Conrad narrated the documentary '' Design For Disaster '' , produced by the Los Angeles City Fire Department , about the November 1961 Bel Air wildfire that gutted several neighborhoods , at the time the worst conflagration in Los Angeles history . As a token of appreciation from Jack L. Warner , head of Warner Bros. , Conrad received one of the two original lead-metal falcon statues used in the classic film '' The Maltese Falcon '' ( 1941 ) . The falcon sat on a bookshelf in Conrad 's house from the 1960s . Standing 11.5 in ( 29.2 cm ) high and weighing 45 lb ( 20.4 kg ) , the figurine had been slashed during the making of the film by Sydney Greenstreet 's character Kasper Gutman , leaving deep cuts in its bronze patina . After Conrad 's death , the statue was consigned by his widow Tippy Conrad to Christie 's , which estimated it would bring $ 30,000 to $ 50,000 at auction . In December 1994 , Christie 's sold the falcon for $ 398,500 . In 1996 , the purchaser , Ronald Winston of Harry Winston , Inc. , resold the prop to an unknown European collector " at an enormous profit " &mdash; for as much as $ 1 million
wildfire
Bel Air Fire
William Conrad