Debbie Reynolds Auctioning Legendary Film Memorabilia Collection

A living film legend will be putting many of her legendary memorabilia items up for auction Saturday.

Debbie Reynolds, famed actress, singer and dancer who grew up in Burbank and later opened the in North Hollywood, has been collecting movie memorabilia for decades.

Reynolds and her collection were featured Wednesday night on the SyFy channel TV show Hollywood Treasure, which visited her ranch in Northern California and is helping put on the auction. The first 700 items (out of thousands) go on the auction block Saturday at the in Beverly Hills and are on display until then.

Among the pieces featured on the show was the original pair of ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, which the show's host, Joe Maddalena, estimated could sell for $600,000 to $1 million.

Marilyn Monroe's iconic white dress from The Seven Year Itch is also part of the collection.

"This is probably the most valuable costume in the world," Maddalena said on the show before estimating it could sell at the auction for up to $3 million.

Reynolds told Hollywood Treasure that collecting was her main hobby.

"I have been collecting over 40 years," said Reynolds. "I didn't buy jewelry and I didn't buy fancy cars, and I had a lot of bad husbands and I had to pay them off too, so what I was able to keep was what I love most, which is the collection."

Reynolds was married three times, including to singer Eddie Fisher, with whom she had a daughter, actress Carrie Fisher, and a son, Todd Fisher. During her career she starred in some of the most famous films of all time, including Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964).

She also recorded numerous hit records, and in 1979 started the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in North Hollywood on Lankershim Boulevard. According to its website, Lucille Ball, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bette Midler, Cher, Usher and Mariah Carey have all rehearsed at the studio. 

The Los Angeles Times reported that Reynolds wanted to start a museum for the collection, which numbers over 5,000 costumes and props, but could not get enough interest. Reynolds had opened the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in the 1980s, where the collection was displayed in a museum, but the museum and hotel failed.

"I am really sick and tired of it. I feel that I must call it a day now," Reynolds told the Times. "Over the years, I have literally spent millions of dollars protecting it and taking care of it. If you were me, wouldn't you give up after 35 years?"