Orson Welles Oscar to go under the hammer
Orson Welles The Academy Award given to Orson Welles for Citizen Kane over seventy years ago will go up for sale in an online auction later this month.
The Oscar was the only one won by Welles in 1941 for Best Screenplay of Citizen Kane, although he was given an honorary award much later in his career.
At the age of 25, Welles wrote, directed and starred in the film, which was named the AFI’s top film of the 20th century.
A previous auction in 2003 was stopped when the Academy intervened, but as Welles didn’t sign the Academy’s agreement to not sell the award on, a judge ruled that the trophy could go up for sale. The auction that led to in 2007 failed to find a buyer, but it was argued that the other items in the sale were historical documents rather than movie memorabilia.
Bidding on the statue ends on December 20th.
