Prop stars!

Julia’s boots and Arnie’s sword in £4m movie sale

IF you have ever fancied owning memorabilia from some of Hollywood’s most famous movies, this could be your chance.

But film fans hoping to get their hands on any of these items are going to need fairly deep pockets.

Props including the thigh-high black patent leather boots worn by Julia Roberts’s character in Pretty Woman (1990), Arnold Schwarzenegger’s sword from Conan The Barbarian (1982) and Michael J Fox’s jacket from Back To The Future Part II (1989) are among more than 900 lots being auctioned by London-based TV and film memorabilia specialist Prop Store.

The boots were kept by Shelley Michelle, who appeared as Miss Roberts’s body double as prostitute Vivian Ward in the film and on the movie poster.

She passed them on to a collector. They are expected to fetch up to £15,000, as is Fox’s now-fragile jacket – which in the film adjusts itself to fit time-travelling Marty McFly. The sword has an estimate of between £30,000 and £50,000.

Organisers say the sale on December 1 and 2 should rake in more than £4.4million. Other items going under the hammer include the purple fedora Jack Nicholson wore as Joker in Batman in 1989, with a £30,000 estimate, Tom Hanks’ helmet from 1998’s Saving Private Ryan (£15,000), the suit jacket worn by Sean Connery as James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever in 1971 (£ 30,000) and Tom Cruise’s bomber jacket from 1986’s Top Gun (£16,000).

The helmet, autographed by Hanks and director Steven Spielberg, has come directly from the collection of the costume designer Joanna Johnston, while Nicholson insisted on a purple hat as his favourite basketball team, the LA Lakers, play in that colour.

Unusual items in the sale include the mechanical creature’s head from Alien (1979), with a top estimate of £60,000.

Prop Store chief executive Stephen Lane said the lots are ‘a fantastic collection for movie fans to get excited about about’. .

‘Fantastic collection’