Rare Marilyn Monroe photos, shot weeks before death, up for auction

Rare photos of screen icon Marilyn Monroe, taken just weeks before her untimely death, are going to auction in London.

The stunning snapshots were taken by her friend, photographer George Barris, on Santa Monica beach on July 13, 1962, just three weeks before she was found dead at 36 in her Los Angeles bedroom.

The set also includes photos of Monroe in her Brentwood, California, home, reported Daily Mirror.

Eight of the prints, several of which show Monroe romping on the beach in a towel or bikini, are expected to sell for 8000 pound at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions in London on June 4.

Barris, who met Monroe in 1954 on the set of her hit film The Seven Year Itch, originally intended to use the pictures for a book he was working on about the iconic actor, but he scrapped it after her death.

Here are the photos

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