UNITED STATES: VIVIEN LEIGH'S OSCAR AUCTIONED FOR OVER HALF A MILLION US DOLLARS TO SET NEW WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR AN OSCAR

Record ID: 337798

  • Title: UNITED STATES: VIVIEN LEIGH'S OSCAR AUCTIONED FOR OVER HALF A MILLION US DOLLARS TO SET NEW WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR AN OSCAR
  • Date: 15th December 1993
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 15) 1. GV SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK 0.06 (TURNER ENTERTAINMENT COPYRIGHT - CHECK ACCESS WITH LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR) 2. CLIP FROM "CITIZEN KANE" 0.32 (ACCESS ALL) 3. GV DRAFT OF CITIZEN KANE SCRIPT WITH ORSON WELLES' ANNOTATIONS (3 SHOTS) 0.48 4. AUCTIONEER ANNOUNCING BIDDING AND SALE OF CITIZEN KANE FOR 50,000 UNITED STATES DOLLARS (ENGLISH) 1.02 5. GV BID BOARD SHOWING SALE IN MAJOR CURRENCIES 1.08 (MGM/UA COPYRIGHT - CHECK ACCESS WITH LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR) 6. CLIP FROM "GONE WITH THE WIND" 1.20 (ACCESS ALL) 7. SCU VIVIEN LEIGH'S OSCAR 1.24 8. AUCTIONEER ANNOUNCING LIEGH OSCAR SALE AT 510,000 U.S. DOLLARS (ENGLISH) 1.35 9. GV BID BOARD SHOWING SALE IN MAJOR CURRENCIES 1.40 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 30th December 1993 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVACNXMZQ9RKZTQUNBPBEPAY8RUX
  • Story Text: Vivien Leigh's best actress Oscar from "Gone with the Wind" sold for 562,500 United States (U.S.) dollars and an early draft of Orson Welles' script for "Citizen Kane," sold for 57,500 U.S.

    dollars at Sotheby's in New York on Wednesday (December 15).

    The heavily annotated "Citizen Kane" script, with Welles' notes in red, was bought by the Forbes Foundation for half of the estimated sale price. The foundation plans to put the draft on display.

    Vivien Leigh was an relatively unknown English actress when David Selznick chose her for the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in the 1939 epic "Gone with the Wind." She won the 1940 Oscar beating out Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Greer Garson and Irene Dunn.

    Leigh died in 1967.

    The auction house declined to identify the telephone buyer who paid more than five times the estimated price for the 12-inch (30 centimetre) statuette.

    The highest price previously paid for an Oscar was at Christie's auction rooms in June 1993, when Joan Crawford's 1945 Oscar for "Mildred Pierce" fetched 68,500 U.S. dollars.


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