Movie icon Grable: Her swimsuit is among the sale items

Reynolds, 68, and Warner Bros say that many pieces - including clothes worn by James Dean and Betty Grable - are among items missing from their own collections.

Lebold, who was a curator at Reynolds' now-closed Hollywood Museum in Las Vegas, has denied all the allegations.

He claims he has receipts for everything in the sale.

"I am shocked and astounded by the claims made against me in this case," Lebold said.

"I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours maintaining, repairing and preserving these costumes. They are mine."

Film favourite

Among those items Warner Bros claim belongs to the company are a pair of jeans and a T-shirt worn by screen icon James Dean in the 1956 epic Giant.

Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars with co-star Mark Hamill

Reynolds - who had her heyday in musicals from the 1950s and 1960s - has drawn particular attention to a jumper worn by Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music and a white swimsuit worn by Betty Grable in a World War II poster.

She says these clothes were among a number of items missing from her museum collection, which at one time numbered 3,000 costumes and 46,000 square-feet worth of props and equipment.

Reynolds is the mother of writer and Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher, through her first marriage to singer Eddie Fisher.

She starred in more than 30 movies at the height of her fame.

Most of her film work was in MGM musicals - including classics such as Singin' in the Rain - as a wholesome young woman.

She has continued to work in films but now mainly uses her dancing and singing skills in stage work.