EnlightenedOsote's blog: "Movies"

Previously unseen footage of screen icon Marilyn Monroe, taken while she was filming the 1959 hit Some Like It Hot, has been discovered in Australia. The behind-the-scenes amateur film, featuring Monroe and co-stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, was taken by a US naval officer after the actress invited him to visit the set at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California. The two-and-a-half minute, eight-millimetre film will be auctioned off in Melbourne later this month and is expected to sell for up to 30,000 Australian Dollars – almost £14,000. Charles Leski of Leski Auctions said: "Marilyn Monroe memorabilia is always in demand, but rarely do we get one-off material like this. "It is also extremely rare for such important archival footage to be auctioned outside of the US before its domestic release, and for that we are extremely proud." The footage shows Monroe acting playfully on set with Lemmon and Curtis during a break from filming while being watched by fellow cast members and extras. Still in its original box, it was found among the sailor's possessions and brought to Australia when he emigrated there. Monroe died in August 1962 at the age of 36 after an overdose of pills diagnosed as suicide. Curtis is the only surviving main member of the cast of the cross-dressing Billy Wilder comedy.