Canadian-born photographer Douglas Kirkland spoke to Eye Weekly recently about his iconic 1961 shoot with Marilyn:
“I was in complete shock,” says Kirkland. “There I was—a kid from Fort Erie. My background was Sunday school and small town. And there was Marilyn in her most vivid and charged form.”
Over the years, many of Kirkland’s friends have teased him, insisting, “Come on, you must have slept with her.” According to the photographer, the fact that the shoot didn’t go in that direction explains the power of the pictures. “All the sex went into the camera.”
But Kirkland didn’t remain entirely upright. Once he had his shots, he lay down beside Monroe. “We talked about our simple beginnings,” he says. “About how her mother had been in an insane asylum.” By that point in the night, confesses Kirkland, “I was really, truly in love with her.”
