Joe DiMaggio’s Love and Loss Letters to Marilyn Monroe Go to Auction

Over 300 pieces of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia will go on the block at Julien’s Auctions on December 5 and 6.

The sale, titled “Icons & Idols: Hollywood and Property From the Life and Career of Marilyn Monroe,” will feature everything with her name and signature on it, from telephone and employment records to love letters, cosmetics, a prescription medicine bottle, and even a medical x-ray of her chest.

According to reporting by the Huffington Post, auction house owner Darren Julien is wagering that total sales will reach over $1 million.

All of the items reportedly come from an anonymous friend of Lee Strasberg, director of the Actors Studio, mentor to Monroe, and one of the eulogists at her funeral. Reportedly the memorabilia was originally bequeathed to Strasberg at the time of Monroe’s death at age 36. Strasberg died in 1982.

One letter from playwright Arthur Miller to Monroe is estimated to fetch between $4,000 and $6,000.

Personal correspondence from other friends are also featured in the auction, including letters from Clark Gable, Cary Grant, and Jane Russell.

Joe DiMaggio’s October 9, 1954, letter to Mrs. Joe DiMaggio after the announcement of their divorce, is expected to fetch between $2,000 and $4,000.
Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.