Jump directly to the content

A GREAT-gran who sold an original Marilyn Monroe dress for £25 ($33) to pay bills was shocked to learn it’s now worth £200,000 ($270,000).

Pam Harrison won the show-stopping sequinned corset when she was 15 after her mum entered her into a newspaper competition.

Pam Harrison sold an original Marilyn Monroe dress for £25 to pay bills
3
Pam Harrison sold an original Marilyn Monroe dress for £25 to pay billsCredit: Paul Tonge
Pam won the show-stopping corset when she was 15 after her mum entered her into a newspaper competition
3
Pam won the show-stopping corset when she was 15 after her mum entered her into a newspaper competitionCredit: Paul Tonge
Marilyn wore the green-and-black sequined garment in 1956 rom-com Bus Stop
3
Marilyn wore the green-and-black sequined garment in 1956 rom-com Bus Stop

The green-and-black garment had been worn by the US star in 1956 romcom Bus Stop.

Marilyn even wrote to Pam to congratulate her.

But she sold the outfit for £25 ($33) in 1962, months before Marilyn died of an overdose at 36.

Pam, now 83, of Birmingham, recently discovered it was valued at £200,000 ($270,000) by an auction house in LA.

Read More on UK News

She said: “I could have made a fortune, but it wasn’t to be. I’ve had a happier life than Marilyn ever had. I’ve no regrets.”

Marilyn played saloon singer Chérie in Bus Stop and promo posters featured her in the dress.

Pam looked so good in it that she was approached to be a model — but her parents turned down the offer.

Four years later she and late husband Norman needed cash to keep their children fed and warm.

Pam added: “I said, ‘Let’s see if the dress can help’.

"The buyers had a shop and asked if could I lend them a telegram from Marilyn for the window.

“All I would’ve liked was for them to have returned the telegram.”

Netflix releases trailer for Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde with Ana de Armas
Topics