Photos of golden age stars up for auction

A collection by renowned photographer Angus McBean is up for auction on April 12 at Lacy, Scott and Knight Auctioneers Pictured: Edward Crichton with McBeans' favourite photograph, it is of vivien leigh, and on the table is Spike Milligan

Published on 10/02/2013 09:49

A valuable and unique collection of work by surrealist and theatrical photographer Angus McBean, who in later life lived near Eye and ran a Debenham antiques shop, is to go under the hammer.

His portfolio is a virtual ‘who’s who’ of mid 20th Century celebrity history, spanning a range of silver screen legends from Marlene Dietrich, Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud and Richard Burton, to musical giants such The Beatles who he photographed for the cover of their Please Please Me album.

The collection will be broken down into 200 to 300 lots and will be auctioned by Lacy Scott and Knight in Bury St Edmunds on April 12. The sale will include a prized visitor book from the celebrated photographer’s London studio, which features more than 1,000 signatures of his star clientele from the 1940s onwards. The book carries an estimate of £5,000 to £10,000.

Ed Crichton, fine art manager at Lacy Scott, said: “It’s incredibly unique and a fascinating sale. There won’t be another collection like this in the world. All of the society magazines, when they interviewed a star, they would put them in a taxi and send them to McBean’s studio to be photographed.” Mr McBean semi-retired to Flemings Hall, Bedingfield, and ran an antiques business at the former Guildhall, Debenham. He died in 1990. His partner and studio assistant, David Ball, is selling the collection before emigrating to Morocco.

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Photos of golden age stars up for auction

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