On March 18, 2017, during Heritage’s Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Auction in Dallas, the personally-owned collection of Steve McQueen reached $280,618 across 30 lots. The $1 million sale also offered private collections by Bruce Willis and Farah Fawcett, as well as an impressive collection of never-before-seen concert posters.
“Strong bidding across the spectrum drove this auction past expectations,” shared Margaret Barrett, Director of Entertainment Memorabilia at Heritage Auctions.
The auction featured 18 annotated shooting scripts from some of McQueen’s greatest movies. His leather bound, annotated script for the 1968 film Bullitt and his script for Le Mans each reached $55,000. While the script for the 1963 classic The Great Escape, which detailed McQueen’s own requests for the classic motorcycle jump scene, sold for $50,000.
Also, offered within this auction was a special selection of personal rarities from Marilyn Monroe. It included an original marker from Marilyn Monroe’s grave, which realized $35,000; a 1953 Marilyn Monroe signed black and white photograph, which brought in $13,750; and a 1954 dollar bill autographed by both Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, which sold for $5,750.
A one-owner collection of rarely seen concert posters sold for a combined $255,843 led by a poster for a 1964 performance by Roy Orbison. The window card, featuring a classic image of Orbison wearing horn-rimmed glasses, saw interest from five bidders who pushed the sale price to $16,250. Meanwhile, a 1966 Batman/Young Rascals concert poster sold for $13,750 and a 1956 poster advertising performances by Little Richard, Big Joe Turner, and Etta James closed at $12,500.
Two rare pieces relating to Otis Redding surpassed estimates as a RIAA Gold Record sales award for his smash hit “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” reached $12,500 and a scarce, 1965 record promotional poster ended at $11,250.
Additional highlights included a mauve silk chiffon dress worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the film Cleopatra, which sold for $10,000. Along with Bruce Willis’ personally-consigned French movie poster from Forbidden Planet, which reached $7,500, and his 2006 Hollywood Walk of Fame Award, which realized $5,000.
A 1963 autograph album signed by all four Beatles sold for $10,625, while a signed copy of the group’s LP Help! saw $7,500. Items from the David Gest Memorabilia Archive included a 1988 Michael Jackson signed color photograph and busts of Louis Armstrong and W.C. Handy, which each ended at $4,750.
