--- description: Photos -- most of which never ran in LIFE magazine -- of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on the set of a classic musical comedy in 1953. title: Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell: On the Set of 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte38167c6fea3b184/698847ba8e06010a1d45f935/08_112307262.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE With Marilyn and Jane: Photos From the Set of 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 1, 2013 8:43 PM CUT  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 1, 2013 8:43 PM CUT For sheer, undiluted resonance, few entertainment-industry tropes can match the singular image of Marilyn Monroe informing the world that “diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” The scene in which she sings those words, of course, arrives midway through the classic 1953 comedy, _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_, as Marilyn’s character, the refreshingly loot-happy Lorelei Lee, performing in a cabaret, rebuffs the attentions of a gaggle of eager (and unmistakably _not_ rich) male admirers. But that indelible picture of Monroe — at the very height of her allure as a “sex goddess” and in full mastery of her superb comedic talents — has been celebrated and parodied by lesser stars so many times in the years since that, by now, millions of people who have never seen the movie still, nevertheless, recognize the reference. Any time a singer or actress dons a form-fitting pink satin sheath, matching long gloves, diamond choker and platinum-blonde wig, the tribute to the original is so immediately understood that no one even has to reference it anymore: it’s simply part of the collective pop-culture landscape. But even those who “get” the reference often forget, if they ever knew, that the song, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” is just one of many from a movie that, six decades later, still retains much of its carefree — if largely camp — appeal. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was not only a huge box office success but proved, once and for all, that Marilyn Monroe could truly anchor a movie as its star. (Her co-star in the film, Jane Russell, was wonderful in the role of showgirl Dorothy Shaw, Lorelei’s best friend, but through the years the film has increasingly and unduly been celebrated as Monroe’s triumph alone.) However one remembers the film, however, it’s clear from the pictures in this gallery, made on-set by LIFE’s Ed Clark, that in 1953 Marilyn Monroe was already a bona fide movie star, and that the production itself was going to be a memorable, high-energy affair. In May 1953, LIFE magazine summed up the spectacle this way: --- > “” --- --- > “” ---  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell (left) on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell (left) on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A color version of this image of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell ran on the cover of the May 25, 1953, issue of LIFE. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe on the set of 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Marilyn \[as\] the latest in long line of diamond-grabbers." Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marilyn Monroe in a publicity still for 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3877267/marilyn-monroe-jane-russell-on-the-set-of-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3877267/marilyn-monroe-jane-russell-on-the-set-of-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/"},"headline":"LIFE With Marilyn and Jane: Photos From the Set of 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'","datePublished":"2013-06-01T20:43:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:52.031Z","description":"Pictures made by LIFE's Ed Clark on the set of a classic musical comedy offer ample evidence that Marilyn Monroe (here with co-star Jane Russell) was already a bona fide movie star by the time 1953 rolled around.","url":"https://time.com/3877267/marilyn-monroe-jane-russell-on-the-set-of-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/","keywords":["movies","Hollywood","photography","marilyn monroe","LIFE Magazine","actresses","Icons","1953","Ed Clark"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte38167c6fea3b184/698847ba8e06010a1d45f935/08_112307262.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte38167c6fea3b184/698847ba8e06010a1d45f935/08_112307262.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Gentleman Prefer Blondes","caption":"Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, on the set of Gentleman Prefer Blondes","creditText":"Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3877267/marilyn-monroe-jane-russell-on-the-set-of-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/","name":"LIFE With Marilyn and Jane: Photos From the Set of 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'"}}]}] ```