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Happy birthday, Marilyn Monroe

America’s favorite blonde would have been 85 this week

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Actress Marilyn Monroe is shown on the set of her last movie, Something’s Got To Give, in Hollywood, Ca., in April 1962.
AP

Barefoot and napping in tight Levi’s on the set of The Misfits in 1960, Marilyn Monroe is stunning. Not like a pretty girl in a good dress—obvious, almost cartoon beautiful.

Her windswept curls, peaches and cream skin, bedroom eyes, full lips and even fuller figure are revered in American culture as much as any monument, and the June 1 birthday of the icon is an occasion to look back on her short, glamorous life through the masterful lenses of Magnum photographers.

Search the Magnum site and you’ll find 11 pages of Marilyn, from posed studio perfection to candid shots that scream her spirit and whisper something of her real life. If that’s too overwhelming, try a slide show of greatest hits from the Magnum archive featured on Slate.com.

Either way, you’ll fall in love. Desperately.

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