CORNEL WILDE - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED CHECK 03/28/1962 - HFSID 271487

CORNEL WILDE
The actor makes this check out to his mother for the amount of $10
Check signed: "Cornel Wilde" in blue ink, 6x2¾. March 28, 1962. Unnumbered check drawn on the account of Cornel Wilde and Jean Wallace Wilde at the Prudential Square Branch of Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, California. Payable to "Renée Wilde" for $10. Endorsed: "Mrs. Renée Wilde" on verso. In the year he signed this check, Wilde starred in the title role in the Italian-made epic film, Constantine and the Cross. The film career of multilingual Cornel Wilde (1912-1989) took off when he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role as Chopin in A Song to Remember (1945). Other big roles followed in pictures such as Forever Amber (1947) and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). Wilde, who produced many of his own films, often starred in historical epics (Constantine and the Cross, 1962). His last starring role was in The Norseman (1978). Interestingly, Wilde gave up a spot on the 1936 U.S. Olympic fencing team to pursue an acting career. In fact, he served as a fencing instructor for the Broadway version of Olivier's Hamlet (1940). RENÉE WILDE, the actor's mother, was a Hungarian citizen who had been in New York City with her husband, Louis, an export manager for a Hungarian firm handling perfumes and cosmetics, at the time of Cornel's birth. The family, which included his older sister, Edith, was forced to return to Hungary during the early years of WWI before once again settling in New York in 1920. Actress JEAN WALLACE was Wilde's second wife. They divorced in 1981. Lightly creased with fold, not at signature. Cancellation holes nick the "C" of Cornel and touch one word of writing. Bank stamps on verso, not affecting endorsement (light show-through of stamps, not at signature). Ink note (unknown hand) at upper left corner, pinhead-sized stain at upper right edge. Otherwise, fine condition.