Builder sells items from Hollywood star grandfather

Former possessions of Douglas Fairbanks Jr will be auctioned after the Hollywood actor's relative said it was time to move the items on.

Nick Weston, a builder from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, is selling items linked to the actor, who is his grandfather.

The collection includes a celluloid frame from 1952 cartoon Pluto's Party signed by Walt Disney and made out to Weston, which was gifted as a result of his grandfather's friendship with the animator.

"I have tried and tried to pass it on to my beautiful daughters and granddaughters, they're not interested, so it's time to move it on," Weston said.

Fairbanks Jr's film career began as a teenager during the silent pictures era, when he signed a contract with Paramount Pictures.

His father Douglas Fairbanks Sr had starred in silent adventure films including The Mark of Zorro and Robin Hood.

Fairbanks Jr went on to star in Our Modern Maidens opposite Joan Crawford, who he would later marry, and Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory, for which she won an Oscar.

After splitting from Crawford, the actor married Mary Lee Eppling.

Weston is the son of the couple's oldest daughter, Daphne Fairbanks, who moved to the UK in the 1940s and from whom he inherited the collection.

Weston followed his father into construction but was "very proud" of the Fairbanks name.

"When we were young kids we obviously had to be on our best behaviour and we were a little bit in awe of [his grandfather], if I'm honest," he said.

"As we got older and got to know him, we found him to be very engaging, very charismatic and a real raconteur.

"He was brilliant at mimicking other actors and he was good fun. It was nice to have spent time with him."

The collection goes under the hammer at the Hansons Auctioneers saleroom in Penshurst on 22 April.

Regional director for the auction house Justin Matthews said: "If anyone wants to own a true piece of Hollywood history, then obviously the sky's the limit."

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