Marilyn's Nudes

Earl Moran was the first to shoot Marilyn nude in 1946. She was hired through the Blue Book Agency in Los Angeles. This was one of Marilyn’s earliest regular modeling assignments to help pay her rent. Some of Moran's photos were later bought and used for Playboy in 1987.

Later, she posed nude for Tom Kelley for a calendar that she was only paid $50 for to get her car out of hock. The photo would be later purchased by Hugh Hefner for the first issue of Playboy in 1953.

 She would be the magazine's first centerfold. Later in 1962, she was photographed nude once again by Bert Stern, who many in the Marilyn community hate due to the fact that he admitted to getting Marilyn drunk so she would be more open to doing the nude shots. After the session, Marilyn put a large red X on the photos she didn't want published, but after she passed away, Stern published them anyway.

Marilyn said: "I never even received a thank you from all those who made millions off a nude Marilyn photograph. I even had to buy a copy of the magazine to see myself in it." 

© Marilyn Monroe by Earl Moran (194), Tom Kelley (1949) in the first Playboy Issue, and Bert Stern (1962). All rights acknowledged.