Citizen Kane Oscar up for auction

Last Modified: 11 Dec 2007
Source: ITN

The Oscar and script for Orson Welles' Citizen Kane is going under the hammer at Sotheby's in New York.

The Academy Award for Best Screenplay is expected to fetch up to $1.2 million (£60,000), while Welles' personal working copy of the script could bring in $120,000 (£60,000).

A Sotheby's spokeswoman said the Oscar, once thought to be lost by Welles himself, was discovered in 1994 and returned to the Orson Welles Estate in 2003 after a lengthy legal battle.

It is now being sold by the Dax Foundation, a Los Angeles-based, non-profit foundation on behalf of the estate.

Leila Dunbar, director of Sotheby's collectibles department, added: "The Citizen Kane script is the most important screenplay of all time.

"It was a collaboration where Herman Mankiewicz set the foundation and Orson Welles added the emotion, depth and power, raising the text to a much higher level. Mankiewicz gave the story life but Welles made it immortal."

The 1941 classic was recently voted the number one film in history by the American Film Institute. It was also named the greatest film of all time by the British Film Institute in 2002.

These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.