And Welles’ Oscar goes to . . .
Orson Welles’ 1941 Oscar for “Citizen Kane,†considered one of the greatest movies of all time, will go on the auction block in December and is expected to fetch $800,000 to $1.2 million, Sotheby’s auction house said Tuesday.
The golden statuette, believed to have been once lost by Welles himself, resurfaced in 1994 and, after an extended legal battle, was returned to his estate. In 2003, it was acquired by the Dax Foundation, a Los Angeles-based charity. The proceeds will help fund the organization’s worldwide efforts.
Welles won the Oscar for co-writing (with Herman J. Mankiewicz) the screenplay for “Citizen Kane,†which he also directed and starred in.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which bestows the Academy Awards, is opposed to such sales but lacks the authority to prevent them on Oscars presented before 1950. Since then, winners have been required to agree not to sell the statuettes to anyone other than the academy -- and then for $1.
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