Marilyn Monroe dress sells at auction

A dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ has sold for £213,000 at auction. The pink satin gown – which was worn by Marilyn as she performed classic number ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ had only been expected to reach £170,000 in the sale, which saw 1,500 items go under the hammer.

Also up for auction was the hat worn by the Wicked Witch of the West in ‘The Wizard of Oz’, which took £137,420 – having only been estimated at £100,000.

The bottomless bag used by Julie Andrews in Disney’s ‘Mary Poppins’ took £65,274, despite an estimated price of just £8,000.

Other items at the Profiles in History Auction – which took place in Los Angeles from June 10 to 12 – included the scissor hands worn by Johnny Depp in ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and the face of the alien Balok in ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’, which reached £48,000.

Last year a bra belonging to Marilyn was sold at auction for £3,500.