The thin line between actor and character, between the private self and
the public role. "There was no such person as Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn
Monroe was someone Marilyn Monroe invented, like an author creates a
character. For hours she danced and sang and flirted and did this thing
that's she did Marilyn Monroe. And then there was the inevitable drop.
And when the night was over and the white wine was over and the dancing
was over, she sat in the corner like a child, with everything gone. I saw her
sitting quietly without expression on her face, and I walked towards her
but I wouldn't photograph her without her knowledge of it. And as I came
with the camera, I saw that she was not saying no."
From an interview with the filmmaker Helen Whitney.
Picture: Marilyn Monroe by Richard Avedon, May 6 1957, New York City.
