LONDON.- The car bought new by 1940s star of stage and screen Margaret Lockwood (1916 – 1990) with one of her first film pay cheques is to be offered for sale at the
Bonhams Beaulieu Sale in Hampshire on Saturday 8th September – one week before what would have been her 96th birthday.
The 1938 Delage D6-70 Tourer, in striking red-and-black paintwork, was purchased by the actress directly from the Delage stand at the 1938 Motor Show.
Born on 15th September 1916 in Karachi, British India (now Karachi, Pakistan), Margaret Lockwood attended Sydenham High School for Girls in London before studying for the stage at the Italia Conti, making her debut in 1928 aged 12.
After further training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and numerous other theatre roles, she entered films in 1934, starring in the 1935 film version of Lorna Doone.
In 1938 she appeared with Michael Redgrave in what was to become her most successful film: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes.
Soon afterwards, Lockwood began to play on-screen villainesses, becoming the most successful actress in British films at that time. Her greatest accolades followed her performance in the title role in the controversial The Wicked Lady (1945), after which she gained the Daily Mail National Film Awards First Prize for most popular British film actress.
Among other roles during a career spanning more than five decades, Lockwood starred in the stage thriller Spider’s Web in 1955, a play written for her by Agatha Christie.
The 1938 Delage (estimate £40,000 - £50,000) was bought by its current owner from the Lockwood family in the 1990s and was subject to a partial restoration by specialists over a 10-year period.
Other lots on offer at the Bonhams Beaulieu Sale include:
• 1925 Bentley 3/4½-litre short-chassis Red Label Vanden Plas Tourer (estimate £160,000 - £220,000)
• 1972 Ferrari 246GTS ‘Dino’ Spider (estimate £100,000 - £120,000)
• 1927 Bugatti Type 40 Tourer (estimate £80,000 - £100,000)
• 1935 Riley 12/4 Kestrel Special Two-Seater (estimate £50,000 - £70,000)
