BEVERLEY CROSS - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 10/19/1976 - HFSID 166754

BEVERLEY CROSS

The famous English librettist, screenwriter and playwright pens a note to a fan, signed in black felt tip

Autograph Note Signed: “For Bill Godman/Sincere good wishes/Beverly Cross” in black felt tip. 6x7. Dated: October 19, 1976. One page. Beverley Cross (1931-1998) was an English playwright, librettist and screenwriter. He was born in London, England into a theatrical family, and was educated at the Nautical College Pangbourne. Beverly started off by writing children's plays in the 1950s and achieved immediate success with his first play, One More River, which dealt with a mutiny in which a crew puts its first officer on trial for manslaughter. The play debuted in 1959, starring Michael Caine. His second play, Strip the Willow, was to make a star out of his future wife, Dame Maggie Smith, even though the play was staged only in the provinces, never receiving a London production. In 1962, he translated Marc Camoletti's classic farce Boeing Boeing, which had a lengthy and highly lucrative run in the West End. In 1964 he directed the play in Sydney. Another of his successes was Half a Sixpence, a musical comedy based on the H.G. Wells novel Kipps. This opened in 1963 and just as the first play, ran in London for more than a year. Beverley Cross also wrote opera librettos for Richard Rodney Bennett: The Mines of Sulphur, All the King's Men and Victory and Nicholas Maw: The Rising of the Moon. He later became well known for his screenplays, notably Jason and the Argonauts, The Long Ships, Genghis Khan and Clash of the Titans. Cross also adapted Half a Sixpence for the screen and worked uncredited on the script for Lawrence of Arabia, however, it is doubtful whether any of his material made it to the final edit. Beverly Cross died in London in 1998. Sealed. Fine condition.