BARRY SULLIVAN - TYPED LETTER TWICE SIGNED 11/07/1979 - HFSID 187100

BARRY SULLIVAN
The prolific character actor responds to a fan who has sent an "old picture" (probably a still from the 1953 film, China Venture) for him to sign, noting that "Eddie O'Brien is one of the greatest".
TLS: "Barry Sullivan", 1p, 7¼x10½. Sherman Oaks, California, 1979 November 7. On his personal imprinted letterhead to "Dear Sherry". In full: "One question? Where the hell do you find all these old pictures? I won't say they depress me - my stomach is really too strong for that - but there are mornings when they do not enchant the hell out of me either. fortunately (sic), this is not one of those mornings so Love and kisses to everybody". Handwritten postscript, signed: "Barry". In full: "P.S. Eddie O'Brien is one of the greatest - Nice to see him - Love". Eddie O'Brien was fellow character actor EDMOND O'BRIEN (1915-1985), who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Barefoot Contessa (1954, for which O'Brien also won a Golden Globe) and was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Seven Days in May (1964, won a Golden Globe). The "old picture" to which Sullivan refers was likely a still from the 1953 film, China Venture, in which Sullivan starred as Commander Bert Thompson and O'Brien co-starred as Captain Matt Reardon. Despite them both being prolific character actors, Sullivan and O'Brien did not appear in any other films together, and, although they appeared on several of the same early TV anthology series, they were seen in different episodes. Character actor Barry Sullivan (1912-1994), born Patrick Barry Sullivan, began his acting career on Broadway in 1936. He would appear in a number of plays, mostly flops, except for The Man Who Came to Dinner and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, for which he would be nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actor - Single Performance for his portrayal of Barney Greenwald when the play was telecast on the Ford Star Jubilee in 1955. The second actor to play Richard Rogue on the radio drama, Rogue's Gallery (1946-1947), Sullivan was seen on the big screen for over forty years (from 1937), appearing in such films as The Gangster (1947), The Great Gatsby (1949), Mr. Imperium (1951), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Strategic Air Command (1955), Wolf Larsen (1958), Light in the Piazza (1962), A Gathering of Eagles (1963), Tell Them Willie Boy is Here (1969), Earthquake (1974), Oh, God! (1977) and The Last Straw (1987). He also made a number of made-for-TV movies, and Sullivan made guest appearances on a number of TV anthologies (beginning in 1953) and a wide range of TV series, from Westerns (including Bonanza and The Virginian) to crime dramas (such as The Streets of San Francisco) to comedies (The Love Boat). Sullivan was the father of actress and playwright Jenny Sullivan, who wrote a play, J for J (Journals for John), about her handicapped older brother, Johnny. Slightly creased, touching postscript. Fine condition.