CHARLES D. COBURN - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 12/01/1920 - HFSID 344194

CHARLES D. COBURN
The Broadway actor and director who won an Academy Award for his role in The More the Merrier signs this typed letter regarding a stage production of "Macbeth"
Typed letter signed: "Charles D. Coburn" in black ink. 8½x11. New York, December 1, 1920. On personal letterhead to "Dear Mr. Pape", in full: "December seventh- nest Tuesday- will suit me, altho I hope it is clear to you that I am not asking you to make this trip with the idea of definitely arranging a contract for the "Macbeth" production. It will be necessary for us first to discuss the matter in several ways, including terms, and as I preferred to talk it over with you before going to anyone else, I wrote you about coming in to see me in the event of your making an early trip to New York. I know that you have always been very much interested in the idea of a "Macbeth" setting, and now that I am definitely considering a presentation of the play in New York I would be very glad have a talk with you. Please let me hear from you again if you are arranging to come in next Tuesday morning. Very sincerely yours". Broadway actor, producer and director Charles Coburn (1877-1961), born Charles Douville Coburn, did not appear in his first feature film (Of Human Hearts) until 1938, when he was 61. In 1940, he portrayed Dr. Henry Gordon, who unjustly amputated Drake McHugh's (Ronald Reagan) legs in Kings Row, resulting in the future President's greatest screen line (and title of his first autobiography): "Where's the rest of me?" Coburn was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (1941, The Devil and Miss Jones; 1943, The More the Merrier; 1946, The Green Years). He won in 1943 for his portrayal of elderly Benjamin Dingle, a likable business executive forced by the wartime housing shortage to share a Washington D.C. apartment with Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea. Toned. Vertical and horizontal folds. Corners rounded. Otherwise, fine condition.