Hollywood Like You've Never Seen It Before (19 photos)

Over the weekend, the largest collection of rare Hollywood photographs went up for auction. Guernsey's auction house in New York hosted a two-day sale of the Movie Star News Collection—a massive trove of three million prints and negatives capturing the golden age of Tinseltown.





The images were taken by Manhattan photographer Irving Klaw, one of the first to capitalize on the public's insatiable appetite for movie star portraits. A former candy store owner, Klaw broke into photography in 1939 after striking a deal with major film studios to shoot silver screen legends directly on set.

His portfolio reads like a who's who of Old Hollywood, featuring iconic shots of Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Paul Newman. The Marilyn Monroe lot alone boasts more than 600 photographs.



1.





2. Marilyn Monroe performing for troops in Korea



3. A scene from "The Wizard of Oz"



7. Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark (1952)



8. Judy Garland in a promotional photo from the 1940s



9. Fay Wray in a scene from "King Kong"



10. Fay Wray in a scene from "King Kong"



11. Fay Wray in a scene from "King Kong"



12. Orson Welles smoking a cigar



13. James Dean in "Giant" (1956)



14. Marilyn Monroe wardrobe test shots



15. Elizabeth Taylor in "A Place in the Sun" (1951)



16. Elizabeth Taylor in "A Place in the Sun" (1951)



17. Natalie Wood and James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955)



18. Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra (1963)