Naked Lindsay Lohan poses nude as Marilyn Monroe

Lindsay Lohan is following in the footsteps of the most famous blond bombshell of them all — Marilyn Monroe.

In the issue of New York magazine now on sale, the 21-year-old star of "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday" poses nude for photographer Bert Stern in a recreation of one of Monroe's most famous photo shoots, done shortly before she died.

Stern photographed Monroe in 1962 at the Hotel Bel-Air in California, six weeks before she was found dead from an overdose of barbiturates. Those images for Vogue magazine feature Monroe in next to nothing, posing nude with some scarves and jewelry as her accessories and sipping champagne.

Stern recreated those images with Lohan this month, at the same hotel, with Lohan wearing a blond wig and not much else.

In the essay accompanying the photos, Lohan, who admitted to a serious interest in Monroe, said deciding to do the photo shoot was easy.

"I didn't have to put much thought into it. I mean, Bert Stern? Doing a Marilyn shoot? When is that ever going to come up? It's really an honor," she told the magazine.

Lohan described Monroe's suicide as "tragic" and said it, along with the Jan. 22 death of actor Heath Ledger from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, "are both prime examples of what this industry can do to someone."

The actress, who has been in and out of rehab after two arrests last year on drunken driving and cocaine charges, said she didn't know why the industry wreaked such havoc on some stars, adding, "I sure as hell wouldn't let it happen to me."

Stern told The Associated Press that he found women like Lohan and her tabloid companions Paris Hilton and Britney Spears "interesting."

"They're girls that draw attention to their notoriety and their celebrity through their behavior," he said Monday.

He noted that Monroe and Lohan had similar problems with alcohol but added that — in contrast to the sessions with Monroe — there was no alcohol on the set when he photographed Lohan.

He said he thought the photo shoot would be good for the young actress, giving her the chance to portray herself as a grown-up. He also lauded her for her willingness to do it in the nude.

"I thought she was a natural, not at all squeamish," he said.

Disney composer Alan Menken looks for another win at the Oscar Awards

If it truly is a pleasure just to be nominated for an Oscar, Alan Menken must be Hollywood's happiest man.

The co-composer of songs from Walt Disney's musical hit "Enchanted" has three of the five nominations in the original-song category going into Sunday's Academy Awards.

While that's not a record — three of Henry Krieger's songs from "Dreamgirls" were nominated just last year — news of the triple play still took Menken by surprise.

"My publicist, Ray Costa, called me and said, 'Alan, you're nominated for "Happy Working Song" ... and "So Close" ... and "That's How You Know," Menken recalled for AP Television at the Oscar nominees luncheon in early February. "I was really blind-sided, completely blind-sided. Three nominations. I said, 'Now we're gonna lose."

Menken, 58, said he expects that the three "Enchanted" entries, co-written with Stephen Schwartz, may split the vote, improving odds for the other song contenders at the ceremony: "Falling Slowly" from "Once" and "Raise It Up" from "August Rush."

Last year, the three "Dreamgirls" songs lost out to Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth."

Then again, Menken and his late co-writer Howard Ashman got three 1991 nods for "Beauty and the Beast" and won for the title tune.

Other Oscars Menken has won include those for co-writing "Under the Sea" from "The Little Mermaid," "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin" and "Colors of the Wind" from "Pocahontas."

Those Oscars "live in my studio, and they're all in a cabinet," Menken said. "And I occasionally let them out and let people hold them."

Menken said he points out the statues when he has a studio disagreement with a collaborator.

"I say, 'Turn around and look over there," he noted with a laugh. "It's obnoxious, but sometimes effective."