Culture

The Keepsakes of a Hollywood Legend

Given the choice between a visit to the Hollywood Museum or the chance to rummage around in the attic of longtime Hollywood "superagent" Sue Mengers, we'd take her attic any day.

By Adam Martin
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Given the choice between a visit to the Hollywood Museum or the chance to rummage around in the attic of longtime Hollywood "superagent" Sue Mengers, we'd take her attic any day. As The New York Times' Michael Cieply points out, the estate auction for Mengers, who died last October at 79, is underway by Bonhams, and you can peruse the catalogue online. Yes, there's plenty of fine furniture and silver at the estate sale of the woman who represented stars like Steve McQueen and Barbara Streisand. But the real fun comes with her personal keepsakes from the Hollywood legends with whom she worked and socialized.

Our favorites are the paintings of Mengers by clients Jack Nicholson and David Arquette, featuring her trademark glasses, but there's lots worth perusing.

The clearer of Nicholson's two paintings:

Arquette's tattoo-like tribute:

There's this little comic strip by David Mammet, which you're better off viewing at Bonhams' site where you can zoom in, and which charmingly includes the inscription: " 'To Sue From Dave. Your pal, student + devote - 10 Jan. 0'8' [sic]."

Among Mengers' collections of books there's a 27-volume set of Gore Vidal's work, with most volumes inscribed to Mengers:

Similarly, all the authors of Mengers' 53-volume collection of celebrity memoirs inscribed their works, including Leni Riefenstahl:

There's a collection of LPs inscribed by Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, and Heaven's Gate director Michael Cimino:

And if you're so inclined, you can even buy Mengers' trademark glasses:

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.