Monroe costume sells for £34,000

Monroe was one of the 20th Century's greatest film icons

An outfit worn by actress Marilyn Monroe in her classic film The Seven Year Itch has sold for $58,750 (£34,150) at a charity auction.

The sequinned trouser suit and shawl was among almost 400 costumes and props sold to help fund a museum for Hollywood memorabilia.

Actress Debbie Reynolds led the auction in Beverly Hills in aid of the planned Hollywood Motion Picture Museum.

Online and telephone bids helped to boost the total to $500,000 (£290,000).

Monroe's outfit and its accompanying pink satin shawl - seen briefly in the 1955 Billy Wilder comedy - were bought by an anonymous bidder by telephone.

Another costume worn by Monroe, a late 1800s-styled jacket and dress from her 1950 film A Ticket To Tomahawk, sold for $41,125 (£23,910).

Other items included a 1939 poster for Gone With The Wind, which fetched $11,750 (£6,831), and a white denim uniform worn by Sigourney Weaver in sci-fi horror film Alien, which made $5,875 (£3,415).

Auctioneer Reynolds, 71, star of 1950s musical Singin' in the Rain, has been campaigning to preserve Hollywood memorabilia since buying most of her collection in 1970 at an MGM Studio auction.