Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Fans pay £30,000 for X-rays of Marilyn Monroe's chest
Marilyn's hands can be seen on her hips as she has her chest X-rayed in 1954
Three X-rays of Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe's chest and pelvis taken during a hospital visit have sold for more than 10 times their pre-sale estimates at auction in the U.S..
The X-rays fetched £30,000 during a sale of Hollywood memorabilia.
The X-ray was taken just months after she filmed her classic Seven Year Itch
Auction house Julien's held the auction in Las Vegas last weekend, with the X-rays expected to go for just £500 to £800 each.
The most sought-after items of the sale had toured Ireland, Japan and China before going under the hammer.
The Monroe X-rays came from a 1954 visit by the actress to the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The actress died in August 1962 at the age of 36.
She had been admitted for surgery for endometriosis, a condition of the womb which caused her a lot of pain.
Film footage shows her leaving the hospital two days after the X-ray was taken, looking unkempt.
She was still married at the time to American baseball star Joe Di Maggio although the couple had split and were going through divorce proceedings.
Two months earlier she filmed her famous scene from classic movie Seven Year Itch where a warm air vent billows her white dress up around her waist.
The X-ray carries her married name of Marilyn Di Maggio.
A young doctor working in the hospital's radiology department later obtained the X-ray and when he taught at the centre's medical school used to to show it to students.
It later passed to his daughter who has put it up for sale.
Other items also sold at the auction included a chair from Monroe's last photo shoot that went for £23,000, Christopher Reeves' Superman VI costume, which sold for £21,000, and a dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, which went for £37,000.
A crystal-studded glove from Michael Jackson's Victory Tour sold for £126,000 at an earlier Music Icons sale held by Julien's Auctions.
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