VIDEO: Kathleen Turner Remembers Edward Albee Ahead of Sotheby's Auction

More than 30 years after discovering the work of Edward Albee, Golden Globe-winner Kathleen Turner played the role of Martha in a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? After the curtain came down on the closing night on Broadway, she found a note in her dressing room from him, which simply stated, "You're the reason I'm a playwright."

In the video, Turner recalls her memories of Albee ahead of Sotheby's September auction of his fine art collection, which will be sold to benefit his namesake foundation. View the collection here.

One of America's most-treasured cultural figures, Edward Albee (1928-2016) was a keen observer of modern life in the United States whose piercing dialogue and constant experimentation helped reinvent and define post-war theater internationally. Beginning with The Zoo Story in 1958, the dozens of plays he wrote over the following five decades include such icons as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), A Delicate Balance (1966), Three Tall Women (1991), and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2000).

For many, Sotheby's September auction will offer a new window into Edward Albee's life and creative mind. Sourced from artists, friends and galleries over several decades, the majority of the 100+ works on offer adorned the walls of Albee's Tribeca loft, which he rehung often to explore new artistic connections. In keeping with his constant experimentation as a playwright, the collection focuses on the birth and evolution of Abstraction in 20th century art, and a highly-personal intellectual pursuit of the ephemeral and the elusive - from a stunning figural work by Milton Avery, to a whimsical relief by Jean Arp, a Bauhaus work by Wassily Kandinsky, and a group of geometric abstractions by John McLaughlin.