Unknown photos of Marilyn Monroe for LIFE magazine that were never printed

These photos were discovered in the archive of the legendary LIFE magazine for one of the anniversaries of Marilyn Monroe, the sex symbol of the 20th century. In the pictures, Monroe is only 24 years old, her film career is just beginning. No one at that time could even imagine what popularity Marilyn would achieve.

A photo shoot in the woods of an unknown Marilyn at that time was made in 1950 by LIFE magazine photographer Ed Clark at the suggestion of his friend from 20th Century Fox.

In 1999 , Ed recalled:

According to Ed, initially the press was not interested in these shots, to put it mildly:

Later, when Monroe had already become a star, the pictures were also not published. It is not known exactly why. However, Life suggests that the reason is that the print quality of the pictures themselves was not good enough.