DALLAS, TX.- For nearly 54 years, Michael and Pat York have lived as a binary star, each in orbit around the other. Throughout those decades, as husband and wife, they have shone brightly in a galaxy filled with the luminaries they called colleagues, subjects and friends.

He, of course, is a famous and venerated actor, having appeared in such films as Logan's Run, Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet, The Three Musketeers and the Austin Powers series, not to mention several Simpsons episodes. And she is a celebrated photojournalist and magazine editor whose work has been collected in numerous books and displayed in myriad galleries around the world, including the Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg. In a 1993 article on the couple, The New York Times wrote of Michael that he's a "versatile British actor who has shared the stage with nearly every show business legend from Laurence Olivier to Elizabeth Taylor," and said of Pat she's a "photographer who has also crisscrossed the globe."

Since their marriage in 1968, the couple has seldom been apart: "If Michael was doing a movie, I could photograph," says Pat. "And when I had exhibitions around the world, Michael would come with me. Our life was one of travel."

From Hollywood to Morocco. From New York to Russia. From London to everywhere else. Theirs has long been a life of art and adventure. One of writing, as each has published five books. Of creating. And of collecting — stunning jewels, beloved artwork, wood and marble sculptures, centuries-old furniture. Anything that caught their eye and captured their hearts.

"You mustn't let your collection collect you," Michael says. "Enjoy it. That's the great thing about collecting, because simply amassing stuff without appreciating it is awful."

Now, the couple has decided to share more than 100 pieces from their estimable assemblage at Heritage Auctions, which will present Property from the Collection of Pat and Michael York beginning in December.

The first event takes place in two separate sales: The jewels — among them a de Grisogono white-gold brooch adorned with diamond, sapphires and a South Sea Cultured Pearl — will be offered first, in the Dec. 6 Holiday Jewelry Signature™ Auction, while the other works will be featured in the Dec. 7 Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts Signature™ Auction. More will become available in the March 22 Asian Art Signature™ Auction.

"It is an honor to assist the Yorks with sharing their eclectic and fascinating collection with fans and buyers across the globe," says Carolyn Mani, Heritage Auctions' West Coast Director of Trust and Estates. "We are the perfect fit for offering such a wide variety of items, from jewelry and antiques to silver and entertainment memorabilia."

The couple has a very good reason for parting with these pieces gathered during their myriad sojourns: They have no space for them today, as the couple has moved from their expansive Beverly Hills home to a smaller abode near the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where Michael has long been receiving treatment for amyloidosis, an extraordinarily rare disease that occurs when "an abnormal protein, called amyloid, builds up in your organs and interferes with their normal function," according to the clinic. York, who began noticing the disease's telltale signs of darkness around the eyes in 2009, was misdiagnosed for years; doctors insisted he had multiple myeloma. The Mayo Clinic made the proper diagnosis in 2012, during which York underwent a stem cell transplant.




Shortly after he went public with his diagnosis in the hopes of saving lives that could have been lost to misdiagnoses like his. His advocacy, whether in speeches or in his 2018 book The Readiness is All, shone a bright light on a disease too long lurking in the shadows.

"Michael started in 2009 with this disease and was misdiagnosed for three years and has been so incredibly strong, never sorry for himself," Pat says, her voice breaking. "He's just been amazing."

"I couldn't have done it without her," Michael says. "The doctors here saved my life. But she did, too, not taking no for an answer and also keeping a positive frame of mind."

When the couple discusses their collection, they speak less of individual items than how they accrued them — from esteemed dealers near their one-time London home, from tips from Russian taxi drivers, from market owners in India. "Our memories," says Pat, "are of buying these treasures and having them in our home."

Because for years they seldom felt like they had one. As Michael wrote in his first autobiography, 1991's delightful Accidentally on Purpose, "Our lives are confined to the dimension of suitcases." The New York Times in 1993 noted their marriage "might more appropriately be described as a travelogue."

Amid the 1954 Pablo Picasso lithograph Troupe d'Acteurs (of course!), the 18th century George II carved wood mirror, the carved sculpture of the seated Buddhist monk picked up in Japan and the other centuries-old items in these auctions, there is a modern piece that serves as a centerpiece: a photo of Michael taken by his wife. Pat has photographed countless famous friends, from Tennessee Williams to Andy Warhol to Steve Martin. But this one is perhaps the most special, as it served as the cover to The Readiness of All.

Of all the items from their collection in these auctions, the one about which they speak most affectionately is the Large Baroque Oak Double Pedestal Dining Table, which dates from around the 17th century. Michael recalls its place of prominence in their California home, as it wasn't merely a place on which food was served. It was also Pat's workspace, which was fine until the late 1990s, when Pat turned her eye to the cadavers in the dissection lab of a chiropractor.

"I wasn't sure how I felt about these mementos," Michael says with a slight laugh. "I had to clear a space when I wanted to eat in a civilized way among these photographs. I had to see them involuntarily, and after I bemoaned my visual cowardice, I began to see and share the extraordinary aesthetic significance Pat saw in them. I must say, I have such fond memories of that table."

And now the Yorks are delighted to share their memories as these treasures go to homes where others can build new memories around them.

"Everyone keeps saying it must be so depressing and sad to part with our collection," Pat says. "Neither of us feels that way at all."

"We wanted a simpler way of life," Michael says. "All of these objects we lived with and cherished and loved, and they are going, hopefully, to good homes. I am so happy having had the pleasure of their company for so many years, and I am happy now to be able to pass them on for others to enjoy."