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On August 3, 1962, LIFE magazine published Marilyn Monroe's last interview.
Two days later, she was gone.
The article offered readers a glimpse into her childhood and her thoughts on fame and the pressures of Hollywood. It filled six pages with eight photographs.
Yet behind those pages lay something far more profound: 432 photographs by Allan Grant and four hours of taped conversation between LIFE editor Richard Meryman and Monroe, taken in June 1962 - less than three months before her death age 36.
Most of those images and recordings have never been seen or heard.
Seven decades later, in March 2025, Karin Grant, the 82-year-old widow of Allan, passed on the unpublished archive to Chris Flannery and Jason Greene.
The collection included the last formal images ever taken of Monroe and the only ones ever captured inside her new home on Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles.
Now, Richard Meryman's daughter Meredith - in conjunction with Flannery and Greene - is allowing her father's transcripts from his recorded interview with Monroe to be published in full for the first time, alongside never-before-seen images from the collection.
The result, printed here, is an extraordinarily in-depth picture of the actress, told in her own words and revealed in the year she would have celebrated her 100th birthday.
The collection included the last formal images ever taken of Marilyn Monroe and the only ones ever captured inside her new home on Fifth Helena Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles
Two days after LIFE magazine published the interview, Marilyn was dead
Of the 432 photographs Allan Grant shot, and the four hours of taped conversation with Richard Meryman, most have never been seen or heard
The never-before-seen images, along with the interview, present an extraordinarily in-depth picture of the actress in the year she would have celebrated her 100th birthday
Marilyn on childhood
Everything seemed magical around the age of 11 or 12, and it seemed to happen overnight.
Even the girls paid a little attention to me because they thought, hmmm, she's to be dealt with. I couldn't figure out why some of the girls hated me so much. Then I realized it was because the boys liked me.
I had this long walk to school, two and a half miles [there], two and a half miles back. It was just sheer pleasure. Every fellow driving to work honked his horn, waving and I'd wave back. The world became friendly.
All the newspaper boys would come around to where I lived, and I used to hang from the limb of a tree.
Here they'd come with their bicycles, and I'd get these free papers and the family liked that, and they'd all pull their bicycles up around the tree, and then I'd be hanging, looking kind of like a monkey.
I would ask the boys: 'Can I ride your bike now?' and they'd say: 'Sure.' Then I'd go zooming, laughing in the wind, riding down the block, and they'd all stand around and wait till I came back.
I loved the wind because it caressed me.
In the interview, Marilyn covered subjects as diverse as her childhood, the infamous nude calendar and her hopes for the future
'I couldn't figure out why some of the girls hated me so much,' said Marilyn. 'Then I realized it was because the boys liked me'
'All the newspaper boys would come around to where I lived, and I used to hang from the limb of a tree,' said Marilyn
In the interview she talked about zooming around the block on the boys' bicycles: 'I loved the wind because it caressed me,' she said
On the naked calendar
I regretted the studio finding out about it. I was a little embarrassed because, I thought, my god, there I am with my bare tuchus out. [laughs] But, you know, it was really true.
Tom Kelly - when he first said he was a photographer and asked me to pose nude, I said: 'Me? Are you kidding? Never.'
But I had to pay the rent where I lived at the Hollywood Studio Club. I was four weeks behind. I don't know why they let me stay over. I guess they thought I had possibility.
Anyway, I had done some beer ads for him, and I said I don't mind if your wife is there but none of your helpers, please.
When I got there, he said: 'Everything off.' I said: 'Oh my god.' You know, they don't worry about anything. They don't put makeup on, no body makeup, nothing.
He stretched me out on this red velvet. It was a little draughty, but he and his wife were very nice. He kept going: 'Oh my god.' And I thought, oh well, maybe it's not too bad. That red velvet... when I was a kid, I used to dream of red velvet, but I never thought I was going to end up nude on red velvet.
I got paid fifty dollars.
'I regretted the studio finding out about it. I was a little embarrassed because, I thought, my god, there I am with my bare tuchus out'
'When I was a kid, I used to dream of red velvet, but I never thought I was going to end up nude on red velvet,' said Marilyn of her nude calendar. 'I got paid fifty dollars'
'I never quite understood it - this sex symbol - I always thought [cymbals] were those things you clash together!'
Photographer Allan Grant (left) shot a total of 432 photographs of Marilyn that day, while Richard Meryman (right) recorded four hours of conversation - most of which are being seen for the first time in the new book
On being a sex symbol
I never quite understood it - this sex symbol - I always thought [cymbals] were those things you clash together! That's the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing. I don't confine myself to it, but, actually, if I'm going to be a symbol of something, I'd rather have it be sex than some of the other things they've got symbols of.
To be appreciated by the working class of people as something sexual rather than asexual, that's better at least than to say: 'Well, she leaves me cold.'
On the future
I think in realizing that fame is fickle, I don't worry about it. I take it as it comes or goes. It's not like my life depended on it because it has nothing to do with my life. It's not the focus, not where I live.
Where I live is in my work. Within a few relationships. People that I can really count on, people that I really respect and I know that they feel the same about me.
I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity. That includes playing all kinds of parts. When I'm older, I'll play other kinds of parts.
It doesn't always have to just be 'the spring lovers,' you know? How about Life Begins at 40?
Photographs by Allan Grant. Interview by Richard Meryman. From Marilyn: The Lost Photographs, The Last Interview © 2026 Weldon Owen Publishers & 1962 MM LLC. www.marilynslostphotos.com
English (US) ·