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Orson Welles' Citizen Kane Oscar auctioned in US | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The Oscar won by Orson Welles for writing the groundbreaking 1941 film Citizen Kane has sold at auction in California for $861,542 (£549,721). | |
Welles wrote, directed and starred in the film, regarded by many as one of the greatest films of all time. | |
It was nominated for nine Academy Awards but won in only one category - best original screenplay. | |
The statuette, Welles' only Oscar, was once thought lost but resurfaced in 1994 when a US man tried to sell it. | |
Cinematographer Gary Graver claimed Welles had given it to him as a form of payment. | |
Numerous legal battles ensued before Welles's won back the rights of ownership. | |
The identity of the bidder who won it at an internet auction has not been revealed. But the auction house said the second-highest offer came from magician David Copperfield. | |
Academy Awards very rarely come up for sale. Since 1950, the academy has required Oscar winners to sign an agreement that they will never sell their statuette. | |
But some high-profile sales have taken place before. In 1999, singer Michael Jackson paid $1.54m for the Oscar given to David O Selznick for producing Gone With The Wind. |