LOS ANGELES – There is a career after death, at least if while alive you wielded star power like Marilyn Monroe.
The
bombshell actress continues to be a successful celebrity brand even 50
years after she died on Aug. 5, 1962, with a new digital emphasis to
complement the wealth of photos, fashion, films and other cultural
touchstones she left behind.
Monroe ranked
third last year in Forbes’ annual list of top deceased celebrity
earners, generating $27 million and coming in behind Michael Jackson and
Elvis Presley. It was a comeback for the actress, who had fallen off
the list the previous two years.
When the list
is updated in the fall, it will likely show it has been another
lucrative year for the actress’ estate, which was purchased in 2010 by
Authentic Brands Group and its partner, NECA. The company is in the
midst of upgrading Monroe offerings from trinkets to cosmetic lines,
spas, salons and apparel.
From beyond the
grave, Monroe tweets at nearly 54,000 followers from (at)marilynmonroe
and has a website and official Facebook page with more than 3.3 million
fans. The messages often focus on fashion, body image and other musings
recorded while she was alive, as well as interacting with current
celebrities who express adoration for Monroe.
The
digital efforts expose a new generation to not only the actress’
fashion and trivia about her life, but also promote sales of Monroe’s
memorabilia and the NBC drama “Smash,” which follows fictional efforts
to create a Broadway show based on Monroe’s life.
GALLERY: Marilyn Monroe 50th Anniversary Memorial
“In
some ways, she’s more popular and well-known today than she was even
then,” said Lawrence Schiller, a photographer who knew Monroe in the
final months of her life and photographed her last on-set photo shoot
and author of the memoir “Marilyn & Me.”
Authentic
Brands CEO Jamie Salter said his company is making Monroe products more
in line with the elegance of a star who famously sang, “Diamonds Are a
Girl’s best Friend.”
“Our aim has been to
clean up the brand,” Salter said, with a shift away from “souvenir-type
stuff” and toward what he calls the mid-tier luxury business. Current
partners include Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, MAC Cosmetics and Marilyn
Monroe Cafes, a group of high-end coffee shops.
The estate also draws upon a wealth of Monroe photographs, which continue to attract admirers and customers.
“It’s women that have kept Marilyn alive, not men,” Schiller said.
Schiller
said that whenever a gallery exhibit of Monroe photos opens, it’s often
teenage girls who come in the greatest numbers. They continue to be
fascinated with Monroe, but he said he’s seen an evolution in the images
that people are interested in.
“In the `70s
the pictures that were selling were the ones that were very, very sexy,”
Schiller said. Since the early 2000s, he said the top sellers haven’t
been Monroe’s nudes but rather images that accentuated her humanity.
“I think people want to see her now as a real person,” Schiller said. “They want to see her in a simpler way.”
Asked
if he sees the fascination with Monroe enduring for another 50 years,
Schiller said a lot depends on whether communications remain a visual
medium much as it has in recent decades. “Our interests may change
drastically,” he said.
“It isn’t that she’s going to be replaced,” he said. “No Lindsay Lohan or Madonna or Lady Gaga is going to replace her.”
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