The Bill Collins’ Golden Years of Hollywood Auction is an unprecedented and once in a lifetime opportunity to own a piece of Hollywood with thousands of precious items available from Bill and his wife Joan Collins’ private collections. The Bill Collins’ Golden Years of Hollywood Auction will stream live from Sunday October 18 at 2pm with a series of Timed Bid Auctions to follow every weekend until Sunday November 29 through Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers with the auction items now live and open for bidding through theodorebruceauctions.com.au
Bill Collins passed away peacefully, at the age of 84, in June 2019, bringing down the curtain on a remarkable life. Only one man on Australian television earned the title “Mr Movies”- a legend, an icon, an authority and an historian. Bill’s passion for filmmaking, his eye for detail and his knowledge of the work of the great screen talents, added with his natural charisma and spirited presentations, Bill Collins’ Golden Years of Hollywood on Foxtel’s FOX Classics turned watching a movie presented by Bill into an event.
Bill Collins introduced generations of viewers to the world of movies and privately he enjoyed building a vast collection of books, photographs, publicity material and movie ephemera that supported his long career in understanding the movies and the effort that goes into making them.
Both Bill and Joan Collins started this process with Theodore Bruce Auctioneers a few years ago, prior to his passing and felt strongly about making the collection accessible to all of Bill’s fans in Australia and around the world. The auction as intended is an opportunity for everyone to Bid and own a piece of Hollywood history with items ranging from movie posters to lobby cards, autographed Hollywood head shots, first-edition books, figurines, movie memorabilia and the Bill Collins’ LaserDisc collection.
James Badgery at Theodore Bruce Auctioneers said: “Once every few years we get to work on a collection that everyone seems to enjoy, this is one of those collections.”
“What first stuck us was the volume of the collection, it is truly comprehensive and after working our way through the collection, we have been deeply impressed by the lack of duplication and the great scope of classic movies that the collection represents,” James said.
Bill’s wife Joan Collins said: “There are so many people who supported, followed and loved Bill, who may like to own some of his personal treasures. Bill and I would often meet so many lovers of The Golden Years of Hollywood movies, Bill liked hearing the stories from fans about how the movies that he loved also touched their lives.”
Joan notes, “One of Bill’s prized possessions was his signed Olivia de Havilland photograph that hung in our foyer. He would often reminisce about the conversation that he experienced with her, over many meetings.”
Another of Bill’s most special items is his Gone With The Wind lobby cards with Joan reminiscing: “I remember the 2001 bushfires in the Blue Mountains where we lived. We were forced to evacuate our beautiful home in Winmalee with very little notice. We fled with our beloved pets and Bill’s precious Gone With The Wind lobby cards, and nothing more. We were lucky at that time our house was saved. This illustrates just how treasured these Lobby cards were to Bill.”
THE BILL COLLINS GOLDEN YEARS OF HOLLYWOOD AUCTION
October 18 Bill Collins- The Golden Years of Hollywood Live Auction from 2pm
October 24 At Home with Bill & Joan Collins | Timed Online
October 25 Autographed Photos | The Bill Collins Archives
October 31 Lobby Cards & Programs | The Bill Collins Archives
November 1 Movie Stills & Publicity | The Bill Collins Archives
November 7 Movie Press & Publicity | The Bill Collins Archives
November 8 The Bill Collins Library | Research & History
November 14 Daybill Movie Posters | The Bill Collins Archives
November 15 Movie Posters | The Bill Collins Archives
November 20 Head Shot Portraits | The Bill Collins Archives
November 21 LaserDiscs & Vinyl | The Bill Collins Archives
November 27 TV Production & Ephemera | The Bill Collins Archives
November 29 Pop Culture | The Bill Collins Archives
The Collins’ Family are also delighted to be able to donate books from Bill’s library collection to the Australian Film, Radio and Television School in Sydney. Bill loved books and was a passionate reader and from a very early age started a library of his own and after a lifetime of collecting, Bill established an outstanding and extensive personal library of over 35,000 books.
Joan said: “Bill was a Teacher and an Historian and one of the great pleasures in life for him was to educate people about film. As part of Bill’s legacy, we are delighted to announce that we have decided to donate his library, a lifetime of collecting, to the prestigious Australian Film, Radio and Television school in Sydney as we feel there could be no better match. This brings us much comfort knowing that Bill’s Library goes on to educate future generations.”
AFTRS CEO Dr Nell Greenwood said: “The Jerzy Toeplitz Library at the Australian Film Television and Radio School is very proud to be the new home to the Bill Collins collection, with over 35,000 books and a Hollywood Walk of Fame Stone. This is an extremely important book collection which contains many rare and important books on filmmaking and film history. We thank the Collins Family for their incredibly kind and generous donation. Future generations of Australian storytellers will now be able to access, learn from and be enriched by these valuable resources.”
The Bill Collins’ Golden Years of Hollywood Auction items are now live and able to view ahead of auction through theodorebruceauctions.com.au
Bill Collins is a treasured member of the Foxtel family and his legacy lives on with Bill Collins’ Golden Years of Hollywood which continues to be available to stream through a dedicated section of Foxtel’s On Demand library.
