MARLYN MONROE ,NEARLY LOST HER LIFE ON MAKING FILM RIVER OF NO RETURN IN 1953

MARLYN MONROE ,NEARLY LOST HER LIFE ON

MAKING FILM RIVER OF NO RETURN IN 1953

Portrait of an icon: Never before seen images of injured Marilyn Monroe taken on set of River Of No Return

During the difficult shoot, Preminger also had to contend with frequent rain, Mitchum's heavy drinking, and an injury to Monroe's ankle that kept her off the set for several days and ultimately put her in a cast.[10] 

Monroe nearly drowned while filming in Jasper, Canada. She had donned chest high hip waders during rehearsal to protect her costume. She slipped on a rock, the waders filled with water, and she was unable to rise. Mitchum and others jumped in the river to rescue her but her ankle was sprained as a result.[11]

 Young Tommy Rettig seemed to be the director's sole source of solace. He respected Rettig's professionalism and appreciated the rapport he developed with Monroe, which often helped keep her on an even keel. When Lytess began to interfere with Rettig's performance, thereby undermining his confidence, Preminger let the cast and crew know about her behavior and was delighted to find they finally began to support him in his efforts to remove her from the set

Sporting a broken ankle and crutches, only Marilyn Monroe 
could make a leg injury look stylish.
The actress posed for the shot on set of the River Of No Return in 1953, 

wearing a black bikini and one high heel.
But she braves the pain and flashes one of her iconic smiles

These are the pictures of Miss Monroe that were taken for Look magazine in 1953.
But only three from the album made it into the final edition.
The remaining negatives, taken by photographer John Vachon in the Canadian Rockies, have been hidden away - until now.

A new book entitled August 1953:
The Lost LOOK Photos includes 100 shots as well as essays and 
personal letters from the photographer.
Vachon was given a rare opportunity to photograph the blonde bombshell, who died in 1962, off-duty as she took a few days off due to the injury.
One of the shots of her boyfriend, baseball player Joe DiMaggio is the only time the pair posed for a formal portrait.

The Western sees actor Robert Mitchum starring alongside Monroe, 
who plays a dance hall singer.
During filming, director Otto Preminger reportedly had to deal with
 the actor's heavy drinking.
In one of the letters Vachon writes to his wife, he refers to Mitchum 
as an 'unmitigated jerk'.
Many of the original negatives of Vachon's photographs were damaged, 

so each of the black-and-white images in the book was digitally restored.
Imperfections were removed and tones were carefully calibrated.

Chris Kuppig, the President of Dover Publications said: 'We were working with photo researcher Amy Pastan on another project when she tipped us about a set of rare Marilyn Monroe photographs by Vachon.

'Only three of Vachon's Marilyn photos were used in the October 20, 1953, article about location shooting in Canada. 

'The rest have remained unpublished since then. We were bowled over. Here was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give the legions of Marilyn fans worldwide a rarely seen portrait of their idol.'