Monroe's 'River Of No Return' Dress Auctioned Off (VIDEO)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (The Associated Press) -- The dress Marilyn Monroe wore in "River of No Return" has sold to a private buyer for $504,000.

Darren Julien, president and CEO of Julien's Auctions, said Saturday that the dress was sold at an auction in China. Monroe wore the green velour dress while she sang "I'm Gonna File My Claim" in the 1954 Western in which she portrayed Kay Washington, a gambler's wife.

Among other items that have been sold at the auction were the bustier that Madonna wore during her "Who's That Girl" tour in 1987. It has sold for $72,000.

The famous white dress Monroe wore in "The Seven Year Itch" was sold for $4.6 million at an auction this summer.

WATCH Marilyn sing in her half a million dollar dress:

Comments

[Debra Miller]

10:31 AM on 10/23/2011

Read about it here http://alturl.com/riaqi

[Karmella]

08:14 PM on 10/22/2011

Oh well...people can pretty much spend their money on whatever they want. A good seamstress could duplicate for a whole lot less. I guess there's nothing like the original.

[Er hatden 71er genommen]

07:05 PM on 10/22/2011

The country with the most MM dresses is THE superpower- every body knows this!

[Dredd]

06:08 PM on 10/22/2011

Ah, the 1% ... gotta luv em huh?

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2011/10/war-is-highway-61-of-1.html

[msstrick40]

05:35 PM on 10/22/2011

Sucker.

[CitizenIndie]

05:23 PM on 10/22/2011

3 to 1 it was a Republican.

[molare88]

06:26 PM on 10/22/2011

it was in china.....

[js0860]

06:45 PM on 10/22/2011

Why bother reading the article, when you are just here to make stupid comments?

[amorosotom]

04:21 PM on 10/22/2011

Hey, look it. When you are a billionaire buying something for 1/2 million is really peanuts. It's like the average Joe buying a couple of towels. That's the think about all these billionaires. They can spend money foolishly and still can't dent their bank account. A lot of these billionaires buy even dumber things at incredibly expensive prices but they hush up about it because there's an agreement among the filthy rich to keep it quiet lest the masses start getting angry.

[Basil Fawlty]

06:52 PM on 10/22/2011

So you think that all the lavish sums of money these wasteful billionaires spend goes into some vacuum and NOT the US economy?
Would you rather they saved all their money or spent it overseas?

[doglove]

08:21 PM on 10/23/2011

The auction was in China.

How does this help the US economy?

[namora]

04:16 PM on 10/22/2011

Hope they look as good in it as she did.

[doglove]

08:21 PM on 10/23/2011

Not a chance!

[BlueZoo]

03:21 PM on 10/22/2011

That white halter dress that blew up over Marilyn's thighs in "The Seven Year Itch" was originally purchased for $200 by Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds purchased many iconic dresses and costumes over the years, hoping to build a film costume museum but, when she couldn't get funding, ended up selling much of what she had acquired. She also sold the following:

Dorothy's blue gingham dress from the Wizard of Oz
Audrey Hepburn's Ascot dress and hat from My Fair Lady
Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat
Julie Andrew's re-brown jumper and blouse from Sound of Music
Audrey Hepburn's black Givenchy cocktail dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's
Marilyn Monroe's rhinestone encrusted "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" dress

...and the list was endless! She netted in excess of $7 Million at that June auction.

[sugarpops]

04:32 PM on 10/22/2011

Thanks for the info and good for Debbie Reynolds she was an astute investor.

[outloud]

07:04 PM on 10/22/2011

It's too bad Ms Reynolds dream of a museum didn't happen. What a wonderful collection of cinema history that would have been.

[mcartri]

02:53 PM on 10/22/2011

Note that the hand written initials "JFK" were found on the inside of the dress.

[doglove]

08:22 PM on 10/23/2011

Where'd you get that info? Might you have links?

[socialtalker]

02:37 PM on 10/22/2011

"The famous white dress Monroe wore in "The Seven Year Itch" was sold for $4.6 million at an auction this summer"
WHAT???
suddenly, this is interesting. i wonder how much these are worth
1. "running wild" dress from some like it hot
2. "old black magic" dress from bus stop
3. "diamonds are a girls best friend" dress from gentle prefer blonds
4. the pink dress in Niagara
the performances are far more famous. i have never even see this movie, probably wont either.
i guess they fall somewhere in between the 7 itch dress and this one.

[mcartri]

02:56 PM on 10/22/2011

Have the dresses Jack Lemmon & Tony Curtis wore in, "Some Like it Hot", sold yet? Rumor has it former NYC mayor, Rudy Giovanni, has them in his closet.

[escribacat]

04:04 PM on 10/22/2011

More importantly, what size were they?

[amorosotom]

04:22 PM on 10/22/2011

Ranks number 1 in my list as funniest movie. Curtis was never better.

[nasknit]

01:26 AM on 10/23/2011

The movie was interesting. The scenery was spectacular! You'd have a hard time finding an untouched piece of wilderness to do a remake!

[Randybostonterrier]

10:59 AM on 10/25/2011

I watched the movie over and over again for the scenery alone. I didn't see the chemistry at all between them.

[awesomeprogressive]

01:26 PM on 10/22/2011

if you have enough money to buy a dress for 500k then you have too much money, lets get the tax rates back to where they were before reagan and get the country back on track.

[amorosotom]

04:23 PM on 10/22/2011

When there is hunger in the world spending money on dumb things like this is disgraceful. We should redistribute the wealth. When a poor kid can't avoid dental care and this nonsense goes on there is something wrong with the society.

[molare88]

06:30 PM on 10/22/2011

are you prepared to take away peoples money by force to "redistribute" it? because there would be rivers of blood

[js0860]

06:47 PM on 10/22/2011

Sorry to pop your bubble, but the dress was sold in China. Nice try though.

[Pollytiques]

01:24 PM on 10/22/2011

One thing for sure. It wasn't a single mom who has to worry about taking care of children after her job has been shipped to a communist country. She buys her clothes at Walmart.

[amorosotom]

04:24 PM on 10/22/2011

Yeah, and the dress is made in China.

[sal ear]

12:56 AM on 10/24/2011

or the thrift store......

[AnnoyedCanuck]

01:24 PM on 10/22/2011

'River Of No Return' was shot on location in Jasper and Banff, Alberta in the summer of 1953. While shooting in Jasper, Marilyn stayed at Becker's Bungalows, a log cabin motel along the Athabasca River. It's still there. She was friendly and well thought of by the local people who met her.

[escribacat]

04:05 PM on 10/22/2011

Interesting.

[amorosotom]

04:25 PM on 10/22/2011

Norma Jean, the Kennedys really screwed you over. (In more ways than one.)

[Er hatden 71er genommen]

06:29 PM on 10/22/2011

Don't believe what the JFK haters tell you...

[calltoaction]

01:14 PM on 10/22/2011

tax the rich. they can afford it.

[socialtalker]

02:38 PM on 10/22/2011

quite true, but wasnt the buyer from overseas?

[escribacat]

04:05 PM on 10/22/2011

The auction was in China.