ORTON (JOE)
Joe Orton's dark grey faux fur coat, bought by him in January 1967 as a present from his theatrical agent Peggy Ramsay at the Hepworths/Hardy Amies Tailoring Shop in the West End, and in 1987 loaned to the props department for the Stephen Frears film of John Lahr's Prick up your Ears, in which it was worn by its star Gary Oldman, with labels of the manufacturer ('Deep pile made of Acrilan with modacrylic/ Glenoit') and retailer ('Designed by Hardy Amies for Hepworths')
Footnotes:
'I'M FROM THE GUTTER' - JOE ORTON'S 'FABLED FUR COAT', WORN TWENTY YEARS LATER BY GARY OLDMAN IN PRICK UP YOUR EARS. ''You look very pretty in that fur coat you're wearing', Oscar Lewenstein said as we stood on the corner before going our separate ways. I said, 'Peggy bought it me. It was thirteen pounds fifteen.' 'Very cheap,' Michael White said. 'Yes, I've discovered I look better in cheap clothes.' 'I wonder what the significance of that is?' Oscar said. 'I'm from the gutter,' I said. 'And don't you ever forget it because I wont'' (Orton Diary, 9 January 1967).

The film of Prick Up Your Ears, with a screenplay by Alan Bennett, was directed by Stephen Frears and starred Gary Oldman as Orton, Alfred Molina as Halliwell and Vanessa Redgrave as Peggy Ramsay. The coat makes its first appearance in an early scene when Oldman dons it before entering Peggy's office to show it off to her, whereupon she laughingly exclaims 'Is that it? Is that my present? Oh but it's terrible, darling'. 'It was 14 quid'. 'Joe, I said splash out'. 'Cheap clothes suit me, they always have, it's because I'm from the gutter'. Oldman is also seen wearing it at the Evening Standard Award scene, and the subsequent episode in a public convenience.

Exhibited: 'Ortonesque; Joe Orton 1933-1967', Leicester's New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, March 3 - May 7 2007, retrospective exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of Orton's death, featuring a collection of his personal belongings. 'The star attraction is the fur coat his agent Peggy Ramsay bought for him' (University of Leicester press release); 'I'm From the Gutter', Joe Orton exhibition, Islington Museum (May 2001), described as 'Orton's fabled fur coat'.

Provenance: Joe Orton, a present from his agent Peggy Ramsay; sold on behalf of The Orton Estate. We are grateful for the help of Leonie Orton Barnett in cataloguing this and the following two lots.