Dallas, Texas – The couch on which actor Glenn Ford (1916 – 2006) made love at his Beverly Hills home with actress Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962) is among the dozens of personal items, costumes and documents from Ford’s estate that will be offered in a public auction in Dallas, Texas and online by Heritage Auction Galleries (www.HA.com), October 4 – 6, 2008.
The auction also features hundreds of publicity photographs, movie stills and documents from the estate of actor, Boris Karloff (1887 – 1967), including items related to his famous 1931 film, “Frankenstein.”
The eight-foot long, tartan design couch is accompanied by Ford’s handwritten account of his night with Monroe which he wrote on the back of an oil painting of a little girl that hung near the couch that was Monroe’s favorite painting, according to Ford’s account. Ford wrote, “When we made love she whispered, ‘I wish I could die right now, while I’m happy.'”
This is the first time a tryst between Ford and Monroe has been revealed and confirmed by his son, Peter Ford, who consigned the items to the auction. The writing on the back of the painting was not discovered by him until after the legendary actor’s death two years ago.
“To the movie going public, Glenn Ford is remembered as a laconic, laid-back ‘everyman,’ very much in the fashion of Jimmy Stewart, and as an actor he was. But beneath that calm exterior was an incurable romantic with a love for life and an insatiable appetite for the ladies. In this he did not discriminate,” said Peter Ford, who also consigned items from his mother, acclaimed movie dancer Eleanor Powell (1912 – 1982), Glenn Ford’s first wife.
“He had affairs with Hollywood’s most notable from Rita Hayworth, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and many more, as well as with other, unheralded females of his life who you would have never heard of. But one thing is certain: he was never without passion. Jimmy Stewart on the outside, perhaps, but he had the lust and libido of an Errol Flynn.”
Well-known for his roles in Westerns as well as other films, three of Glenn Ford’s cowboy hats with his name embossed on the sweatbands will be offered in the auction, along with personal letters sent to him by Presidents Nixon and Reagan, and, interestingly, even a canceled $5.95 check Ford wrote in 1973 for a one-year subscription to The National Enquirer.
Items from the Karloff estate include a rare autograph signed, “Boris Karloff/Frankenstein.”
“Karloff’s daughter, Sara Karloff Sparkman, consigned the historic material from her father’s long stage and movie career. Despite his terrifying on-screen image as Frankenstein’s monster or The Mummy, Boris Karloff was ‘the Gentleman King of Horror,'” said Doug Norwine, Heritage’s Director of Music and Entertainment Memorabilia.
Other featured items in the auction include one of only two known surviving 45 RPM records autographed by Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “the Big Bopper” (J.P. Richardson) at the historic February 2, 1959 Clear Lake, Iowa concert shortly before they were killed in a plane crash; original paintings by Frank Sinatra; and wristwatches worn by Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain.
For additional information, contact Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas at (800) 872-6467 or online at www.HA.com
