Geoffrey Rush donates costumes and awards to theatre collection

Geoffrey Rush has donated some of his most famous costumes and awards to a historical theatre collection in Melbourne.

The Australian actor, who is best known for movie roles in The King's Speech and Pirates of the Caribbean, decided to give away his stage mementos because they were just stashed between layers of cardboard at home.

Rush donated his costumes from Exit the King and The Diary of a Madman, his Tony award for Exit the King and his recent Helpmann award to the Performing Arts Collection at Melbourne's Art Centre.

He told the Herald Sun that he felt the time was right to give away some portraits of stage performances, saying: "I didn't really want to hang them up because I thought that would make the dinner party just a little bit self-centred."

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Rush is currently in the Australian city preparing for the Melbourne Theatre Company's stage version of The Importance of Being Earnest. In the show, he is playing female character Lady Bracknell.

He said: "I'd like to find a certain sexiness in Lady Bracknell, in the way that men used to find Maggie Thatcher terribly attractive. I figure she likes to walk into a room and think, 'I cut quite a smart social figure.'"

Watch Geoffrey Rush in the trailer for The King's Speech below: