One of the most famous cinematic hairstyles of all time, the wig worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 film Cleopatra, has emerged for auction.
Made of dark brown human hair, the wig is styled in a long bob with bangs and braids adorned with gold-coloured beads and coils. Taylor wore it when her character tried to convince Caesar (Rex Harrison) to accept supreme control of the empire.
After filming, the wig was kept by its British wigmaker, Stanley Hall, who then passed it on to a Hollywood makeup artist. It is now being sold by Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas, and is set to fetch around $US11,000 (£,7000).
'Margaret Barrett of Heritage Auctions said: "Cleopatra was filmed in Italy and Stanley Hall, who was an international wigmaker to the stars, made all the wigs for it. Elizabeth Taylor's character had tens of different hairstyles in the film and there were three wigs for each style.
"About 30 years ago Stanley Hall gave the vendor about 40 or 45 wigs from the film. Of all the wigs used in Cleopatra this must be the most iconic. If you think of the movie and Elizabeth Taylor in it you can see her in this wig.
"It is made of real human hair and has gold beads woven into it. It looks very authentic and is a real quality wig.
"Elizabeth Taylor has only recently passed away and she was one of the last great movie stars and there is a lot of interest in memorabilia related to her at the moment," she added.
Cleopatra was the most expensive film of its day, with lavish sets and costumes. Taylor went on to twice marry another of the film's stars, Richard Burton (Mark Antony).
Following her death earlier this year, the Guardian's film critic, Peter Bradshaw, wrote that Cleopatra was the role Taylor was born to play, a role of "atom-splitting power" that "ignited a new global gossip industry".
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