George Barris with Marilyn on her 36th birthday, June 1, 1962.
Another week gone by and a sad one on the Marilyn community. The biggest news of the week was the announcement of the passing of Marilyn photographer George Barris. Known for his photos of Marilyn in the last weeks of her life, George Barris was a well-known figure among Marilyn fans and a frequent guest at Marilyn events in Los Angeles. Marilyn fans around the world mourned his passing and celebrated his life and work. Thanks for the memories, George.
A lock of Marilyn’s hair from the collection of Frieda Hull sold at auction for nearly $40,000. The winner of the auction was Remi Gangarossa, from Chicago, a big Marilyn fan. The sale comes ahead of Julien’s huge November auction featuring the biggest collection of Marilyn items to hit the block since the Christie’s auction in 1999.
Legendary actor Warren Beatty decided, for some unknown reason, to join the ranks of those claiming to have seen or spent time with Marilyn in the last day of her life. Beatty stated in an interview that he walked with Marilyn on the beach on the night before her death outside Peter Lawford’s estate in Santa Monica. Unfortunately, there’s not a shred of truth to Beatty’s tale, as Marilyn wasn’t at Lawford’s place that night, and Beatty’s claim that she was tipsy from champagne goes directly against the toxicology report that showed no alcohol in Marilyn’s system when she died. Why, Warren, Why?
Marilyn won’t be a part of NBC’s new time-travel series, Timeless. According to TVLine, while they do plan to use actors to represent famous figures of the past, they vetoed doing an episode featuring Marilyn. Producers decided it’s just too difficult to find a convincing Marilyn for the screen, something with which many Marilyn fans will agree. The show will feature actors playing Frank Sinatra and John F. Kennedy, however.
And rounding up the news for this week – the Marilyn exhibition in Amsterdam featuring the collection of Ted Stampfer opened in October 1st. The book associated with the exhibition was due for release on October 4th, but so far still appears to be unavailable…hopefully soon!
