Riverfront Decorative Arts Auction
Now Partnering with Lewis & Grant Auctions! Live Auction September 24th, 2021
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John D. Schofield
Riverfront & Lewis & Grant Auctions is proud to offer the collection of the esteemed Hollywood movie producer and renowned collector: John D. Schofield.
Lover of beautiful women, driver of fine English race cars…victim of inferior English aerial engineering… John Schofield started his eccentric life on the humorless heaths of Northern England’s dismal Yorkshires Moors, scrapping a living and surrounding by the environment of a countryside stricken by wartime rationing & constant military defeats, installed a grit, determination & appreciation in him that would serve to allow him to achieve greatness in his life.
Following the tumultuous years of WW2 & impressed upon the great martial struggle which served as the backdrop of his formative years, John enlisted in the Royal Airforce as a turret gunner on the magnificently powered Rolls Royce Merlin engined Lancaster Bomber, where he initially developed his love for military uniforms & history. John was involved in numerous fiery crash landings, resulting in the tragic deaths of several comrades & close friends. Despite his love for well-engineered machines & the intoxicating calling of a rugged and adventurous military life, these events had jaded his outlook on an extended duration in her majesties bomber corps.
Whilst serving, to escape the stresses of the rigid & classist English Military (and trauma), John first embarked in the pursuit of hobby automobile racing with his bomber crew on the weekends. This eventually metamorphosized into a successful career as a rally racer. Little did John know his love for careening through the rural English countryside, in the finest modified roadsters form eras past, would eventually serve as the catalyst that would propel his future fame & success in the film industry.
Johns storied racing ability landed him employment on movie sets as a stunt actor in race or automobile themed shoots. This early exposure to the flash and glamor of the film industry deeply seated his ever-enduring love for the lime light, pageantry & sensualism of the big screen. His tryst with the thin budgets of the post war English film industry, had him yearning for the production capabilities (and pockets) of the large US movie houses and eventually caused John to move to the United States in 1964.
Moving to the USA to pursue his dreams of making it in Hollywood, John to was determined to gain access into his beloved film industry by any means necessary. He accepted any lowly lacky job he could scrum together on a movie set, but, Johns superior (i.e sober) driving capabilities soon stood out to that of the rest of Hollywood (not sober) and John soon found himself in demand as a top driver for whisking directors & dames across vast studio lots of the gilded age from one movie set to another, or driving a production vehicle filled with jaw clenched tight cameramen, with camera in one hand & the other firmly gripped to the side of the car piloted by Johns expert hand at break neck speeds, down the roughest of roads, for the high intensity chase scenes craved by the muscle car generation. Eventually all this dubious & dangerous work paid off and the Johns time spent in the various departments of the various movie houses triumphed into his illustrious career of a Mega Producer creating well known cinematographic classic’s as Romancing The Stone, The Naked Gun series, Enemy At The Gates, Doom, Jerry Maguire, The Brothers Grimm, As Good As It Gets, Ali and many more.
Over the years of being such an eclectic induvial & collector, John, supported and assisted by his lovely wife Rochelle, acquired a world class collection of fine art, arms and armor. Please join us in celebrating not only the collection, but fabulous life of a truly legendary man, John Schofield.
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