Infamous Titanic door frame that kept Rose alive sells for $700,000

Arguably the most infamous piece of wood in cinematic history has sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Titanic door frame used to keep Kate Winslet's character, Rose, afloat after the ship sunk sold at auction for $718,750 (£567,561).

Film fans have been embroiled in debate since the film's release in 1997 over whether Jack, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, could have also fit on the makeshift raft instead of freezing to death in the waters below.

"The iconic prop has caused much debate from fans, many of whom have argued that the floating wood panel could have supported both Jack and Rose - making his fateful decision to stay in the frigid water an empty gesture," the auction listing reads.

It also points out that the prop is often referred to as a door, the ornate structure was in reality part of the door frame just above the first-class lounge entrance of the original Titanic.

Last year, director James Cameron put the controversy over Kate and Jack's final moments to rest in a "thorough forensic analysis with a hypothermia expert," screened on the National Geographic.

"We took two stunt people who were the same body mass of Kate and Leo and we put sensors all over them and inside them and we put them in ice water and we tested to see whether they could have survived through a variety of methods and the answer was, there was no way they both could have survived. Only one could survive,” he told Postmedia.

He replied: “He needed to die. It’s like Romeo and Juliet. It’s a movie about love and sacrifice and mortality. The love is measured by the sacrifice."

Winslet has previously admitted there was "plenty of room on the raft" with her, while DiCaprio has remained tight-lipped, refusing to publicly take sides in the contentious debate.

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