Bert Stern, who photographed Marilyn Monroe, dies at 83

Bert Stern, who photographed Marilyn Monroe during her final photo shoot weeks before her death, has died at age 83.

Filmmaker Shannah Laumeister told The Associated Press that Stern died Wednesday at his Manhattan home. She added that the two married in secret in 2009.

According to CBC News, Stern was a New York native, born in 1929. He served in Japan and Korea as an Army photographer. When he returned from service, he became one of the top photographers of his generation, along with Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. During his career, he shot photographs of Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote and Twiggy. His photo of actress Sue Lyon was featured on the poster for Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita.

But it is his session with Monroe in 1962, six weeks before her death, that he is best known for. He shot over a thousand photos for Vogue during ‘The Last Session’ and they were published in books in 1982 and 2000. Monroe was barely clothed during the session and often posed nude for Stern.

Taschen also recently paired the photos with Norman Mailer’s 1973 biography of the actress.

“It was a one-time-in-a-lifetime experience to have Marilyn Monroe in a hotel room,” Stern said in a documentary made by Laumeister.

His funeral is set for Friday morning in New York.

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