THE late actor best known for starring in Lawrence of Arabia will have an exhibition of his art collection shown at the Katharine House Gallery in Marlborough from May 13 for six weeks.

Dozens of artefacts and pieces of art from Colombia, France, America and Australia from Peter O'Toole's collection will be on display at the gallery in the Parade until June 24.

The owner of the gallery, Chris Gange, got in contact with the actor's daughter, Kate O'Toole, after being put in contact with her through a friend and after some negotiations he bought the collection for tens of thousands of pounds last summer.

After researching the many items in the art collection and getting valuations for all of the pieces, which range from £50 to £9,500, for many months now, Mr Gange said he is brimming with excitement at finally displaying the art collection.

"This is a very exciting time. It is an incredibly impressive collection that he collected during his visits to different countries whilst on location filming from the 1960s onwards," he said.

"It really is an honour to display this collection. A friend of mine put me in contact with Kate O'Toole last summer not long after the archive of several theatre and film scripts and his writings were acquired by the University of Texas.

"However, some of his art collection was left over and after meeting her several times we agreed a price and I was able to pick it all up from Croydon, drive it in a van back to Marlborough and it has been in my shop since last August.

"It took a lot of research to get everything sorted but it has been a very enjoyable experience. I spoke to experts from New York who valued the pieces and was in contact with the British Museum to find out everything I needed to know about it all.

"I was told that Peter loved to collect art work and other things when he was filming around the world so to have his very impressive collection here is wonderful.

"We have already had some interest from people and one person has already bought one item for £6,500. I cannot wait to let people see it and hopefully it will be a big success."

For more information about the exhibition, which is open for the six weeks from 10am to 5pm, visit http://www.katharinehousegallery.co.uk/exhibitions