( Life.com ) -- Saturday , June 1 , marks Marilyn Monroe 's 87th birthday . Or rather , it marks the 87th anniversary of her birth . It 's difficult , after all , to envision what an 87th birthday might look and feel like for someone who died more than a half-century ago , when she was just 36 years old . Here , in a quiet tribute to Marilyn Monroe , LIFE.com presents a series of color pictures by Alfred Eisenstaedt , made at the movie star 's Hollywood home almost exactly 60 years ago in the spring of 1953 , when she was just 26 . What 's perhaps most striking about these photos , especially in light of all we now know about Marilyn 's fraught and deeply sad life , is how relaxed , self-possessed and ( dare we say it ? ) happy she looks . See the entire gallery and read the full story on Life.com .
Portrait of a 26-year - old Marilyn Monroe . Photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt at her Hollywood home . Saturday , June 1 , marks Marilyn Monroe 's 87th birthday .