Exhibit shows rare photos of ‘Misfits’ stars

RENO -- Like the rest of her work, Inge Morath's photographs of Marilyn Monroe shot around Reno in 1960 go right to the heart of her subject. Monroe smiles on the outside, but her vulnerability also is revealed.

Rare photos of Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and other stars of the film "The Misfits" are featured in an exhibit, "Inge Morath: road to reno," running through July 15 at the Nevada Museum of Art.

Morath also photographed the man she later married, playwright Arthur Miller, who wrote "The Misfits" and was in the final stages of his marriage to Monroe at the time.

About 70 photos on display, mostly black and whites, record Morath's 18-day road trip to Reno from New York City and her time on the set for the photography agency Magnum Photos, which was hired to document the shooting of the offbeat movie about a group of Nevada loners.

"The Misfits," filmed almost exclusively around Reno from July to November 1960, was the only movie Monroe and Gable were in together, and was the last completed film for both.

Morath "is not interested in simply capturing the star power and the legends," said Ann Wolfe, museum curator. "She was looking for a greater truth behind the surface. It was a bittersweet melancholy encapsulated in some of her photos."

The Austrian-born photographer's career spanned more than 50 years. Morath won international awards and was involved as a photographer or writer in the publication of more than two dozen books. Her interests ranged from celebrities to the Soviet Union.

Morath had a knack for capturing the essence of her subjects, said John Jacob, director of The Inge Morath Foundation based in New York City.

"Most people put up a wall when they have their picture taken. She seemed to be able to allow people to let down their guard," he said.

One of Morath's more captivating photos shows Monroe and Miller alone in their suite at Reno's Mapes Hotel after a day's shooting. Miller, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, gazes at Monroe as she peers out a window.

Monroe and Miller took separate rooms during the filming and divorced in 1961.

A year later, Morath became Miller's third wife and remained married to him until her death in 2002 at age 77.

Miller, the acclaimed author of "Death of a Salesman," died in 2005 at age 89.

"I think there's a real melancholic sense in that photo. I think she was able to capture (the Monroe-Miller) relationship. ... a very ephemeral moment," Wolfe said.

Also revealing are a portrait of a smiling Monroe in a bathrobe and a color photo of her in a black dress and high heels preparing for a sidewalk scene near gawking bystanders.

"She's focused on her job, but forced to reckon with her stardom and fishbowl existence. She seems to be caught in the headlights," Wolfe said.

Among other photos, Gable is shown leaning over next to Monroe as she sits in bed with only a sheet draped over her.

Another captures Gable relaxing with director John Huston during a break in shooting.

The photos reflect little of the tension that plagued the set, because Morath worked during the early weeks of the filming before major problems surfaced, Jacob said.

She was among nine Magnum photographers assigned to record the filming, and her colleagues captured more of the tension later, Jacob said.

Monroe's frequent tardiness, blamed on pill-popping, caused annoying delays for her co-stars and Huston. Late-night drinking and gambling by others also caused problems.

Twelve days after filming ended, Gable died of a heart attack at age 59. Less than 21 months later, Monroe died at age 36 of a drug overdose that was ruled a suicide.

Though she enjoyed hearing a "wonderful" Gable talk about his movies, Morath found Monroe more intriguing, "marvelous to look at" but very insecure.

"Actually, Marilyn was fascinating to watch. The way she moved, her expressions; she was just extraordinary," Morath wrote in the book "The Road to Reno." "There was such strength and energy combined with this fragility."