Olivia de Havilland’s Estate Hitting the Auction Block (Exclusive)

Gisèle Galante remembers a latest night by which she and her husband first watched Dodge Metropolis, the 1939 Michael Curtiz-directed western starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. As de Havilland’s daughter, born 17 years after that movie’s premiere, Galante was struck equally by her mom’s magnificence and her efficiency: “I had by no means seen it earlier than, however she was so, so fairly,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And regardless that it wasn’t what you’ll name a meaty function, she was glorious. There’s nonetheless a lot for me to find, extra of my mom’s movies that I’ve not seen.”

For a lot of classic-film followers, de Havilland’s demise in July 2020 on the age of 104 signified the tip of an period, the passing of maybe the final nice star of Hollywood’s golden years. Galante notes that she’s had these followers in thoughts whereas planning the public sale of her mom’s property, a two-part sale that kicks off with a web-based occasion that runs Might 13-23 and is organized by London-based Bonhams. “My mom had super respect for her followers; except she was sick, she answered each letter, and infrequently I helped her,” Galante says. “That’s actually why I’m doing this, as a result of I hope it is going to be a chance for individuals who beloved her to buy one thing that belonged to her.”

“The Collection of Olivia de Havilland” is cut up into two occasions that characterize the 2 major phases of the actress’ life. Might’s on-line public sale showcases heaps that characterize the Oscar winner’s Hollywood years, a set of mementos that features presents from luminaries together with Jimmy Stewart and Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.

Then, on Oct. 4 in Paris, Bonhams will current a web-based and in-person sale of de Havilland’s furnishings, paintings and different ornamental objects, collected through the years after she moved to the French capital in 1953 and married Pierre Galante, Gisèle’s father after which the editor of Paris Match.

“It actually is smart when you consider it, as a result of my mom had two lives,” Gisèle explains. “There was the very glamorous life she lived in Hollywood, after which a unique type of life when she moved to Paris, married my father and had me. She actually embraced the Parisian tradition and discovered how you can converse French completely. She employed a personal trainer, and within the sale you’ll discover her notebooks with the workouts she did to good her French.”

De Havilland’s early years in Paris are captured in a lighthearted memoir she wrote about adjusting to life in France, Each Frenchman Has One, first revealed by Random Home in 1962 and reissued in 2016 to coincide with the star’s one centesimal birthday.

The Hollywood heaps certainly are linked to a few of cinema’s most iconic stars. A floral-embossed silver compact owned by longtime pal and co-star Bette Davis was given to de Havilland after the previous star handed by Davis’s longtime assistant, whereas a silver field engraved with “For Olivia, With Many Thanks, from Sammy” was a present from Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.

Among the many most high-profile objects, in the meantime, is bound to be a Financial institution of America examine for $30, written from de Havilland to Errol Flynn and signed by each stars, who had been amongst Hollywood’s most well-known onscreen pairings and made eight movies collectively, together with 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Whereas Galante says her mom made no advance plans about promoting her property whereas she was nonetheless alive, she did make one request: {that a} portion of any property sale’s proceeds can be donated to The American Cathedral in Paris, which was constructed within the late Eighteen Eighties. “She advised me she trusted me and requested me to be beneficiant with the American Cathedral,” Galante says. “My mom was a longtime parishioner and browse the teachings on Christmas and Easter, so she actually needed the cathedral to be remembered.”

As soon as Bonhams was introduced in to arrange the sale — really helpful to Galante by Fraser Heston, son of Charlton Heston, whose property was bought by Bonhams in 2016 — the public sale home made a number of discoveries whereas analyzing de Havilland’s possessions, which had been maintained in pristine situation. “My mom saved every little thing, and it was additionally extremely well-organized,” Galante says. “We discovered electrical payments courting again to the Nineteen Thirties. For most of the furnishings and antiques, which my mom purchased in London and Paris, we additionally discovered the unique receipts. The Bonhams representatives had been each impressed and fairly thrilled to have these for the provenance of a number of objects.”

Different heaps within the Hollywood sale additionally level to de Havilland’s well-known relationships throughout that interval of her life. A group of bijou given by Jimmy Stewart to de Havilland features a letter that alludes to their closeness between 1939 and the early Forties, whereas a pair of World Conflict II ration books dated 1943 are issued to each de Havilland and director John Huston. “They had been in a relationship for a few years, and my mom as soon as advised me that John Huston was the love of her life,” Galante says.

De Havilland additionally was identified for favoring Christian Dior, in each her private life and her movies, notably sporting the home’s designs in 1956’s The Ambassador’s Daughter and 1962’s Gentle within the Piazza. The vast majority of her private Dior wardrobe was bought in two auctions through the actress’s lifetime, most just lately in 2019, however the Bonhams public sale features a group of Dior authentic sketches, produced previous to de Havilland’s look on the 1963 Academy Awards. “That’s additionally a beautiful reminiscence for me, as a result of I bear in mind my mom taking me after I was seven or eight years outdated to Christian Dior for each the style reveals, which had been way more intimate again then, in addition to her fittings,” Galante says. “It was not like what you see now with style reveals, but it surely was nonetheless very glamorous.”

Different objects within the Might sale embrace wristwatches, a set of images from 1949’s The Heiress (one in every of de Havilland’s two Oscar-winning roles, following 1946’s To Every His Personal) and the Olivetti typewriter the actress used for correspondence in her Paris residence. For Galante, a key to the Beverly Hills Lodge additionally conjures ideas of a go to to Hollywood whereas her mom was filming 1964’s Hush…Hush, Candy Charlotte. “My mom was an enormous consumer of the Beverly Hills Lodge,” Galante says. “That’s the place I found American TV, milkshakes and how you can swim within the lodge pool.”

The October sale, in the meantime, will concentrate on items together with the desk and lacquered tables within the workplace that de Havilland known as “the Oscar room” — “the place all her prizes had been displayed,” Galante says. “She would kind letters to her followers, and as a young person I’d put my ft on these low, lacquered Chinese language tables, whereas my mom would level out that they had been valuable antiques.”

When requested what she wouldn’t half with for the sale, Galante doesn’t hesitate. “Her Oscars won’t ever go to public sale; my mom can be so upset with me if I bought them,” she says. “Proper now they’re residing on our mantelpiece, and in the future they’ll be donated to an establishment, however they’ll by no means be bought.” Galante can be maintaining a cherished teapot that includes the de Havilland crest — “My mom beloved to entertain folks with tea, adopted by Champagne,” she says — in addition to a wide range of authentic sketches and caricatures, a lot of which had been solely found after de Havilland’s passing. “I knew my mom was an excellent actress and an excellent author, however I by no means realized what an exquisite artist she was till I discovered possibly dozens of lovely drawings and caricatures,” Galante notes. “Nobody has seen these drawings, so my plan is to border them and put a lot of them in our residence, whereas others I’ll give to household and buddies.”

Probably the most difficult second, Galante admits, shall be attending the October occasion in Paris. “It might be just a little emotional, seeing all of my mom’s cherished items collectively once more,” she says. “However I additionally know proceeds from the sale are going to a superb trigger. And hopefully [the new owners] received’t put their ft up on the tables.”