Stars’ artifacts go up for bid
Shackles from the film “Cool Hand Luke”; a script from the 1963 comedy “A New Kind of Love”; the wedding dress that Joanne Woodward wore the day she married Paul
Newman in 1958.
These artifacts, along with 300 others, tell the story of a union between two of Hollywood’s most enduring film stars that lasted more than a half century. It began in 1953 and lasted until Newman, a titan of the screen, died in 2008 at the age of 83. Woodward, 93, has kept a private life since she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007.
The objects will be put up for sale in a series of auctions by Sotheby’s.
The sales, which will take place online and in person in New York, follow the release of “The Last Movie Stars,” a sixpart HBO Max documentary series directed by
Ethan Hawke and based on audio transcripts of interviews with the couple’s friends, colleagues and family members.
The items include family photographs and autographed scripts, as well as awards, props and costumes from films including “The Color of Money,” “The Three Faces of Eve” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” Sotheby’s said.
Woodward’s wedding ring; autographed letters and photographs from presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; antique furniture and art, as well as racing memorabilia kept by Newman, a race car driver, will also go on the block.
Sotheby’s has estimated that an embroidered suit worn by Newman at a 1971 Ontario Motor Speedway race could sell for up to $25,000; that the “Cool Hand Luke” shackles could sell for up to $5,000; and that Woodward’s wedding dress could fetch up to $1,200.
Newman and Woodward, both Academy Award winners, were also political liberals and philanthropists.
Their family said that they hoped the public would enjoy the collection, which offers a glimpse into who the actors were “beyond their glamorous Hollywood personas.”
Sizemore dies after suffering aneurysm
Tom Sizemore, 61, the “Saving Private Ryan” actor whose bright 1990s star burned out under the weight of his own domestic violence and drug convictions, died Friday.
The actor suffered a brain aneurysm Feb. 18 at his home in Los Angeles. He died in his sleep Friday at a hospital in Burbank, Calif., his manager Charles Lago said.
Sizemore became a star with acclaimed appearances in “Natural Born Killers” and the cultclassic crime thriller “Heat.” But substance dependency, abuse allegations and multiple run-ins with the law devastated his career, left him homeless and sent him to jail.
Despite the legal trouble, Sizemore had scores of steady film and television credits. Aside from “Black Hawk Down” and “Pearl Harbor,” most of his 21st-century roles came in low-budget, littleseen productions where he played the gruff, tough guy.
“I was a guy who’d come from very little and risen to the top. I’d had the multimillion-dollar house, the Porsche, the restaurant I partially owned with Robert De Niro,” Sizemore wrote in his 2013 memoir, “By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There.” “And now I had absolutely nothing.”
The book’s title was taken from a line uttered by his character in “Saving Private Ryan.” He wrote that success turned him into a “spoiled movie star,” an “arrogant fool” and “a hope-to-die addict.”
He racked up a string of domestic violence arrests. Sizemore was married once, to actor Maeve Quinlan, and was arrested on suspicion of beating her in 1997. While the charges were dropped, the couple divorced in 1999.
Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003 and sentenced to jail.
The actor was the subject of two workplace sexual harassment lawsuits related to the 2002 CBS show “Robbery Homicide Division.” He was arrested as recently as 2016 in another domestic violence case.
Sizemore ended up in jail from August 2007 to January 2009 for failing numerous drug tests.
He appeared on the reality TV show “Celebrity Rehab” and its spinoff “Sober House.”
Many of Sizemore’s later-career films had a sci-fi, horror or action bent. But Sizemore still nabbed a few meaty roles — including in the “Twin Peaks” revival — and guest spots on shows like “Entourage” and “Hawaii Five- O.” In addition he was part of the voice cast for 2002’s “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” video game.
He is survived by his 17-year-old twin sons, Jayden and Jagger, and his brother, Paul.