Michelle Williams Receives Hollywood Actress Award for My Week with Marilyn

Michelle Williams received the Hollywood Actress Award for her role in My Week with Marilyn on October 24 in Beverly Hills, CA.

“It was such a special project and truly an honor. I’m so happy the director [Simon Curtis] didn’t let me say no to the role,” said Williams.

During her acceptance speech, Michelle reflected on playing the Hollywood legend.

“It seems to me that all that Marilyn ever wanted was to be taken seriously as an actress. She studied, she trained harder than me, and she never got the recognition that she deserved and craved,” Michelle said. “I feel very lucky tonight to experience some of that.”

Marilyn Monroe Contacts John Edwards during Gloria Vanderbilt Reading

John Edwards claims to have been contacted by Marilyn Monroe while doing a psychic reading for fashion icon Gloria Vanderbilt, who is Anderson Cooper's mother. Vanderbilt claims to have been friends with Marilyn, and expresses that, "The whole world in some way identifies with her." Cooper states that he was unaware of his mother being friends with Marilyn Monroe.

View the first video clip here.

View the second video clip here.

“Marilyn and I” in Paris, October 29, 2011 - January 7, 2012

“Marilyn and I”

An exhibition of photographs by Yury Toroptsov
Le Bon Marche Rive Gauche in Paris
29 October 2011 – 7 January 2012

On October 29, 2011 through January 7, 2012 photographer Yury Toroptsov will be presenting an exhibition of his photographs "Marilyn and I" in Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche department store in Paris. A bilingual exhibition catalogue (Verlhac Editions) with a foreword by Catherine Deneuve will be launched as well.

"In 1999 I had a chance to attend as a spectator “The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe” auction at Christie's in New York. I was intrigued by a masterfully orchestrated ritual in a room filled with people determined to shell out thousands of dollars for the right to own a piece of Hollywood’s most iconic woman. It is at Christie's that I first started wondering about the elements of the exceptional longevity and modernity of Monroe’s myth.

A rare opportunity presented itself in 2005, six years after the Christie's auction. A collector friend bought a summer dress from a private wardrobe of Marilyn Monroe. The access I was granted to the relic allowed me to begin my own exploration of Monroe’s legend. With the borrowed dress of Marilyn folded in my photographer's bag I went out to record the stories and meet the people who 50 years after Monroe's death still feel an emotional connection to the star."

Pulitzer-Prize winning film critic Roger Ebert said "I enjoyed the imagination and wit of your project, and I tweeted about it."

Saatchi Online Magazine's Ana Finel Honigman wrote: "Contemporary urban culture may be largely secular, but we still have our saints and martyrs. Celebrities, revered as quasi-religious icons, inflame our imaginations with an awe that overrides their fundamental humanity. Yury Toroptsov demonstrates in his work, the relics of fame carry as much magic as holy articles might to the faithful."

For more information about the book and the exhibition, visit the web site of the artist www.toroptsov.com.

Leather motorcycle jacket c. 1950s

Source: McCord Museum

Black and silver evening dress c. ~1925

Source: McCord Museum

Watchmen

Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre in Watchmen

Scarlett Johansson in The Black Dahlia (2006)

Marilyn Monroe Eternity Band will Sparkle at Auction Again

A platinum and diamond eternity band set with thirty-five baguette-cut diamonds, given to Marilyn Monroe by Joe DiMaggio after their 1954 wedding will hit the auction block this December. Profiles in History will be hosting the sale.

The wedding band sold initially in 1999 at the now famous Christie's auction, "The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe." The hammer price in 1999 was $772,500.

Excitement is brewing as this is the first "high-ticket item" to come to auction again from the 1999 Christie's sale. The wedding band, I believe, was the second highest priced item in the sale, preceded only by the Jean Luis gown Marilyn wore when she sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy. This gown fetched at whopping $1,267,500.00, which is still today the highest price ever paid for a personal gown. Of course it's now very well known that the highest price ever paid for a film costume was $5.6 million for the white Billy Travilla designed halter top worn by Monroe in The Seven Year Itch.

Interestingly, news reports about the ring being auctioned are stating that due the fact the ring is missing one of the diamonds it's expected to sell for less than it did at the 1999 Christie's auction. Well, the diamond was missing in 1999, and that didn't appear to have much effect on the sale of the ring at that time. Perhaps reporters are failing to recognize that buyers will be bidding on Marilyn Monroe's eternity band, and the fact that it's missing one of the diamonds will have no impact on the hammer price.

The big question is, will it sell for more than it did in 1999? If recent auctions of Marilyn Monroe items are any indication, (Marilyn Monroe Dress Breaks Record at Auction), this ring will very likely sell for seven-figures.

Myrna Loy