A black Givenchy dress worn by actress Audrey Hepburn in the film classic Breakfast at Tiffany's sold at auction Tuesday in London for £410,000 (about $923,000 Cdn).

The price, paid by a telephone bidder, was almost six times the highest pre-sale estimate. Including the buyer's premium — a fee typically added to a winning bid by the auctioneer — the final tab came to more than $1 million Cdn.

Actress Audrey Hepburn poses as Holly Golightly in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.
(Associated Press)

British auctioneer Christie's, which handled the transaction as part of its annual film and entertainment sale, had expected the iconic garment to fetch only between £50,000 and £70,000 (about $113,000 to $158,000 Cdn).

Proceeds from the sale will go to the charity City of Joy Aid, which helps the poor in India. The organization received the gown as a gift from designer Hubert de Givenchy.

"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," said French author Dominic Lapierre, who runs the charity named after his bestselling 1985 novel.

Dress part of famous scene

Hepburn wore the black sleeveless dress in the 1961 romantic comedy classic, an enduring favourite that helped put the Brussels-born actress into Hollywood history.

Adapted from the novella by Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's stars Hepburn as the eccentric socialite Holly Golightly.

The famous opening scene shows Hepburn, wearing the simple but elegant dress, emerging from a taxi onto a deserted Fifth Avenue in Manhattan during the early morning. The glamorous gamine peers through the window of jewelry store Tiffany's while munching on her breakfast out of a brown paper bag.

Hepburn, whose credits also include Roman Holiday, Sabrina, My Fair Lady, Funny Face and Wait Until Dark, died from appendiceal cancer in 1993. She was 63.

With files from the Associated Press