PERSONAL movie memorabilia and fashion items from a Hollywood great will go under the hammer next month.

Some 250 lots from the life of double Oscar-winning actress Vivien Leigh will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s in London with estimates ranging from £100 to £100,000.

Auctioneers said the items would give fans the chance to discover the “real and unexpected” Vivien Leigh.

Among the unique items on offer is the actress’s own copy of Gone with the Wind, the novel for which she won her first Oscar, and a wig she wore for her Oscar-winning portrayal of Blanche DuBois.

The collection, passed down through her family, includes paintings, jewellery, couture, books, furniture and porcelain covering all aspects of her life.

Leigh made her stage debut in 1935, earning rave reviews from newspapers and Sir Laurence Olivier, which sparked a friendship which blossomed into an affair.

She won Oscars for Gone with the Wind in 1940 and A Streetcar Named Desire 12 years later.

In 1940, both Leigh and Olivier’s spouses agreed to divorces, allowing the pair to wed and form the most glamorous couple for 20 years until their divorce in 1960.

Following the split from Olivier, she bought Tickerage Mill in Blackboys near Uckfield for £20,000 in 1961.

Leigh used the estate, which has an ancient bluebell wood, separate cottage and fve-bedroom mansion, to entertain famous guests including Princess Margaret, John Gielgud and Winston Churchill.

Vivien Leigh’s family said: “We hope people take as much pleasure from this collection as our grandparents, parents and families have done.”

Harry Dalmeny, Sotheby’s UK Chairman, said: “This is our chance to discover the real, and unexpected, Vivien Leigh. We’re all guilty of confusing our favourite actresses with the heroines they portray, of blurring Vivien’s identity with that of Scarlett O’Hara or Blanche DuBois.

“But, behind the guise of the most glamorous and talked-about woman of her age we find a fine art collector, patron, even a book worm, who was the intellectual equal of the literati, artists and aesthetes she counted among her coterie.

“Her private collection does not disappoint. Vivien approached the decoration of her homes as if she were designing a set, incorporating inspiration from a life spent on screen and on stage.

“Fifty years on from her death, this opens the door into her private world, allowing us a privileged and fascinating glimpse into a world otherwise only her closest friends could ever have known.”