Joan
Fontaine estate pulls Oscar sale under threat of lawsuit
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[December 12, 2014]
By Chris Michaud
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The
estate of actress Joan Fontaine, who died a year ago
aged 96, withdrew her Oscar from a much-anticipated
auction when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences threatened to sue over its sale,
representatives of the estate said on Thursday.
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Christie's auction house had said it expected the Oscar to
fetch $200,000 to $300,000, with proceeds earmarked for the
Monterey, California SPCA, an animal protection group, in line
with Fontaine's wishes.
Oscars rarely come up for auction because, since 1950, the
Academy has required that winners, their heirs or estates not
sell an Oscar without first offering it to the Academy for $1.
Fontaine won the 1941 best actress Academy Award for her role in
Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "Suspicion," opposite Cary Grant.
She was the only actor to win an Oscar for a Hitchcock film, and
at the time was the youngest-ever best actress winner.
"The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was unmoved in
the pleadings of all involved, and announced they would file
suit if the sale continued," representatives for the estate said
in a statement, which noted that Fontaine's Oscar was awarded
well before the now-required legal agreement regarding sales.
"We feel that to fight this promised legal suit against the
estate (and SPCA), everyone except the lawyers would lose," the
statement added, in explaining the cancellation of the sale.
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"The Academy, its members and the many film artists and craftspeople
who've won Academy Awards believe strongly that Oscars should be
won, not purchased," the Academy said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, despite our objections, we don't have the legal
means of stopping the sale of certain statuettes, including this
one."
Noel Beutel, a senior trustee for Fontaine's estate, responded:
"They (the Academy) told us they will sue us if we sell it."
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Sandra Maler and Clarence
Fernandez)
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