Debbie Reynolds Sells Marilyn Monroe's Dress from 'Seven Year Itch' for $5.6 Million

Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds has taken it upon herself to preserve the history of Hollywood by spending millions of dollars over the last thirty years collecting iconic pieces of movie memorabilia. The star of Tammy, Singin' in the Rain, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and more recently, Will and Grace, as Grace's mother Bobbie, had always planned on opening a museum to house her collection, but never had the money to make it happen.

Time reports that one of Reynolds prize possessions, Marilyn Monroe's billowing halter dress from The Seven Year Itch, sold at auction on Saturday for a record $5.6 million.

Marilyn Monroe's ivory “subway dress,” the costume that contributed heavily to America's love affair with the iconic beauty, sold for $5.6 million at an auction in Beverly Hills on Saturday.

The actual bidding price for the dress was $4.6 million, but the unidentified buyer, who bid over telephone, must pay an additional $1 million commission fee. The dress was expected to fetch $2 million.

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RIP Tony Curtis

During the 1950's the Hollywood studio system was beginning to break down, but the stars of that time were as glamorous as ever. The hot Hollywood couples were, Liz Taylor and Eddie Fisher, Lucy and Desi and Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

Any time I think back and try to remember my earliest memories of same-sex attraction, Tony Curtis comes to mind. He was the classic Hollywood leading man and my little gay heart would swoon whenever I saw him in one of the old movies my sister used to watch after school.

There was a lot of speculation over they years that Curtis was gay. In his later years, he would dress in very colorful outfits with matching scarfs, and take on a very over-the-top persona.

The Brooklyn-born Bernie Schwartz, passed away last night at the age of 85. Curtis and the late Janet Leigh were the parents of actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Here is Tony Curtis, along with Jack Lemon and Marilyn Monroe in the Billy Wilder, cross-dressing classic, "Some Like It Hot".
 

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Jane Russell "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love" (Video)

Fox Movie Classics featured a Marilyn Monroe marathon yesterday, which included my favorite Marilyn flick, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in which she co-starred with Jane Russell, who stole the show with this over the top tribute to the male athletic ideal.

For those of you not familiar with the classic 1950's musical, Marilyn plays Loralie Lee, the gold-digging man trap who tries to force her boyfriend to propose by taking a cruise to Paris. Russell Plays Monroe's BFF Dorothy, who's job it is to play chaperon. As Dorothy says, "It's the chaperon's job to make sure nobody else has any fun. Nobody chaperons the chaperon." As luck would have it, the U.S. Olympic team is also on board, but they have a very strict training regimen and early curfew. This classic scene was about as gay as you can get in the very uptight golden age of Hollywood.