Harrison Ford's original Star Wars script goes up for auction in Kings Langley

Harrison Ford’s original Star Wars script for the first film in the major franchise is going up for auction in Kings Langley.

Ford’s copy of the script for A New Hope, which was released in 1977, is being sold through Excalibur Auctions. Ford discarded the old script after he finished filming at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, but the owners of the property he was staying in kept it. All these years later they are putting it up for auction. It is one of them items on offer at the Excalibur Auctions’ Collectors' Cavern Auction on February 17.

Ford of course played Han Solo in A New Hope and three subsequent films in the astonishingly successful fantasy franchise. Whilst filming in Hertfordshire in 1976 for the opening movie, Ford rented out a flat in Notting Hill and left the script in the property.

The family has told Excalibur Auctions that Ford responded to their grandma’s advertisement for a ‘Flat to Let’ that was placed in The Sunday Times.

Oblivious to the celebrity world, the couple had no idea who he was, and that a Hollywood actor was staying in their home.

The seller said: “He was an excellent tenant, very tidy.” A cleaner who went round to the home was said to have fainted when seeing the rising Hollywood superstar. During his 1976 stay, Ford had his co-stars Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill over, and according to the script owners, simply referred to Hamill as “The Boy”.

Such was the bond that the Oscar nominated actor built up with the family that summer, he attended the landlord’s son’s first birthday party. She said: “He was an ideal tenant! It really was a fun time.”

Excalibur Auctions has set an estimated price of £8,000-£12,000 for the script that is a fourth draft of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally titled as it is here, The Adventures of Luke Star Killer as taken from the Journal of the Whills by George Lucas (Saga I) Star Wars (March 15, 1976).

Excalibur Auctions has revealed it is an incomplete script which contains most pages up to page 88. Pages are coloured differently to highlight re-writes, but the booklet does include Solo’s introduction on page 54.

Fans interested in registering for the auction are encouraged to visit the company’s website.

There were five drafts of the first Star Wars script, so this copy offers an intriguing look at how things changed ahead of the film’s premiere in 1977.

Alongside the script Ford left other items, including a typed letter from his agent, Patricia McQueeney. It is dated April 16, 1976 and discusses his contracts and future film prospects. The letter also tells how Pat has spoken to Ford’s first wife Mary Marquardt, who the actor was married to between 1964- 1979. She mentions that she hasn't heard from Ford, for which Pat scolds him. She represented the famous star for over 35 years. It carries an estimate of £60-£80.