Los Angeles, Feb 25 (IANS) The Best Picture Oscar statuette which was given to producer David O. Selznick for the 1939 classic Gone With the Wind and was later bought by late King of Pop Michael Jackson during an auction, is missing from the singer's property.
Jackson, a movie buff, had bought the statuette in 1999 for $1.54 million - the most ever spent on an Oscar (the Academy has since imposed rules against selling Oscars, but those didn't exist when "Gone With the Wind" won back in 1940).
When Jackson died unexpectedly in 2009 at the age of 50, the executors of his estate began taking inventory of the assets the entertainer had left behind. However, the statuette was not found in any of his property, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
Jackson is presumed to have kept the Oscar at either his Neverland estate near Ojai, California, or at the Los Angeles home where he was living when he died.
But the Oscar was not found among his belongings, according to the estate. A Jackson family member might have absconded with the trophy, it might simply be hidden and unaccounted for in a storage facility with other possessions, or it might have been stolen during the commotion surrounding his death. Regardless, if it does show up, Jackson's executors will be waiting to reclaim it.
"The estate does not know where the 'Gone With the Wind' statuette is. We would like to have that Oscar because it belongs to Michael's children. I'm hopeful it will turn up at some point, Jackson's attorney Howard Weitzman said.
