Henry Aldridge & Son

The Devizes Auctioneers

 

 

 

 

Press Release

Important Peter Sellers Items to be auctioned

  

July 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of tragic death of Peter Sellers, one of the finest comedy talents ever to come from the UK. Henry Aldridge and Son, the Devizes auctioneers are marking this anniversary with the sale of several important items of Peter Sellers memorabilia at an auction on July 17th.

 

This group of items is led by one of if not the very last signature/document ever to be signed by Peter Sellers, signed at the Dorchester Hotel on the day of his fatal heart attack on the 22 July 1980. He never recovered from it and went into a coma for more than 30 hours and died at 12:26am on 24 July. The lot itself is a Trust Document dated July 22nd 1980. The agreement is between Peter Sellers, "Grantor", and Elwood Rickles & Michael Wolf, Trustees for 20,000 pounds sterling.  It reads in part: ".....The Trustees shall hold, manage, invest, reinvest the trust property for the benefit of Victoria Sellers, daughter of the Grantor, born January 20, 1965 upon the following terms:"

   

The document goes into great detail and lists several provisions about the disposition of the funds, a spendthrift provision, the trustee powers and various other terms and conditions. "....When Victoria Sellers attains the age of 21 years, this trust shall terminate, and the entire trust estate consisting of the principal but not the income of the trust, shall be paid and distributed to her, free and discharged of all trusts" 

 

The final page bears the signatures of Peter Sellers, Elwood Rickles and Michael Wolf as well as three witness’s signatures (six signatures in total). Peter Sellers' signature is large and in dark blue ink.  The document is on legal size paper. 

 

This document/trust agreement is exceptional on two fronts, one that it was the very last item ever to be signed by Peter and two because his daughter Victoria was left just £800 in Peters will and if this trust fund had been known about then she would of be left a very large amount on her 21st birthday. Victoria's life took a downward spiral after Peter’s death.

 

A reunion dinner was scheduled in London with his Goon Show partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe, for late July 1980. He was survived by his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick, and three children: Michael, Sarah and Victoria. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to undergo heart surgery in Los Angeles within the month. This lot is estimated at £1000-£1500.

 

Another fascinating piece of history relating to Sellers is a Golden Globe Award for the Best Motion Picture Actor in a Comedy or Musical to Peter Sellers in "Being There" 1979. The award was issued by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 26th 1980 in a ceremony in Los Angeles and was the only Golden Globe Sellers ever won. Peter Sellers also received an Oscar Nomination for this movie which was a comedy directed by Hal Ashby and starred Sellers and Shirley Maclaine, this piece of movie history is estimated to sell for £5000-£6000.

 

Also included is Peter Sellers last full Employment Agreement. This is a 27 page Employment Agreement dated January 1, 1979. This contract details the terms and conditions of Sellers employment with Artista Management. During the time that this contract was in effect, Sellers made his last three movies: "Being There", "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu". Sadly Sellers died a month before Dr. Fu Manchu was released.  On the last page of this document, Sellers has signed above his typed name. His signature is very large. There are two other signatures signed by Artista Managment.

 

The auction will be held on Saturday 17th July at 10am GMT and the lots can be viewed online from 15th July at www.henry-aldridge.com.