money Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward Collection Will Be Auctioned in June by Sotheby’s (Exclusive)
A pair of items once owned by the late Paul Newman — specifically, two wristwatches — have already proven themselves to be highly collectible at auction, with a rare Rolex Daytona gaveling for $17.8 million in 2017 and another Daytona selling for $5.4 million three years later.
Now, Sotheby’s auction house is readying a sale of more than 300 items from the collection of Newman, who died in 2008 at age 83, and his wife of 50 years, 93-year-old, Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward. (The actress was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007.)
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Set to take place across a series of Sotheby’s sales this June in New York, the collection, titled “The World of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman,” encompasses objects that provide a window into both the professional and personal lives of the couple, recently chronicled in the six-part HBO Max docuseries The Last Movie Stars, directed by Ethan Hawke.
“Our parents have dedicated their lives to pursuing the things that inspired them, whether personally, professionally or as collectors. We hope the public takes as much pleasure from this collection that our family has cherished for decades, which offers further insight into who they were beyond their glamorous Hollywood personas,” said members of the Newman Woodward family in a statement about the auction.
The collection of the couple — drawn primarily from their longtime home in Connecticut — includes entertainment memorabilia that ranges from autographed scripts and awards to props and wardrobe items associated with such films as The Color of Money, The Three Faces of Eve, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, No Down Payment, Hud and Rachel, Rachel. While a complete list of items included in the sales has not yet been released by Sotheby’s, one sample lot will be the shackles that were worn by Newman in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. (They carry an estimate of $3,000-$5,000.) Also being sold is the script for the 1963 romantic comedy A New Kind of Love, which co-starred the couple, with an estimate of $600-$800.
Another suite of items to be sold by Sotheby’s highlights Newman’s long-time passion for motor-car racing and will include everything from racing suits and helmets to championship rings, medals and awards won by the Newman/Haas racing team and at the Rolex 24 at Daytona race. An embroidered racing suit worn by Newman at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1971 during a celebrity pro race is being sold and carries an estimate of $15,000-$25,000; it was seen in the 1971 racing documentary Once Upon a Wheel, which was hosted by Newman.
“There is a lifetime worth of things that paint a picture of this couple,” says Mari-Claudia Jiménez, chairman, managing director & worldwide head of business development for global fine art at Sotheby’s, in a phone interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “In going through all of these materials, we really were able to see very distinct themes and different aspects of their lives — them as celebrities, them as family people who liked to hang out at their home in Connecticut, as athletes. She was very into ballet, he was a famous race-car driver, and they skied.”
Jiménez notes that one little-known fact about Newman and Woodward was that they were “very passionate collectors” of 19th century American folk art and Americana furniture. “That was something very important to them,” she says.
She also details that the sale will shine a light on Newman as an activist. Says Jiménez, “Because of his involvement in the civil rights movement, Nixon placed him on his enemies list. And [Newman] very proudly displayed that picture of Nixon declaring him an enemy of the state in his office, and we’re selling that.” The actor also famously co-founded Newman’s Own, which raised hundreds of millions for charitable causes.
“I think really what the sale brings to light is aspects of them that we as fans would never necessarily have known,” continues Jiménez. “We all have this vision of them as movie stars yet they were much more than that. These objects that they chose to surround themselves with meaningfully tell you who they are.”
While specific dates of the sales have yet to be released, Sotheby’s plans to preview highlights of the collection in a public exhibition at its galleries on York Avenue in New York City, opening June 1.
Other items in the sale include Woodward’s wedding dress and ring from her and Newman’s 1958 nuptials; photographs of the actors with fellow stars including Robert Redford and Anthony Perkins; and political and presidential memorabilia including photographers and autographed letters from Presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush and first lady Michelle Obama.
Two things that won’t be included in the sale of course are Woodward’s Oscar statuette for 1958’s The Three Faces of Eve and Newman’s Oscar for 1987’s The Color of Money, as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences expressly forbids the sale of Oscar statues “without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00,” according to AMPAS rules. “Those are being kept [by the family],” says Jiménez of the couple’s Oscars.
