UK sale of Star Wars actor memorabilia dropped after widow's plea

A British auction house on Friday dropped the sale of "Star Wars" memorabilia once owned by actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca, after a public plea from his widow.

Mayhew, who died in 2019, was a British-born actor who towered 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 metres) and played Chewbacca in the original film and sequels until 2015.

He and his American wife Angie sold their house in Keighley in northern England around 25 years ago, leaving early Star Wars memorabilia behind in the attic.

The next owners, who have not been named, found the material and eventually took it to local auctioneers, who were excited by the find and publicised it in national media, announcing its sale later this month.

The lots included memos, scripts and call sheets from the production of the original film and "The Empire Strikes Back", as well as signed photos and a scrapbook.

Ryedale Auctioneers set modest estimates of around ?150 ($180) per item but said they expected wide interest.

Mayhew's widow then posted on the Twitter account of the Peter Mayhew Foundation, a charity set up in his memory, saying: "It really breaks my heart to see our belongings auctioned off like this."

She said that when the couple moved, Mayhew's "movement challenges made it impossible for him to get into the attic to get the rest of these memories".

She said that it was "one of Peter's and my biggest regrets that we had to leave these items behind but his knees and joints had gotten to be so painful that he was no longer able to go into the attic to get them".

The foundation later said that it had held a video call with auctioneer Angus Ashworth and told him of "our desire that Peter's items be returned to Angie and the Mayhew family".

The auction house on Friday removed pictures of the lots from its website.

Ashworth said: "Knowing how much (the memorabilia) means to the foundation... 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".