Rocky

With his enduring character set to step into the ring one more time, Sylvester Stallone has gone the distance to have Rocky recognized as a slice of American history.

The filmmaker on Tuesday donated several iconic items from his series of movies featuring the gritty Philadelphia prizefighter to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

“I knew I was getting old, but I didn’t think I would be with the dinosaurs so soon,” Stallone said, laughing. “No, actually, I’m really unbelievably overwhelmed.”

Among the items were the robe Stallone wore to the ring for the climactic fight with Apollo Creed in 1976’s Rocky, the signature black hat and a pair of autographed boxing gloves from Rocky II (1979) and a pair of boxing trunks and shoes from Rocky III (1982).

“The story of Rocky Balboa, an underdog from the urban working class, is a quintessential depiction of the American dream,” museum director Brent D. Glass said. “This donation reflects the resilient spirit of the nation and is a welcome addition to the museum’s entertainment collections.”

The items will be displayed in the new acquisitions case of the Smithsonian’s Treasures of American History exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum, where the Smithsonian is showing more than 150 pieces while the Museum of American History is closed for renovations.

The Rocky pieces will join such artifacts of popular culture as Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the film The Wizard of Oz, and the robots R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars.
New Rocky film echoes original

Stallone wrote and starred in each of the Rocky films. The original, the only Rocky film Stallone did not direct, captured three Academy Awards in 1976 — for best picture, directing and film editing.

Stallone, 60, returns to direct and star in Rocky Balboa, the sixth instalment of the saga, which is due for theatrical release on Dec. 22.

Borrowing from the premise of the original, the new film finds the now middle-aged and widowed title character living a quiet existence in Philadelphia when he is offered a bout with the reigning heavyweight champion, played by real-life pugilist Antonio Tarver.

“They say you, you know, you’re past prime. But I said that’s also an interesting subject, too,” Stallone said.

Stallone appeared this week as a guest on ESPN’s Monday Night Football, where he said making the latest (and, he claims, final) Rocky movie offer a chance to close the saga on a more pleasing tone than the one presented in widely panned Rocky V.

In that film, a brain-damaged and down-on-his-luck Rocky does not appear in the ring, instead acting as a trainer for an up-and-coming heavyweight played by boxer Tommy Morrison.

“I wasn’t happy with the fifth one,” Stallone said from Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, where the hometown Eagles of the National Football League played the Carolina Panthers. “I think this one is real satisfying for the people who like Rocky.”

Stallone also plans to resurrect another of his famous characters. The New York native is scouting locations for the fourth instalment in the Rambo franchise, which is aiming for a 2008 release.

Black Dress

The iconic black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” sold for 410,000 pounds ($800,000) on Tuesday, around seven times its pre-sale estimate.

Including the premium paid to auctioneers Christie’s, the total cost for the sleeveless, floor-length Givenchy cocktail gown rose to 467,200 pounds ($920,000).

The sale room at Christie’s broke into applause at the end of a long and tense session when it was finally bought by an anonymous telephone bidder. Christie’s would only say that the successful bidder was European.

The dress, one of three versions made for Hepburn for her role as socialite
Holly Golightly in the classic romantic comedy, was being auctioned on behalf of the City of Joy Aid charity which helps underprivileged children in India.

“There are tears in my eyes,” said Dominic Lapierre, who runs the charity. Givenchy gave the dress to his friends the Lapierres to raise money for the charity.

“I am absolutely dumbfounded to believe that a piece of cloth which belonged to such a magical actress will now enable me to buy bricks and cement to put the most destitute children in the world into schools.”

Hepburn wears one of the black fashion classics as she emerges from a cab onto a deserted, early-morning New York street and peers through the window of jeweller Tiffany while she eats breakfast from a brown paper bag.

Christie’s said the auction set a new world record for a movie dress, but it fell short of the auction house’s own world record for any woman’s costume.

That belongs to the white silk evening gown worn by Marilyn Monroe the night she sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy in 1962, which fetched $1.27 million at a New York auction in 1999.

“SKINNY LITTLE NOBODY”

Hepburn first met Givenchy in 1953, when the Belgian-born actress described herself as “a skinny little nobody.” The Oscar winner’s collaboration with Givenchy went on to re-define Hollywood chic.

The Hepburn dress was the star lot of the annual film and entertainment sale at Christie’s, in London’s upmarket South Kensington.

According to Christie’s, a second version of the dress remains in the Givenchy archives while a third is part of a collection of the Museum of Costume in Madrid.

Elsewhere in the sale, a Walther PP handgun from the first James Bond film — “Dr. No” starring
Sean Connery — was sold for 54,000 pounds including premium, more than double its estimate of around 20,000 pounds.