Marilyn Spotting at Target!

While doing a bit of holiday shopping at Target, I ran across this piece in the store's art section.

Have you taken photos of Marilyn Monroe during your travels? Would you like to share them with the world on The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog? Forward to me at Scott@MarilynMonroeCollection.com.

Marilyn Monroe Photographer Bob Willoughby Dies at 82

Bob Willoughby, who created iconic portraits of his muse, Audrey Hepburn, and dozens of other celebrities as one of the first still photographers assigned to capture life on Hollywood film sets, has died. He was 82.

Willoughby died Friday of cancer at his home in Vence, France, said Claire Willoughby, a daughter-in- law.

The rise of Life and Look magazines created a demand for more than routine photo stills from movie sets and led to a career for Willoughby that spanned three decades.

It took off in 1954 when Warner Bros. asked him to photograph Judy Garland's final scene on the set of "A Star Is Born." His portrait of the freckle-faced star became his first Life cover.

Over the next 20 years, he made now-classic photos on the sets of about 100 films, including the 1960s movies "The Graduate," "My Fair Lady," "Rosemary's Baby" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Writing in 1974 in The Times, entertainment critic Charles Champlin called Willoughby one of the finest movie-set photographers and said his work was impressive "as photojournalism becomes salon art."

Director Sydney Pollack, who died last year, paid homage to Willoughby in the photographer' s 2003 book, "The Star Makers": "Sometimes a filmmaker gets a look at a single photograph taken on his own set and sees the 'soul' of his film right there. It's rare, but it happens, and did so to me in 1969, the first time I looked at work Bob had done during the filming of 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' "

He made himself seem invisible, Willoughby later said, by blending in with the movie crew, once he realized they were invisible to the actors.

In turn, he revealed "actors and actresses as themselves, not merely as characters they played," the Times of London reported in 2003.

Willoughby turned his lens on many of the era's movie legends, including Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor. William Holden, Jack Lemmon and Hepburn were "special people" whom he saw socially, the photographer once said.

He became the go-to photographer for Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, the raucous group of Las Vegas nightclub entertainers. One of Willoughby's most famous Rat Pack pictures features most of the group in front of the Sands Hotel sign when they were making the 1960 film "Ocean's Eleven."

On an earlier Sinatra film set, "The Man With the Golden Arm" (1955), director Otto Preminger tried to tell Willoughby how to take his photographs. Sinatra was stunned when the relatively young photographer dared to tell Preminger: "You look after your job and I'll look after mine," Willoughby recounted in 2002 in London's Sunday Express.

Willoughby's shots of Sinatra singing at a recording session for the film are now regarded as classics.

The photographer was closest to Hepburn, whom he met in 1953 at Paramount Studios when she was on the cusp of stardom for "Roman Holiday" and he was an established magazine photographer.

While setting up his equipment, he found his eyes constantly "drifting back to that face," he later wrote, which had a "smile that God designed to melt mortal men's hearts."

Magazines snapped up his photographs of Hepburn on movie sets. After shooting her a number of times, he became close enough to follow Hepburn home.

The resulting images were the subject of a 2008 Life book, "Remembering Audrey," which features candid portraits.

According to a Los Angeles Times review of the book, the most striking images were taken off the clock, such as Hepburn napping at home with a fawn in her lap.

"I was there to make the women look as beautiful, the men as handsome and the movies as interesting as possible," Willoughby said in 2003 in the Times of London. "Beyond that, I photographed what appealed and was exciting to me."

An only child, Willoughby was born June 30, 1927, in Los Angeles. His parents divorced before he was born, and his mother, Nettie, raised him.

When he was 12, his father gave him a complicated camera that Willoughby set out to master. He studied cinema at USC and design with filmmaker Saul Bass at the Kann Institute of Art in Los Angeles while apprenticing with a number of Hollywood photographers.

A jazz fan, Willoughby made portraits of such famous musicians as Billie Holiday, Chet Baker and Cole Porter.

On an airplane flight, Willoughby met his future wife, the Scottish-born Dorothy, a stewardess, in 1959. They married six weeks later.

They had four children and lived in Pacific Palisades until 1972, when they decided they wanted to finish raising their family in southern Ireland, where they bought a castle.

The move was great for his lifestyle, Willoughby once said, but not for his career.

He worked on only five more films, but his photographs continued to be exhibited in museums throughout the world. He also published more than 15 books.

After moving to France a decade ago, the couple lived quietly in a home largely absent of celebrity photographs but full of art and ancient artifacts.

Willoughby, a short, cherubic man who had been called "a leprechaun with a Leica," told the London Times: "I never wanted Hollywood for myself. I was just about my family and my work."

In addition to his wife, Willoughby is survived by four children: Christopher of Los Angeles, Stephen of Norway, David of North Carolina and Catherine of Ireland; and eight grandchildren.

Instead of flowers, the family suggests donating to UNICEF, www.unicef.org, or Doctors Without Borders, www.doctorswithoutborders.org.

The Secret to Bagging Your Dream Man? Why, Chanel No5, Of Course!

Marilyn Monroe never had trouble attracting men and it appears her colourful love life may have been down to a simple choice - her perfume. When asked what she wore in bed, the bombshell famously replied, 'Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.' And now the perfume has been hailed the scent with the most pulling power, according to a new survey. Women wearing the seductive smell have more luck securing dates and boyfriends. One in ten women who wear the Chanel fragrance even claim they met the man of their dreams when smelling of the feminine scent.

The second perfume most likely to nail a date is Be Delicious by DKNY, closely followed by Ghost. In fourth place comes Eternity for Women by Calvin Klein, and Hugo Woman by Hugo is the fifth most likely to attract a man. Classique by Jean Paul Gaultier, Cool Water Women by Davidoff and Angel by Thierry Mugler are also amongst the top 10 sexiest scents.

Steve Jebson, Commercial Director of Superdrug, which carried out the poll, said: 'Fragrance has always been recognised as a real mood maker and women use it to add another dimension to their look and create mystique. 'This research underlines that to the majority of women the right fragrance can make or break their evening out.' The poll of 3,000 women revealed 85 per cent have been lucky enough to receive compliments from a man about their perfume. And two thirds claim a complete stranger has told them they smell nice.

The average woman credits their choice of perfume for helping to secure approximately six different dates. And they claim they have slept with four different men while wearing their favourite fragrance. A quarter of women say a man they don't know has asked them out after commenting on their perfume, and 82 per cent think wearing perfume is essential when going out on a date.

More than half of those polled believe it is important for women to have a trademark scent, and 37 per cent always buy the same perfume. Jebson added: 'A whopping eighty per cent of women say that receiving fragrance as a gift is romantic which is heartening to the men who are already panicking about finding the perfect present for their girlfriend this Christmas.

'Last Christmas our stores sold over 300,000 bottles of fragrance on Christmas Eve and this research proves that for last minute buys you can't go wrong by picking up a perfume or gift set.

'But, if you're the jealous type and she wears one of the scents on the perfume pulling power list just make sure that she only wears it when you're out together.'
The survey also revealed that that 57 per cent of women are sure fragrances help them attract men when they're out on the town, and 22 per cent have perfumes they only wear when they go out looking for a date.

Six in ten women say a man has asked them what perfume they wear - but 12 per cent have also been unfortunate enough to be told their fragrance smells horrible.

TOP 20 PERFUMES

1. Chanel No 5 by Chanel
2. Be Delicious by DKNY
3. Ghost by Ghost
4. Eternity for Women by Calvin Klein
5. Hugo Woman by Hugo
6. Classique by Jean Paul Gaultier
7. Cool Water Women by Davidoff
8. Angel by Thierry Mugler
9. Anais Anais by Cacharel
10. Obsession by Calvin Klein
11. Touch of Pink by Lacoste
12. DKNY Delicious Night
13. Miss Dior Cherie by Christian Dior
14. 212 Sexy for Women by Carolina Herrera
15. Diamonds by Emporio Armani
16. Cerutti by 1881
17. Classic She by Emporio Armani
18. Daisy by Marc Jacobs
19. Pure Poison for Women by Christian Dior
20. Prada by Prada

Iconix Abandons Move to Buy Playboy Brand

The "for sale" sign was still hanging over the Playboy soft porn empire today, after Iconix, the owner of brands including London Fog, walked away from acquisition talks.

Insiders said it was too complicated to separate the Playboy brand from the firm's other assets.

Iconix had been lined up as a likely buyer of the adult entertainment company. It was thought to be interested in licensing the Playboy brand, and shutting down or finding partners to run other units of the business.

But Iconix has now walked away from talks, according to Bloomberg. That means an extension to 83-year-old Hugh Hefner's reign over the Playboy empire. This began when he launched the magazine with a nude shoot of Marilyn Monroe in 1953, but the eponymous magazine has been hit hard by the decline in print advertising.

Last month Playboy posted a third-quarter loss of $1.1 million (£676,500) down from a loss of $6.2 million the previous year. Revenue slumped a fifth to $56 million.

"It has been mismanaged for 10 years," said shareholder Mark Boyar, president of Boyar Asset Management. "Hugh is 83 years old and more likely to sell the company than has been the case in the past."

Source: London Evening Standard

882 North Doheny Drive

882 North Doheny Drive: It's so amazing to be able to drive by this apartment building and know that Marilyn lived there. This is a shot I took of the building a few years ago, together with a shot of Marilyn in her car in front of the building. Incredible that the horizontal siding is the same on the building. Garage doors have now been installed.

Actress Michelle Williams Wanted for Marilyn Monroe Role

Actress Michelle Williams has reportedly been offered to take on the role of Marilyn Monroe in a new movie about the screen icon.

Williams has been chosen to play the lead in upcoming film My Week With Marilyn, beating actresses Scarlett Johansson and Amy Adams who were earlier considered for the part.

However, according to Daily Mail, director Simon Curtis and producer David Parfitt picked are waiting for the Brokeback Mountain star to agree, reports the Daily Express.

The picture will document Monroe's time filming 1957 movie The Prince and The Showgirl with Laurence Olivier and is based on a diary kept by the film's assistant director Colin Clarke.

Unseen Marilyn Monroe Footage

Never before seen footage of Marilyn Monroe has recently been discovered. I know nothing about this clip other than it appears to be from 1955. Marilyn truly looks lovely in this footage. To view the film on YouTube, click here.

Marilyn Monroe in Bling

A team of artists have created 'gemstone portraits' of Marilyn Monroe, Barack Obama and the Queen.

The British mosaic artists and jewel cutters spend weeks carefully recreating photos using a selection of diamonds and precious gemstones.

Each 0.25 carat diamond and stone has a "round brilliant cut" finish and is hand-set into silver, gold or platinum of the customer's choice.

Portraits start from around 8ins x 8ins and contain at least 2,600 stones such as sapphire, amethyst and peridot.

The biggest image Gemstone Creative has made so far measures around 24ins x 24ins and contains an extraordinary 22,500 stones.

They are now in discussions with a client to create one that measures 48ins x 48ins and are planning three-dimensional models.

The company has turned pictures a tiger and peacock into gemstone portraits, as well as a series of high-profile figures. The cost of each portrait varies depending on its size and the type of diamonds, stones and base metal chosen. Prices start at £25,000 for a small portrait made of semi-precious stones but company co-founder Mark Hirschel says it is easy to break the £1m mark. Less wealthy customers can buy a portrait made from flat-backed Swarovski Crystals for a more modest £2,700.

The crystal models are usually made as drafts before work begins on the more expensive portraits. Diamonds are available in black, white, pink and blue. Sapphires come in black, white, green, orange, yellow, blue and pink.

The company, which advertises the portraits as the "ultimate luxury possession", says it only uses ethically traded gemstones and precious metals.

Mr Hirschel, from London, said: "Our prices start from £2,700 for a crystal portrait but the sky is the limit. It would be very easy to exceed one million pounds by creating a large portrait made entirely of diamonds and set in gold or platinum.

"The intrinsic value of such a piece would be huge - and that is before you consider the amount of time and skill taken to make it. Our prices are so upmarket business has not been affected by the recession.

"Customers may have lost a lot of money through investments but the sort of people who usually commission our work still have vast sums. We offer the finest workmanship and give the customers 100 per cent control."

Gemstone Creative draws on a centuries-old tradition of using precious stones in art.

Its website says: "The concept of using precious stones in mosaic artwork has been around for centuries. The Moors, the Byzantines and the Great Mughal Emperors all used precious stones and gold leaf to create intricate mosaics that adorned the walls and floors of their palaces and cathedrals.

"Gemstone Creative is a new and exciting company that takes the lead from these classical examples of fine craftsmanship and gives the concept a contemporary twist.

"We are dedicated to reintroducing this highly specialised artistic genre, which is by nature symbolic of wealth and a physical manifestation of beauty."

For more, visit www.gemstonecreative.com.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk.