NEW YORK: A script of "The Godfather" annotated by Marlon Brando sold for a record US$312,800 last Thursday at an auction of the late screen legend's personal effects at Christie's in New York.

The script of the 1972 classic, which won Brando a second best actor Oscar for his portrayal of mafia kingpin Don Corleone, was the highlight of the sale, and attracted heavy bidding from the outset.

The lot was finally snapped up by a telephone bidder for more than 20 times its high estimate of US$15,000 and set a new world auction record for a script.

The previous best was the US$244,000 paid for Clark Gable's "Gone With the Wind" script in 1996.

A handwritten letter from the creator of "The Godfather," Mario Puzo, urging Brando to take the role of Don Corleone, also attracted strong bidding and finally sold for US$132,000, way above the Christie's high estimate of US$1,200.

"Dear Mr. Brando, I wrote a book called THE GODFATHER which has had some success and I think you're the only actor who can play the part," the signed letter began.

"I know this was presumptuous of me but the best I can do by the book is try. I really think you'd be tremendous," Puzo wrote.

The property going under the hammer on Thursday comprised nearly 330 lots, most of them from the Los Angeles home where the increasingly reclusive actor lived from 1960 until his death in July 2004.

The sale totalled US$2.4 million, more than twice the initial estimate.

"It was a fitting tribute to arguably the world's greatest film actor and a 20th century icon," said Helen Bailey, head of Christie's Popular Arts department.

As well as souvenirs from Brando's lengthy screen career, many lots featured Brando's correspondence, both letters and telegrams, with fellow 20th century icons like Marilyn Monroe and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who wrote in 1959 asking for Brando's support in the fight to integrate US schools.

The King letter sold for US$13,200.

Among the stranger items was a table football set which brought in US$5,400.

The run up to the auction had not been a smooth one with Brando's son Christian, 47, reportedly furious at the way Brando's estate handled the sale.

Christian's lawyer, Theresa Bingham, said her client believed many of the lots in the auction were items that the actor would never have wanted sold.

Bingham specifically demanded that Christie's pull lot 150 a 14-carat gold Saint Christopher's medallion that Christian's mother, Anna Kashfi, had given her son.

The auction house confirmed before the sale that the heirloom had been returned.

But other members of the Brando clan were happy with the success of the auction.

"I feel humbled by collectors and fans who have spent so freely to own a piece of my father's heritage and history," said Miko Brando, the actor's second-eldest child.

Brando, who was married and divorced three times, had 11 children with his three wives and several other women, including his Guatemalan housekeeper.

(China Daily 07/06/2005 page13)