more than 2,500 photos of Marilyn Monroe in three sessions held at a hotel in Los Angeles. The images captured Monroe in a playful mood sometimes but mostly thoughtful as she posed nude, covered with leaves variously a chinchilla coat lined Vera Neumann scarf and a pair of pink chiffon. Despite his air of gentle humor, portraits inevitably nostalgic because - with subsequent images of Monroe George Barris Santa Monica Beach - are one of the last photos taken of the star. She was found dead in her home a few weeks later.

The shoot was for Vogue, Stern had a contract that required him to fill 100 pages of fashion a year and gave him 10 extra pages for personal projects. Stern, Monroe offered as a subject, and the magazine she agreed, and created a makeshift studio at the Hotel Bel-Air, in the hope of a few minutes with her. Over the years, Stern gave several versions of what happened that day. In one of them said that Monroe arrived several hours late, at 19 hours, but remained with him until 7. When she realized she wanted to run naked, she was cautious in revealing a scar from a recent surgery to remove the gallbladder, the brand is clearly visible in most pictures

time Stern had shown that night shots of Vogue, was asked to take new photographs in black and white clothes, including a black dress over two sessions. If these images, not naked, the magazine has chosen for the show, which was about to be printed when news broke of the death of Monroe. Were published, as expected, in the September issue.

Perhaps the most striking images taken in the second and third sessions were the first shots of Monroe surrounded by pearl necklaces, shot from above by Stern as he balanced on top of a stack of folders Furniture. With these images, they should get a definitive picture of it to match popular images of Edward Steichen of Greta Garbo.

At the request of Monroe, Stern sent contact sheets and transparencies pictures of the first day of its adoption, they returned to him with the X marks and scratches on fork pictures n loved him. Twenty years after his death, published these and other images of these three days, in a book called The Last Sitting.

Although their models include many male movie stars, including Gary Cooper a cool grab a Colt 45, Stern became famous for his candid shots of women in 1960: Sophia Loren wrapped her boa and cigarette smoke plumes; Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra ("took four hours to do your eye makeup"), a very young Taylor expansion in Italy, with Richard Burton, Twiggy, wide-eyed in front of a Bridget Riley painting, and a double portrait of Veruschka and David Bailey with Bailey who is under the pocket model - mimicking their favorite techniques Stern photoshoot

As Bailey, 60 portraits stern direct and natural feel, and its effervescence is representative of the youth explosion takes place in the creative industries in the decade.

spontaneity Stern photographs breeze is reflected in the film Jazz on a Summer Day, a documentary made in 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. In the opening sequence, rippling water is used as a visual parallel to the Jimmy Giuffre saxophone, trombone Bob Brookmeyer and guitarist Jim Hall. This approach distinguishes impressionist documentary films of classical concerts.

The festival program includes Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, Gerry Mulligan and Thelonious Monk, and Stern photographs of some of the musicians are still a delight. However, the film seems more interested in the public and artists, and stops at a woman with a choc-ice, children have a playground and beautiful vessels ready for the America's Cup race this year Newport. In 1999, the National Film Registry includes Jazz on a Summer side of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and The Wild Bunch Day (1969) in their annual selection of "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" films. In 1967, Stern made a documentary for ABC TV channel Twiggy is a pity he does not direct more films.

• Born in what he describes as a "family means poor" in Brooklyn, New York. Irving Penn A picture in a magazine I turned to photography, from the beginning, he loved portraits of women. "With my first camera - a little Contax 35mm - I took pictures of my mother and my sister," recalled
• Stern, left school and got a job in the Look magazine postroom, make friends with Stanley Kubrick, who worked for the publication as a photographer. When Kubrick later made his film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, the young star has shot the film, Sue Lyon, wearing red glasses heart shaped Stern sucking a lollipop, was used for the poster.

During the Korean War, Stern served in the U.S. Army as a cameraman and photographer. It was established as a photographer in his mid 20s. "I took pictures of fatty got people want things," he wrote in The Last Picture Show. The photograph was proud of his 1955 campaign Smirnoff vodka called "the driest dry."

Stern, then in his mid 20s, came with the intention to travel to Egypt and photograph of a full cocktail glass in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the pyramid is reflected in martini. It was certainly bold, but brilliant and simple at the same time, a well-executed show just dry humor idea. As such, it represents the changes taking place in Madison Avenue.

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