Price for famous garb from Seven Year Itch higher than expected

LOS ANGELES - The legendary white dress seen billowing under Marilyn Monroe in an iconic image of 1950s Hollywood has sold at auction for $4.6 million, shattering estimates.

The dress, worn by the star in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch had been expected to fetch between $1 million and $2 million.

But the sale on Saturday, part of a collection of Hollywood memorabilia held by the actress Debbie Reynolds, saw Monroe's "subway" dress - now cream colored from age - sell for $4.6 million (or $5,520,000, with added fees).

The entire sale, which included other Monroe garbs, was valued at $22.8 million, Nancy Seltzer, a spokeswoman for the auction house Profiles in History, said in an e-mail.

Signed by the US designer William Travilla, the pleated ivory dress contributed in part to Monroe's enduring image as a 20th century sex symbol.

It was the highest value feature of the auction that also saw some 700 pieces go under the hammer.

Among them were dresses Monroe wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and The River of No Return (1954), as well as costumes from other classic Hollywood staples Gone With the Wind, The Sound of Music, Cleopatra, Ben-Hur, The Wizard of Oz, and My Fair Lady.

Reynolds, a singer, dancer and actress whose greatest role came in Singin' in the Rain, began collecting Hollywood memorabilia in the 1970s when MGM Studios liquidated its assets. Her immense collection includes over 3,500 costumes, 20,000 photographs and hundreds of props and other decorations.

A second sale from the Reynolds collection is planned for December.

Agence France-Presse