WARSAW, Poland – Who doesn’t want a picture of Marilyn Monroe?
Hundreds of photographs of the blond bombshell and other celebrities, including famous ones of Monroe in bed and as a ballerina, were being sold Thursday at an auction house in Poland.
Additional Photos
Bidders and spectators packed the Desa Unicum house in Warsaw, where 238 pictures by the late American fashion and celebrity photographer Milton H. Greene were up for sale.
Most of these pictures of Monroe were taken from 1953 to 1957 when Greene was her adviser and business partner. He made many of the prints during Monroe’s lifetime and they are highly valued by collectors.
As the bidding began, a black-and-white photo of a reclining Monroe in black stockings sold for $16,000, and another of her in a ballerina’s dress sold for almost $20,000. A picture of her in bed sold for $13,000.
The auction also offered Greene’s pictures of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Liza Minnelli. Other greats in the vast portrait collection, which was estimated at $680,000, included Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Paul Newman, Alfred Hitchcock and Marlon Brando.
The photos come from a collection of some 4,000 Greene pictures that Poland obtained from Chicago businessman Dino Matingas in the mid-1990s as the result of a complex communist-era embezzlement scandal linked to the buy-out of Poland’s state debt. Proceeds from the auction will go to the Polish government.
Some of the images have never been published before, according to Marta Maciazek, the Polish official in charge of cleaning up the mess from the corruption affair.
Brooke Burke says she has thyroid cancer
NEW YORK – “Dancing with the Stars” co-host Brooke Burke says she has thyroid cancer.
Burke posted a video message Thursday on YouTube disclosing her condition and her plans for surgery to remove her thyroid.
Burke says a lump on her thyroid was found during a routine biopsy. She says that the surgery has been scheduled, but she doesn’t specify when. She says it will leave “a nice big scar right here,” tracing a line across her throat.
Although initially shocked by the diagnosis, Burke says she now feels strong and confident and her doctors are optimistic. She vows to make “a positive out of this negative thing.”
Found in the front of the neck, the thyroid secretes several hormones that influence metabolism, growth and development.
White lawyer amends deal to settle case
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An attorney for two-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Shaun White returned to court to amend an agreement to settle public intoxication and vandalism charges.
District attorney’s office spokeswoman Susan Niland said Thursday that White’s attorney has provided proof the athlete completed an alcohol assessment with a health care professional. White still must perform 24 hours of community service before the public intoxication charge is dropped.
White allegedly pulled a fire alarm in a Nashville hotel about 2 a.m. on Sept. 16, forcing all the hotel guests to evacuate.
He then tried to flee but ended up in the hospital after he hit his head while trying to fight another guest who had called the police.
White won a gold medal at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and in 2010 at the Vancouver Games.
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