BASIL RATHBONE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 01/31/1951 - HFSID 257223

BASIL RATHBONE
Rathbone handwrote, signed and dated this letter to Mary Sandman in 1951. Rathbone writes about an upcoming lecture tour which he - a veteran of film and stage - confessed he was terrified of: "it rather scares me to be up on a platform for an hour or so, all by my little self!" He also wrote about his TV work: "I dont like it - but beggars can't be choosers."
Autograph letter signed "Basil Rathbone". 1 page, 6½x10. July 29, 1943. In full: "Dear Miss Sandman, Thanks you so much for your sympathetic letter. I am off on Monday on my lecture tour. It's a new experience for me & I am looking forward to it, although it rather scares me to be up on a platform for an hour or so, all by my little self! We are in the midst of a heavy snow-storm I hope I dont [sic] get this Weather while travelling. I have been doing some T. V. I dont like it - but beggars can't be choosers. There are so few plays worth even considering. Every good wish as always". Lightly toned and creased. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition. Accompanied by: Original mailing envelope, postmarked New York City, Feb. 1, 1951 and addressed to "Miss Mary Sandman," Roxbury, Massachusetts. Lightly toned and creased. Address is light in places but legible. Torn open at top edge. Otherwise in fine condition. Rathbone (1892-1967, born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone in Johannesburg, South Africa), who appeared on Broadway 23 times and won the 1948 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play (The Heiress), is also known for his film work in period costume dramas. He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for playing Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and King Louis XVI in If I Were King (1938). Rathbone also appeared as Murdstone in David Copperfield (1934), Evremonde in Tale of Two Cities (1935), Pontius Pilate in The Last Days of Pompeii (1936), Karenin in Anna Karenina (1936) and Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). In 1939, he was cast as Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the first of 14 screen appearances as Conan Doyle's master detective. Rathbone also played Holmes on radio from 1939 to 1946.