Meet the Mexican who took a controversial photo of Marilyn Monroe

The image of Marilyn Monro e still haunts Mexican photographer Antonio Caballero , even though his life’s work goes way beyond the famous photograph he took of Monroe at the Hilton Hotel in 1962 . The picture traveled around the world, though Caballero was not publicly recognized as its author until decades later.

Meet the Mexican who took a controversial photo of Marilyn Monroe

Antonio Caballero is nothing short of a legend. Throughout his career, he photographed portraits of Isela Vega, Mexican actor Pedro Armendáriz , Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin , Cantinflas, composer Agustín Lara , Mauricio Garcés, Angélica María, Verónica Castro, and many other celebrities.

Besides the famous picture of Marilyn Monroe which sparked controversy decades ago, Caballero was a pioneer of Mexico’s classic “fotonovelas” (photo-novels) and a documenter of his Guerrero neighborhood in Mexico’s capital.

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