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Monday, June 20, 2011

Marilyn Monroe's famed 'Seven Year Itch' dress sells for $5.5 MILLION

Marilyn Monroe became a screen legend after this iconic scene in the film, 'The Seven Year Itch.'

Marilyn Monroe became a screen legend after this iconic scene in the film, 'The Seven Year Itch.'

The famed white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the "Seven Year Itch" sold for seven figures at a Beverly Hills auction Saturday night.

The outfit, seen billowing upwards thanks to a subway grate in a scene that turned the blonde bombshell into a silver screen icon, sold for a mind-boggling $4,520,000 million. The dress was expected to go for just $2 million.

The bids were "totally crazy, especially in this recession," collector Keya Morgan told CNN.

Another Monroe dress, a red-sequin gown worn in "Gentlemen Prefer Blonde," sold for $1.2 million. A third outfit from "River of No Return" sold for $510,000.

Saturday's auction included nearly 700 items from the massive Debbie Reynolds Collection, according to Profiles in History, which oversaw the auction.

Another famed dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady" sold for $3.7 million. Other famous items snatched up by collectors were one of Harpo Marx' famed top hats for $45,000; Gary Cooper's uniform from "Sergeant York" for $55,000; and the 1952 red MG TD driven by Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe in "Monkey Business" sold for more than $200,000.

Reynolds, a film legend herself, purchased many of the rare and valuable items starting in the 1970s.

"I heard the news that MGM was going to sell their inventory of costumes and props," the 79-year-old actress said in a statement earlier this year. "I went everyday for weeks and focused on purchasing the costumes and props of Academy Award winning films. It soon turned into an obsession."

The Reynolds Collection includes 3,500 costumes, 20,000 original photographs and several thousand movie posters, props and more.

A second auction will be held in December.

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