Marilyn Monroe Photographer Bert Stern Looks To Kate Upton As Next Muse

Via T Magazine, Talking Talent | Bert Stern

The 83-year-old iconic American photographer Bert Stern, famous for shooting ad campaigns as well as endless screen sirens, will show some never-before-seen images of his famous “last sitting” with Marilyn Monroe at the Staley-Wise Gallery in SoHo today. In conjunction, the filmmaker Shannah Laumeister turns the lens on Stern himself with her no-holds-barred documentary “Bert Stern: Original Mad Man,” which opens on Friday. In the film, Stern is quite candid about his rise from a mailroom boy at Look Magazine in the 1950s to shooting Elizabeth Taylor for Cleopatra, along with his often dark struggles with love, marriage, addiction, financial fallouts and his passion for photography — the one aspect of his life that continues to remain true.

Now that Bert Stern has gone public with his desire to photograph Kate Upton, surely the wheels will be in motion. Speaking of Stern’s famous relationship with Marilyn Monroe, T asks if her physical appearance would be as popular today as in the ’50s. 

Well, I don’t know, there’s always some girl. Now it seems to be this girl Kate Upton. She looks interesting to me. I’ve never met her, but I would like to photograph her, if you asked me if there’s anybody I would like to photograph.

Who would you love to shoot that you never had the opportunity to shoot?

I told you. Kate Upton.

But what about like an Angelia Jolie or someone like that?

No, I’m not interested in her.

It’s really just about Kate?

At the moment.

I’m privileged to have seen the Bert Stern photos of Marilyn Monroe and they are glorious. I also own Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting, now priced at over $500 new and one of my prize possessions. Being a huge fan of Kate Upton, I would love to see Bert Stern photograph her because she is another Marilyn — but much more in control of her own destiny. Her close family relationship is surely a factor. I share some favorite Kate Upton editorials. ~ Anne

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