Burial crypt near Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Hefner up for grabs at auction

Marilyn Monroe, the first cover model of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine, poses over the updraft of a New York subway grating while in character for the filming of “The Seven Year Itch” in Manhattan on September 9, 1954.(AP Photo/Matty Zimmerman)

LOS ANGELES – A burial crypt near the final resting places of celebrities Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will be up for grabs at auction, it was announced yesterday.

The crypt, described as a piece of Hollywood lore by the auction house, will be available during a three-day event, “Property from the Playboy Archives and the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation, and Property from the Life and Career of Marilyn Monroe,” hosted by Julien’s Auctions March 28-30, in Los Angeles.

Hugh Hefner, in photo with model/playmate Katie Price, once said, “Spending eternity next to Marilyn is an opportunity too sweet to pass up.” Image: celeb2000s/IG

The one-space mausoleum crypt — with an estimated value of $200,000 to $400,000, according to the auction house — is located in the Corridor of Memories, Wall B, Space C-3 at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary.

It is situated one row above and four spaces to the left of Monroe’s lipstick-stained crypt, where the Hollywood actress and first cover model of Hefner’s Playboy magazine has been at rest since her death at the age of 36 in 1962.

Hefner purchased the crypt to the immediate left of Monroe’s and was interred there shortly after his death at age 91 in 2017. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Hefner once said, “Spending eternity next to Marilyn is an opportunity too sweet to pass up.”

The burial site is included among more than 1,000 items for sale at the auction that features some personal property of Hefner and Monroe.

Advance registration is required to participate in the auction. Visit JuliensAuctions.com for details. (CNS)