The letter that came to Photography Director Gary Cole began simply enough: "Long time, no see." Swedish photographer Leif-Erik Nygärds was writing to re-establish contact, to give and solicit news about the two men's families. At the end of the letter, he reminded Cole that back in 1962, while working for Bert Stern, he had been the assistant on the shooting that produced the last nude pictures of Marilyn Monroe. As a matter of fact, Erik said, he had taken the last photo.
He described it this way: "It's a rather good photo of her lying nude on a bed looking very dreamy, as if she were on her way to heaven." The letter went on to ask if Playboy might be interested in seeing this final picture of the major sex symbol of modern times. We asked to see it. When Erik sent us the slide, it was all he had said it was, as you will see. But before you turn the page, let's backtrack for the full story.
When Nygärds decided to learn photography, he didn't fool around. He moved from Sweden to New York and persuaded Irving Penn to take him on as an assistant without pay, just so he could learn from a master. He next went to work for Stern. During his stay in the U.S., he shipped many of his photographs--including the Monroe one--back home to his mother for storage. When a fire destroyed much of her house, he assumed that that picture was also gone. But four years ago, when he moved back to Sweden, he found it among his salvaged belongings.
We asked Erik to give us the full details of just how he came to take that shot, and this is what he told us:
"The second time Stern and his staff were in Los Angeles to photograph Marilyn Monroe was in late June 1962. It was an assignment from Vogue magazine. The following persons were present during the three days--actually, nights--of photographing her: Monroe; Stern; Peter Deal, Stern's studio manager; myself; Babs Simpson, fashion editor, Vogue; Kenneth, the hairdresser; Pat Newcomb, Marilyn's press secretary; and Joe, whose last name I cannot remember but who was the make-up man and who loved pink champagne. During both the first and the second sitting, I had dearly wished to take one single photo of MM just as a personal memory. On the third night, after several 'last' rolls, Bert called it quits. The session was over. She was still lying on the bed, sometimes draping herself with a sheet, sometimes not, turning and twisting. Everyone had gone. It was only MM and myself in the room. She was nude, resting on the bed." At that moment, Nygärds reacted naturally and spontaneously, picked up his camera and took the one shot he wanted for himself. "My photo of Marilyn Monroe was the very last one."
A little more than a month later--on August 5, 1962--Monroe was dead. In Nygärds' photo, however, she endures.
