‘Wizard Of Oz’ Dorothy Dress Snags $480K At Auction
From the archive: published Nov 11, 2012, 13 years ago. Details may have changed since.
The dress worn by Judy Garland in the classic motion picture The Wizard of Oz fetched around $480,000 at auction this weekend, according to Deadline .
The memorable blue gingham dress crafted by MGM designer Adrian and worn by Dorothy during her adventure to the Emerald City proved to be a popular item at the Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills this weekend. After all was said and done, someone was willing to pony up nearly $500,000 to own a piece of cinema history.
The BBC reports that officials at the auction house expected the dress to sell for around this amount. However, a similar dress worn during tests for the movie netted around $910,000 in 2011.
The Wizard of Oz outfit worn by Judy Garland wasn’t the only item up for grabs this weekend. Actor Steve McQueen’s racing jacket sold for approximately $50,000, while the watch worn by John Belushi in the comedy classic The Blues Brother went for around $15,000. Belushi’s iconic sunglasses from the film were purchased for $16,640.
According to Yahoo! News, one of the dresses worn by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music was auctioned off for around $38,400. A skirt selected for Marilyn Monroe’s character in River of No Return fetched upwards of $50,000.
Jaclyn Smith’s dress from the original Charlie’s Angels TV show ($15,000), a cat print jumpsuit worn by Jayne Mansfield ($16,250), and a package of promotional material from The Wizard of Oz ($33,750) were also up for grabs.
Celebrity memorabilia has enjoyed a spike in popularity over the past few years. In 2011, the dress famously worn by Marilyn Monroe in director Billy Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch sold for an impressive $4.6 million. The dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 musical My Fair Lady was purchased for around $3.7 million.
Would you be willing to spend close to $500,000 to own a piece one of the dresses worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz?