Oscar-nominated actor Tony Curtis was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1925. After serving in the US Navy in WWII, he went on to star in more than 100 films, most memorably alongside Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot (1959). Towards the end of his life, Curtis had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and died from a heart attack outside his Las Vegas home in 2010, aged 85. Artwork and memorabilia that he produced, received and collected during his intriguing, if sometimes tragic, life, is now being auctioned by his estate.
The collection includes paintings by such luminaries as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, as well as pieces by Curtis himself - since the 1980s, he was painting and selling his work for 5 figure sums. It also includes ceramics and prints by the likes of Chagall and Braque, as well as various other 20th century painters from Europe and the US. An original piece by Warhol, entitled Some Like it Hot Shoe, is expected to fetch as much as 18,500 ($30,000).
Other items going under the hammer include the sailor's jacket that Curtis wore during the scene in which he first kisses Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, as well as a 14-carat gold and sapphire Faberge cigarette case and a rosewood flute given to Curtis by Frank Sinatra.
Before the auction takes place in Beverly Hills on 17th September, the items will go on display in an exhibition lasting 10 days. Darren Julien, of Julien's Auctions, said that Curtis always regarded himself as "an artist first and an actor second."
Curtis' personal life was fairly tumultuous. He had 5 different wives throughout his life, and struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. His son Nicholas died of a heroin overdose in 1984 aged just 23. Curtis was rushed to hospital suffering with cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcoholism and cocaine abuse that same year. He had heart bypass surgery in 1994, and, after contracting pneumonia in 2006, was in a coma for several days. Arnold Schwarzenegger and pornstar Ron Jeremy were amongst the famous faces at his funeral in 2010.
The collection includes paintings by such luminaries as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, as well as pieces by Curtis himself - since the 1980s, he was painting and selling his work for 5 figure sums. It also includes ceramics and prints by the likes of Chagall and Braque, as well as various other 20th century painters from Europe and the US. An original piece by Warhol, entitled Some Like it Hot Shoe, is expected to fetch as much as 18,500 ($30,000).
Other items going under the hammer include the sailor's jacket that Curtis wore during the scene in which he first kisses Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, as well as a 14-carat gold and sapphire Faberge cigarette case and a rosewood flute given to Curtis by Frank Sinatra.
Before the auction takes place in Beverly Hills on 17th September, the items will go on display in an exhibition lasting 10 days. Darren Julien, of Julien's Auctions, said that Curtis always regarded himself as "an artist first and an actor second."
Curtis' personal life was fairly tumultuous. He had 5 different wives throughout his life, and struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. His son Nicholas died of a heroin overdose in 1984 aged just 23. Curtis was rushed to hospital suffering with cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcoholism and cocaine abuse that same year. He had heart bypass surgery in 1994, and, after contracting pneumonia in 2006, was in a coma for several days. Arnold Schwarzenegger and pornstar Ron Jeremy were amongst the famous faces at his funeral in 2010.
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