Today in History - December 20: Woman leaves entire estate to actor she'd never met

A US woman wrote one of the most bizarre wills shortly before she died on December 20, 1997.

Audrey Jean Knauer, 56, was told she was terminally ill a few weeks before.

She took the emergency numbers page from her phone book and wrote her last will and testament.

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"Under no circumstances is my mother, Helen, to inherit anything from me – blood, body parts, financial assets, etc," she wrote.

"I bequeath to Charles Bronson (the talented character actor) and what he doesn't want can pass thru to the Louisville Free Public Library."

Bronson, the star of the Death Wish movies, was Knauer's favourite actor.

But despite her generosity, she had never met the Hollywood star.

The estate was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Soon after Knauer's death, her sister Nancy Koeper filed a suit to challenge the will.

Her lawsuit stated the will had "evidenced an inappropriate and unnatural obsession with Bronson".

"I don't feel he deserves the money, and I doubt he needs it," Koeper said.

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Her lawsuit failed, and Bronson was sent the money.

But the movie star didn't need the money, and donated it to charity.

He was best known for playing tough guy roles in films like The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape.

He died in 2003, aged 81.

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