Shortly after his return, Meryman interviewed for a job at
Life magazine and was hired. He always believed it was the adventurous tale of his Alaska trip, along with his childhood in a visual, artistic home, that led the editor to take a chance on an inexperienced writer. Meryman's first assignment at
Life was helping review unsolicited photographs; he later recalled that one species nursing another was a favorite subject. From there, he moved up to sports reporter, where he covered boxing and baseball, including
Mickey Mantle's first game with the
New York Yankees. He was transferred to the
Life bureau in Beverly Hills in 1951, then to the Chicago bureau in 1953. In Chicago, Meryman worked on a photo essay about the South Side, met
Harry Truman, and, in classic Chicago style, while attending a press conference for a local politician, was slipped a $100 bribe by a political aide. He used it to buy a black-and-white photo printer. In 1956 he moved to
Life's New York office, where he worked as the religion editor and then the education editor, writing a piece on exceptional teachers of which he was particularly proud. When Meryman was picked to head the magazine's new department of human affairs, focusing on "people stories", his career took off. The department's sweeping nature gave him free rein to pursue virtually any story he could justify. Attempting a piece on the experience of great fame, Meryman unsuccessfully tried to interview
Cary Grant. Then he set his sights on interviewing
Marilyn Monroe, who had just been fired from the unfinished 1962 film, ''
Something's Got to Give'', after repeatedly failing to show up for work. After two get-acquainted meetings in New York and an interview of Meryman by her press agent, Monroe agreed to the interview and allowed their hours of conversation to be recorded. The interview, Meryman recalled, was such "a bravura performance, a torrent of emotions, ideas, claims, defenses, accusations, self analysis, anecdotes, gestures, justifications, and squeaky laughter" that "then and there I decided to assemble her words into a monologue—a Marilyn self-portrait on the pages. Between the lines, she herself would reveal her lonely insecurity." It became his trademark style.
Life published Meryman's interview with Monroe in the issue dated August 3, 1962—two days before her death. Comprising a total of eight hours, his interview tapes formed the basis of
Marilyn: The Last Interview, a 1992 HBO program. In 1970, Meryman shifted into covering the acting world and eventually headed the entertainment department at
Life. When the magazine ceased publication in 1972 he began a freelance career that lasted the rest of his life, writing for such publications as ''
Lear's (as a contributing editor), People, Vanity Fair, McCall’s, Smithsonian, National Geographic and The New York Times Magazine''. He wrote a dozen books. He turned his attention to non-celebrity subjects, as well—an unwed mother giving up her child for adoption, the struggles of alcoholic women, and his own overwhelming grief at losing Hope to cancer in 1975. With support from his second wife, Elizabeth Meryman, he continued to publish until the end of his life. Meryman was credited for his emotional and psychological insight and deep empathy for his subjects. He was regarded as an excellent listener with a compassionate, self-effacing manner and thoughtful questions that had a way of opening others up, whether they were on the other side of a tape recorder or sitting around his dining room table. ==Personal life==