Star Wars: Chewbacca script auction halted after family plea

Star Wars memorabilia left in an attic by Chewbacca star Peter Mayhew and set for auction is to be returned to his widow after she issued a public plea.

Scripts and call sheets from the films were due to be sold after a couple who found them in their loft 25 years later passed them to auctioneers.

His widow, Angie, pleaded to halt the sale, saying leaving the items was one of her husband's "biggest regrets".

Auctioneer Angus Ashworth said he was "happy" to return the items.

Writing on the Peter Mayhew Foundation's Twitter account, Mrs Mayhew said she had previously lived in the property with her husband, who was 7ft 3in (2.2m), but when they moved out his "movement challenges" made it "impossible" for him to get into the attic to collect the items.

She said it was "one of Peter's and my biggest regrets that we had to leave these items behind" and described it as "heart-breaking" to see them go up for sale.

Mr Mayhew died aged 74 in 2019.

Mr Ashworth, based in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, explained: "I was approached by a lovely older couple who were clearing their attic a quarter of a century after moving into their property.

"The contents of the attic included a bag of Star Wars memorabilia, which I thought might be of some interest to Star Wars fans.

"This wasn't unusual, film memorabilia comes up for auction all the time and there was some subsequent press interest.

"The first I knew that the Peter Mayhew Foundation wanted to acquire it was following a tweet which garnered a lot of misinformed responses."

Mr Ashworth said: "Nobody had approached us to discuss it and had they done so I would of course have talked to the vendors.

"The monetary value of the lot is fairly modest, but knowing how much it means to the foundation, and given that it had been in the attic for over 24 years, the vendors are quite happy to donate it to the foundation to have permanently within their personal collection, not for profit, so that fans can access it in perpetuity.

"I can only apologise to all of the Star Wars fans who had already shown great interest in owning a bit of film history."

Born in Barnes, London, Mr Mayhew played Wookiee warrior Chewbacca in Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).

Despite health issues arising from his height, that at one time required him to use a wheelchair, he returned for the sequels Revenge Of The Sith (2005) and The Force Awakens (2015) before handing the role to Finnish actor Joonas Suotamo.

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