Two Hollywood legends make a private comeback: in June Sotheby's will turn the spotlight on
Paul Newman
and his wife
Joanne Woodward
in an auction that raises the curtain on the exclusive world of two stars who are always reluctant to share their personal lives with the media .
Paul died in 2008 at the age of 83, Joanne, who is 93, has been suffering from Alzheimer's since 2007.
"Our parents dedicated their lives to seeking out the things that inspired them, whether personally, professionally or as collectors. We hope that the public will find the same pleasure we have for decades in this collection that opens a window into who they really were." out of the Hollywood lights,” read a family statement released by the auction house.
Joanne and Paul met as aspiring actors in New York in the 1950s and it was the beginning of a decades-long romance that cemented their image as "Hollywood's golden couple."
After Picnic on Broadway followed the film The Long Hot Summer, which Paul recalled fondly in his recently published memoir, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, writing: "Joanne and I could do what we long wanted to do in public and bring out on the screen what we discovered between us. There was a glue that bound us, then and forever. Anything seemed possible, and that promise was there, from the very beginning."
In addition to the memoir, the auctions will follow the lead of Hbo Max's six-part documentary,
The Last Movie Stars
, based on interviews with friends, colleagues and relatives.
There will be a total of 300 objects that the two cinema legends had collected in 50 years of marriage in their home in Westport, Connecticut: memorabilia related to their career in cinema including autographed screenplays, awards and stage costumes, but also to Paul's passion for race cars, family photos, antiques and folk art.
There will be no Oscars (the Academy forbids selling them without having them offered as first refusal for the symbolic sum of one dollar), but the many objects - says Sotheby's - will illuminate the two worlds occupied by Woodward and Newman: the glamorous one of the power couple of Hollywood, and the other more private made up of friends, family and the philanthropic initiatives to which the two actors were dedicated.
There are also memorabilia related to the political passion of the two stars: autographed letters and photos of American presidents from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton, but also a selection of very personal items, including Joanne's wedding dress and ring and, by Paul, one of the suits worn in a car race in Ontario.
(HANDLE).