NEW YORK (AP) — Items from the California home of Academy Award-winning actress Joan Fontaine, including her 1941 Oscar for best actress, are heading to the auction block.
The 104 lots of fine art, silver, lighting, furniture and jewelry are scheduled to be spread over four auctions and could realize more than $1 million, Christies said Tuesday.
Her Oscar for her role as the timid wife in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion” opposite Cary Grant could bring $200,000 to $300,000 on Dec. 11.
The actress died last December in her home in Carmel, California, at age 96.
The entire proceeds will benefit the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Monterey, California, the auction house said. Fontaine was a big supporter of the SPCA, adopting three of her dogs– Kita, Fang IV and Samantha — from the organization.
Fontaine appeared in more than 30 movies. She gained stardom in 1940 in Hitchcock’s “Rebecca,” which won the Academy Award for best picture and earned Fontaine the first of her three Oscar nominations.
Three of the auctions will be held in New York between November and January.
Among other highlights is a 1935 painting by Marc Chagall, “Vase of Flowers in the Window,” which could bring $400,000 to $600,000 on Nov. 6.
A set of turquoise-and-cultured pearl “twist” jewelry by Van Cleef & Arpels will be offered in a Jan. 13 sale for an estimated $4,000 to $6,000.
A single painting from her home, “Chrysanthemums in a Vase” by Lin Fengmian, will be offered in November at Christie’s Hong Kong sale of Chinese modern paintings. It has a pre-sale estimate of up to $250,000.
Fontaine, who also made New York her home for 25 years, was the sister of another Hollywood legend, Olivia de Havilland.
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