Fake Oscar internet auction cancelled
Published August 5th, 2006
An internet auction for a 1944 film Oscar was cancelled Friday after the Academy Award institute declared it a first-class fake.
The auction agency, Mastro Auctions, had asked the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to authenticate the statue, which allegedly was given to US director Leo McCarey for his 1944 Going My Way starring Bing Crosby.
While the copy looks similar, the academy found it was a pound too heavy and carried a faked plaque.
The auction was planned for August 16.
McCarey also won Oscars for directing The Awful Truth in 1937 and as script author for Love Affair in 1939.
The late director’s daughter, Mary McCarey Washburn, told the Academy of her suspicions about the statue. She said all three of her father’s Oscars were still in her possession. McCarey died in 1969.
The seller could have been tricked, and the film institute plans to pursue the issue as a copyright infringement in case a culprit is found.
