Douglas Kirkland, the highly respected movie set photographer best known for his iconic — there’s no other word for it — pictures of Marilyn Monroe taken in 1961, died Sunday, his family announced Tuesday. He was 88.
His family told The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported his death, that he died of natural causes in his Los Angeles home.
Kirkland, born in Toronto in 1934 but raised in the United States, began his luminous career in 1960 at age 26, having previously taught photography at a high school. Hired as a staff photographer for Look magazine, the next year he made his mark with his photos of Monroe for Look’s 25th anniversary. The images, in which an almost angelic Monroe lay naked under white bedsheets, were released just a year before her death and have since endured as some of her defining images.
Kirkland photographed scores of celebrities from Hollywood’s golden age, among them Orson Welles, Audrey Hepburn, Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor — his work with Taylor landed him the job photographing Monroe — Mick Jagger, Judy Garland, Björk, Sophia Loren and many more. His photo of Charlie Chaplain is displayed at the National Photo Gallery in London.
He was also a highly in-demand set photographer known for taking historically significant photos from influential and successful films over many decades. These include “Saturday Night Fever,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Romancing the Stone” and “Titanic,” among many others.
“Douglas Kirkland has left an impossible void to fill in both his personal and professional lives, and his boundless joie de vivre, warmth and passion will be missed by a long life of wonderful and meaningful friendships,” Palm Springs Photo Festival director Jess Dunas said in a statement.
