BARON TED WILLIS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 206664

TED WILLIS
The Labour Party spokesman and renowned drama writer signs 6x8 headshot in black ink
Photograph signed: "best wishes,/ Ted Willis" in black ink. B/w, 6x8. British playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Ted Willis (1914-1992),also known as the Baron Willis, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most prolific writer for television, also having written 34 stage plays and 39 feature films. Willis was also very involved in the British Labour Party, having been elected Chairman of the Labour League of Youth as the candidate of the left in 1937, and in 1941 he became Secretary General of the Young Communist League; a charismatic personality and a good public speaker, he often spoke at meetings in favor of opening a second front in order to help the Red Army which was bearing the brunt of the Nazi onslaught. It was during WWII that Willis began writing for the Unity Theatre in St. Pancras, and his career in dramatic writing began; he is best known for writing the television series Dixon of Dock Green (1955-1963) for more than 20 years as well as the series The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972), Sergeant Cork (1963-1964), and Mrs. Thursday (1966), and also wrote nine films. He served as Chairman of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain from 1958-1964, and in 1963 he was awarded a life peerage with the Baron title on a Labour Party nomination. Slightly toned. Paper affixed on verso. Ink notes on verso in unknown hand. Corners rounded. Lightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.