Stanley Kramer’s Custom-bound Scripts of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and High Noon to Auction

Scripts from the personal library of the late American director-producer Stanley Kramer will go under the hammer at Heritage Auctions on July 25-26.

Kramer concentrated on tackling subjects with important social and political messages, earning 85 Academy Award nominations and 15 wins over 35 movies 

The highlight the auction is his personal library of the scripts of his movies. Leather-bound by Kramer, these include Death of a Salesman, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, High Noon, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Some include Kramer’s hand notations in ink and graphite, revision pages, and added plot suggestions. 

Other items include gifts to Kramer from his stars including a handmade ceramic sculpture of a ship flying black, red and gold flags with numerous passengers on its deck, made by Spencer Tracy with Tracey’s hand-painted lettering “To Stanley Kramer from Spencer Tracy”. Also included in the sale are a selection of his personally owned original movie posters including the 1963 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

“We’re thrilled to offer such a significant and personal collection from one of the greatest directors and producers in cinema history,” said Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s Executive Vice President. “The resonance of Stanley Kramer’s career cannot be overstated. He is a producer’s producer, a director’s director, and a force of social change whose output changed hearts and minds even as he created some of Hollywood’s greatest works of art.”