Archivist Finds Long-Lost Marilyn Monroe Nude Scene From ‘The Misfits’ After More Than 50 Years

After being considered lost for more than half a century, a nude scene from Marilyn Monroe‘s final film has been found. Charles Casillo learned that the footage has been saved while researching his forthcoming book “Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon” and that the son of Frank Taylor, producer of “The Misfits,” has kept it in a locked cabinet since his father died in 1999.

Director John Huston — who won two Academy Awards and was nominated for eight more — is said to have considered the scene gratuitous and thus chosen not to include it in the final film, which co-stars Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift and was written by Monroe’s then-husband, Arthur Miller. “A lot of times, unused takes were destroyed. But Frank Taylor believed that it was so important and so ground-breaking that he saved it,” said Taylor’s son Curtice, per the Daily Mail.

“If you read [The Misfits] script…it doesn’t say anything about nudity…When she did the scene, everyone was shocked on the set,” he added. “Huston sighed and said, “Honey, I’ve seen them before.’ Gable and others…wanted [it] to be left in. Huston didn’t…because he felt it…was totally unnecessary to the scene.”

Had it made the final cut, the scene would have marked the first time an American actress appeared nude in a sound production from a major Hollywood studio. Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose at on August 5, 1962; she was 36.