Never-Before-Seen Poignant Photos Of Marilyn Monroe's Final Photoshoot Three Weeks Before She Died

The last ever professional photos of Marilyn Monroe taken just weeks before her untimely death have emerged.

The poignant pictures of the screen siren were taken by close friend George Barris on July 13, 1962, destined for a book about Monroe.

But just three weeks later Monroe was tragically found dead at her Los Angeles home aged 36 - making Barris's pictures of the world's biggest star hugely valuable.

Devastated by the loss of his friend, Barris scrapped plans for the book -  Marilyn: Her Life In Her Own Words - and he refused to allow the images, the last professional shots ever to be taken of Monroe, to be published.

Now Barris, alongside Hollywood glamour photographer collector Edward Weston, has finally publish the 'Last Photos' from his original negatives.

The images include two of Marilyn wrapped in a towel on a Californian beach and another of her playing around in the surf.

Barris had first met Monroe on the set of her film The Seven Year Itch in 1954.

'When I first saw her I thought she was the most beautiful, fantastic person I'd ever met,' Barris told the Los Angeles Daily News. 'She completely knocked me off my feet.'

The two remained firm friends. Barris told the Huffington Post: 'What I particularly liked about Marilyn was that she didn't act like a movie star.

'I was most impressed that Marilyn was always polite and friendly to everyone on the set. She was no phony or snob.'

Barris revealed to the Daily News that the final shot he ever took of Monroe was on the beach, wrapped in a blanket.

'She puckered up and said, `This is just for you, George,' and blew a kiss to me. That's the last picture I took of her,' he said.

A print of that picture among the six on sale, along with a two more from the beach in Santa Monica, while two are taken inside a house in Hollywood.