BASIL RATHBONE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 08/15/1945 - HFSID 254173

BASIL RATHBONE
The English actor pens this letter to an admirer regarding a war bond given by the recipient. He wishes for the bond to go to a charity or someone in need of money instead of himself.
Autograph Letter Signed: "Basil Rathbone", 1¼p, 7¼x10½.  Los Angeles, 1945 August 15. To "Dear Miss Sandmann". In full: I am very much touched by your thought of me - its generosity & simple sincerity - but I cannot accept it. Money in any form I cannot accept as a gift & I am sure you will appreciate my position if I did so. You must have some pet charity - the world is so full of needy people today - will you not consider endorsing over this war bond to a needy cause. Please don't think I don't appreciate your thought of me. I do very much but I am sure you will also appreciate that no one in my position could accept money in any form from his friends. Bless you & all of us, the living & the dead on this great day. May we prove ourselves worthy of the great sacrifices made on our behalf." Lightly creased. Folds, vertical fold at the "R" of Rathbone. Fine condition. Accompanied by original envelope addressed by Rathbone to Miss Mary Sandman, Roxbury, Massachusetts, postmarked Los Angeles, California, August 18, 1945. On the verso of the envelope, someone has drawn an unhappy face and written: "I burnt it!!!". This was possibly Miss Sandmann's response to Rathbone's return of her gift. Lightly creased, mid-vertical fold. Torn open at upper edge. The "great day" to which the actor refers was no doubt word of Japan's surrender (August 14), ending WWII. Rathbone (1892-1967) was at his best 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). He was 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, Rathbone was cast as Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the first of 14 screen appearances as Conan Doyle's master detective. He also played Holmes on radio from 1939-1946. Two items.