Star Wars: Chewbacca Actor Peter Mayhew's Lost Memorabilia Returned To Family

Peter Mayhew is best known for portraying Chewbacca in the Star Wars franchise. Sadly, the man behind the beloved Wookiee passed away in 2019, but his wife Angelique Mayhew often honors her husband's legacy and occasionally posts from The Peter Mayhew Foundation's Twitter account. Recently, she took to Twitter to reveal her dismay over the fact that items left behind by Mayhew were being sold for auction without her knowledge. Due to his health problems, Mayhew was forced to leave behind some memorabilia in his attic during a move, and the abandoned items were eventually found and put up for auction. According to BBC, the items have since been returned to The Peter Mayhew Foundation. 

"When we moved out of this house Peter's movement challenges made it impossible for him to get into the attic to get the rest of these memories. It really breaks my heart to see our belongings auctioned off like this by @angusashworth and @RyedaleAuction1," Angie Mayhew wrote on Twitter earlier this week. "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 items in question included an original Star Wars script as well as a call sheet. According to the report, auctioneer Angus Ashworth was unaware of Mayhew's issue with the auction until seeing the tweet. 

"I was approached by a lovely older couple who were clearing their attic a quarter of a century after moving into their property," Ashworth said in a statement. "The contents of the attic included a bag of Star Wars memorabilia, which I thought might be of some interest to Star Wars fans." He added, "Nobody had approached us to discuss it, and had they done so I would of course have talked to the vendors ... The monetary value of the lot is fairly modest, but knowing how much it means to the foundation, and given that it had been in the attic for over 24 years, 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."

What Is The Peter Mayhew Foundation?

You can read a description from The Peter Mayhew Foundation's website here: "The Peter Mayhew Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization devoted to the alleviation of disease, pain, suffering, and the financial toll brought on by life's traumatic events. By providing its available resources directly to deserving children and adults in need, we assist numerous charitable organizations in order to promote and boost their effectiveness and provide support where needed." 

What are your thoughts about Peter Mayhew's memorabilia being returned to his foundation? Tell us in the comments.