Famed photographer Kate Simon has countless tales to tell from a five-decade career in which she captured a treasure trove of iconic images featuring the likes of Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie.
But a chance encounter with Jim Morrison before her career even started may be her best story of all.
Simon, in a recent podcast interview on “WTF With Marc Maron,” recounted the time she met The Doors frontman in Paris two months before his death, in 1971.
“During that year, I met Jim Morrison and got him to help me write my term paper for ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night,’” Simon told Maron, quickly and matter-of-factly before the host could interrupt her.
“C’mon!” Maron reacted, incredulously. “How was he a help?”
“He was excellent,” Simon said. “I totally liked him so much.”
But Maron of course needed the details, to which Simon obliged.
Simon said she met Morrison in her first year as a student at the American University of Paris (then called the American College in Paris). At the time, she was stressed out over a term paper focused on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning 1950s Eugene O’Neill play, “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
“I was standing in line at the First National City Bank on the Champs-Elysees, and Jim came up to me and asked me if I would teach him French,” Simon said. “And you know, I looked at him and I thought, ‘Oh he could help me with my “Long Day’s Journey into Night” paper.’ No, I thought, ‘That’s Jim Morrison.’ And I said — I had two guys with me from college, you know — and I said, ‘Uhh, yeah I could teach you French.’”
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