However, because of films like The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot, she had already established a lasting reputation as a film star with great sex appeal. As a photographer, Eve Arnold was known for getting beneath the surface of her subjects, for capturing something of the real person hidden behind the persona. Michael Arnold had a touchingly close relationship with Eve. “She wasn’t really a granny type of granny, she was just a really cool woman that was like a friend and mentor to me,” he said. “She always had so many stories to tell and she would very rarely tell the same story twice.” As the days passed,” Eve remembered, “it was evident that Marilyn was enjoying herself.” She even offered Eve a chance to take more photos, which she declined. “I wanted to photograph her at some future time on some happier occasion – a new film, a new man…who could guess what surprises might be in store for her?”

Eve Arnold was a pioneering photojournalist whose work spanned politics, celebrity and the everyday lives of subjects in countries around the world, from Cuba to Mongolia. In 1952, Eve photographed Marlene Dietrich in the recording studio, recording the hits that had made her famous during the war. A few years later at a party in Hollywood, Eve was introduced to Marilyn Monroe, who was just starting out in her career. Monroe had seen Eve’s pictures of Dietrich and said to her “If you could do that with her, just imagine what you could do with me.” Eve became friends with Monroe and photographed her several times over a ten year period. As Eve left, she was approached by a gaggle of reporters, asking what it was like to photograph Marilyn. At this time, she was a starlet and still relatively unknown,” Eve continued. “She had just appeared in a small part in ‘The Asphalt Jungle’.” That movie, directed by Huston, was released in 1950. (It may well be the case that Eve first met Marilyn shortly after, as they were introduced to each other by photographer Sam Shaw, Marilyn’s friend since 1951. However, the Dietrich story was published in 1952, by which time Marilyn was becoming a household name.) In later years, she received many other honours and awards. In 1995, she was made fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and elected Master Photographer – the world’s most prestigious photographic honour – by New York’s International Center of Photography. In 1996, she received the Kraszna-Krausz Book Award for In Retrospect. The following year she was granted honorary degrees by the University of St Andrews, Staffordshire University, and the American International University in London; she was also appointed to the advisory committee of the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford, UK. She has had twelve books published.Unlike other photographers (especially male ones), Arnold prioritised a compassionate approach, reflecting the real intimacy between the two women. As a female photographer in a male-dominated field, Eve knew how to play a role to thrive and gain access to certain people and places (perhaps even taking inspiration from Monroe). “She could be formidable and fierce and knew how to get what she wanted, but she could also be gentle and unassuming,” Michael says. She lived by her philosophy, that “if you are careful with people, they will offer you part of themselves. That is the big secret.” Travel formed a cornerstone of her life's work. While much was published in picture magazines during their heyday from the 1950s to the 1980s, Arnold often developed her themes so extensively that they merited full-length books. She took the subject of women further in her books The Unretouched Woman (1976) and All in a Day's Work (1989), and, using her long stays abroad, in the series In China (1980), In America (1983) and The Great British (1991, published in the UK as Eve Arnold in Britain).

I’m thirty-four years old. I’ve been dancing for six months (on ‘Let’s Make Love’), I’ve had no rest, I’m exhausted. Where do I go from here?”

Eve Arnold began photographing Marilyn Monroe after the actress saw her pictures of Marlene Dietrich in Esquire. They met at a party and Monroe asked: “If you could do that well with Marlene, can you imagine what you can do with me?” So began their professional relationship, which, over the years, turned into friendship. Arnold photographed Monroe six times over the decade she knew her; the longest of these sessions being a two-month stint during the filming of The Misfits. In 1954, she came to the attention of Robert Capa, the head of Magnum Photos, the prestigious international cooperative of photographers. Capa invited her to join the group, and she became its first American female member. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Magazine Photographers in 1980. Then in 1995, she was made a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and was elected 'Master Photographer' - the world's most prestigious photographic honour - by New York's International Centre of Photography. a b c d Friedewald, Boris (2014). Women photographers: from Julia Margaret Cameron to Cindy Sherman. Munich. ISBN 978-3-7913-4814-8. OCLC 864503297. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link) Keepsakes: The Photography of Eve Arnold in Retrospect, Harry Ransom HumanitiesResearch Center, Austin, Texas I was never late for her again. And indeed my propensity for lateness was almost entirely cured by those well placed, caring words.