OTTO PREMINGER LEAVES BULK OF ESTATE TO WIFE
NEW YORK — Except for a $15,000 bequest to a niece, movie director Otto Preminger left his entire estate to his wife, according to a will filed for probate in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court.
The size of the estate was given as “more than $500,000,†a legal category that could mean it is much more than $500,000.
The Vienna-born Preminger, director of “Exodus,†“Anatomy of a Murder†and scores of other famous films, died at age 80 on April 23.
His 20-page will, signed Nov. 17, 1983, gives half of the estate outright to his wife, Hope, who lived with him on Manhattan’s East Side. It also gives her jewelry, art, books and other valuables.
The remaining half, after payment of debts, is left in trust for Mrs. Preminger. Upon her death, the trust principal is to be divided equally among Preminger’s two sons and daughter.
The niece named in Preminger’s will is Justice Eve Preminger Friedman, a judge in the Criminal Term of the New York Supreme Court.
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