Monroe suffered from insomnia throughout her adult life. One night when she couldn’t sleep, she called Andre de Dienes who came and took these poignant photos. It was the last photo shoot between Andre de Dienes and Marilyn Monroe, even though he asked to take pictures of her several years later.
She suggested that they meet somewhere in a dark valley in Beverly Hills to take pictures. He lit Marilyn’s face with the headlight of his car without using a flash or professional lighting. This was the first time Dienes had encountered the dark side of Marilyn.
She was alone, unhappy, and on the edge of despair. She wanted me to come and fetch her. She suggested we could take a series of photos with one of the darkened streets of Beverly Hills as a backdrop.
Dienes stayed in touch with Monroe until she died in 1962, but he never photographed her again.
