LOS ANGELES -- Carol Channing’s signature dres — a shimmery number she wore in the stage production of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” — was stolen at a Hollywood hotel.

AP

Carol Channing in "Hello Dolly."

The 86-year-old actress and her husband were checking into the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel on Thursday when a man swiped one of her bags from a bell cart in the lobby, said Officer Jason Lee, a police spokesman. The bag contained the dress, which Channing told police was valued at $150,000, Lee said.

Along with her platinum bob and distinctive voice, Channing was known for her role as Lorelei Lee in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and as Dolly Gallagher Levi in “Hello Dolly.”

Her representative told celebrity Web site TMZ.com that the dress was on its way to the Smithsonian museum for an exhibit, along with her 1964 Tony award for “Hello Dolly.” The award was in a different bag.

“I’m not crying about it. I didn’t know it was such a historic specimen,” she said. “The Smithsonian was crying.”

Lobby video surveillance captured the theft, showing a man with the bag exiting the hotel. The suspect walked into the hotel, stole the bag and left, Lee said.

“We want the dress, we don’t want him,” Channing said.