Gregory Peck’s 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Script And Copy Of Novel Signed By Harper Lee Up For Auction

The treasures are amongst hundreds belonging to the legendary actor that are up for grabs.

A treasure trove of artifacts from the Golden Age of Hollywood is headed to auction.

Nearly 250 items from the property of legendary actor Gregory Peck and his wife, Veronique, will be offered via Heritage Auctions later this month. Highlights from the collection include a leather-bound, photo-filled To Kill a Mockingbird script—for which Peck won his first and only Oscar—and a 35th-anniversary copy of the novel signed by its author, Harper Lee.

Peck, whom the American Film Institute named 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema, is best known for playing Atticus Finch, the small-town Alabama lawyer tasked with proving the innocence of a Black man wrongly accused of rape. Generations of schoolchildren have watched the 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, which served as an introduction to Peck and the kinds of forthright, decent roles to which he was drawn.

“My dad was exactly who you think he was,” his son, Anthony Peck, said in a statement. “Harper Lee once said the role of Atticus Finch gave Gregory Peck the chance to play himself. Because he was that man.”

Many more of Peck’s personalized book-bound screenplays are also part of the collection, including Roman Holiday, Duel in the Sun, Spellbound, Cape Fear, and The Omen. Also available are the poker table, chairs and chips given to the Pecks by Frank and Barbara Sinatra, who joined them for regular games. There’s even an embroidered needlepoint Harper Lee gave to Peck on his 71st birthday amongst the actor’s beloved keepsakes.

"Everything in this auction was chosen in the interest of supporting our father’s legacy and showing the kind of man he was,” Anthony said in a statement. “He was so true to himself. He didn’t take a single job for the money. He did what he wanted to do and what interested him—and, honestly, that was helping others.

Anthony and his siblings will donate a portion of the auction’s proceeds to World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization founded by chef José Andrés to feed those impacted by war, disaster, and tragedy.

The auction launched on January 31 and runs through February 23. Visit HA.com for more information.

For more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Southern Living.