PHOTOS BY FARRAH MAFFAI staff Keyport resident Stuart Harris thumbs through a book of pictures taken by his late cousin, Frank Worth. Harris had the book published after Worth died in 2000.

BY PATRICIA A. MILLER

Staff Writer

When Stuart Harris arrived in California to pack up his late cousin Frank Worth’s belongings, he waded into an apartment that hadn’t been cleaned in 30 years.

"He kept house like a 14-year-old kid," Harris said. "He kept pizza boxes. The drapes were falling apart. I went through that apartment with a mask and rubber gloves."

Frank Worth’s cousin, Stuart Harris of Keyport, is now the keeper of more than 10,000 previously unpublished pictures of Worth and his Hollywood friends.

Harris also unearthed more than 10,000 negatives his photographer cousin had taken over the years. He had no idea of their value. His cousin had died virtually penniless and named Harris as his executor.

It turns out they are worth quite a bit.

Frank Worth spent his life taking pictures of other people. But not just anyone. He took candid pictures of people he considered to be his friends. They just happened to be movie stars, like James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor.

Candid is the best word to describe the pictures.

They range from Billy Wilder adjusting Marilyn Monroe’s clothing for the famous shot of her dress billowing up from a street grate, to James Dean standing in front of a urinal in 1955, relieving himself and talking on the phone at the same time.

But the quixotic Worth had never capitalized on the pictures,.

"He never betrayed a trust," Harris said.

Worth never sold the pictures because he had not wanted to be known as a photographer, his cousin said.

"He was a lunatic," said Harris, who lives on First Street in Keyport.

Worth was a high school senior in 1938 when he decided to enter a national photography contest sponsored by Hearst newspapers.

"It was one of those publicity things," he said. "Take a picture and win first prize. My cousin bought a Kodak, one of those small cameras, he paid either $.99 cents or $1.99. He took a roll of film and sent in the roll undeveloped."

Worth, who had no formal photography training, won the $100 first prize, big money back them.

The Hearst newspaper chain offered him a job with their independent news service shortly after that.

"He bought himself new clothes and a Stetson hat," Harris said. "They gave him a big camera and a press pass. He used to go to Grand Central Station to meet the Hollywood Limited. He went to night clubs. With his press pass, he could get in anywhere."

Worth was good at mingling with people. He stayed with Hearst for about six months, then headed to Hollywood.

"He was a very outgoing person," his cousin said. "He spoke to everybody. He started making friends with all kinds of people. He knew Marilyn Monroe when she was a brunette. He met Frank Sinatra when Sinatra first went to Hollywood."

One of those friends was James Dean, whom he met in a drug store. Frank Worth had almost unlimited access to Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson on the set of the 1955 film "Giant."

Worth also took pictures for fan magazines. He later became the team photographer for the Brooklyn Dodgers and began to concentrate on sports pictures, Harris said.

"I said, ‘Let’s do a book, we could make you some good money,’" he recalled. "But he was not interested in becoming known as a photographer. He could have lived very well."

Harris didn’t really get to know his cousin until Worth’s later years.

"I didn’t know him from beans," he said. "I was a baby when he left. I was one year old. I’d heard about him. But in later years, when I went out to California, I would look him up. By the time I knew him, he was not a famous photographer."

Harris "sat" on the pictures for about a year after Worth died in 2000 and didn’t do anything with them.

"So I have all these boxes of pictures," Harris said. "My cousin never thought much of these pictures and neither did I. A guy I knew from Los Angeles who was going to London stopped at my place. As he was going through the pictures, he said ‘These might be worth something.’"

Harris’ friend, Norman Solomon, sent the negatives to be processed at a London firm. When the pictures were completed, the two realized what they had.

"There were 10,000 negatives," Harris said. "Between 500 and 1,000 are really great pictures."

Solomon formed Image, a company that will sell the photos. Harris is a major stockholder in the company.

There are also two picture books featuring the photos — "Frank Worth, A Collection Discovered" and "Worth — Exposing Hollywood."

But so far, Stu Harris has only netted about $750 from the photos. Frank Worth named another cousin and Harris’ two children as heirs. Harris is just the executor.

"I’m hoping to get the whole thing off my hands," he said.

Worth and his story were featured in a 12-minute spot on The Discovery Channel show "The Hunt For Amazing Treasure," this year.

Harris discovered that at some point Worth also left several boxes of photos with Harris’ daughter. When he was in Las Vegas a few months ago, Harris’ ex-wife mentioned the pictures.

"She said she had this box of stuff," Harris said. "Nobody ever thought anything about it. It’s like the story of his life."