DEBORAH KERR - DOCUMENT SIGNED 03/05/1947 - HFSID 289200

DEBORAH KERR
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Deborah Kerr's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed by Kerr to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed:"Deborah Kerr". One page, 8½x11. March 5, 1947. Deborah Kerr grants to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc., its successors and assigns, the exclusive right, until December 31, 1947 to use [his] name, autograph, photographic likeness, or artist's sketch of the likeness, for reproduction on engraved, embossed or printed stamps, and in stamp albums, and in connection with the advertising and exploitation of these stamps and stamp albums for sale throughout the world. Deborah Kerr (1921-2007) trained as a classical ballerina, but soon discovered that she was more interested in drama and began playing minor roles in Shakespearean productions. She starred in two Broadway productions, including Tea and Sympathy (1953-1955). Kerr, who made her film debut in Major Barbara (1941), typically played reserved, well-bred ladies. On the strength of her sensitive portrayal of a nun in Black Narcissus (1947), she was brought to Hollywood to play the lead opposite Clark Gable in The Hucksters the same year. Kerr was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar six times from 1950 to 1961, but never won one. In 1994, she received an Honorary Award from the Academy. Her most notable films include The King and I (1956), From Here to Eternity (1953), and The Sundowners (1960). The Motion Picture Relief Fund was founded in 1921 to assist ill and needy film industry veterans, as expressed in its motto: "We take care of our own." The fund raised money through voluntary payroll deductions and celebrity events. As President of the Fund from 1939 until his death in 1956, film and radio star Jean Hersholt conceived Hollywood Star Stamps as a fundraising method. These stamps, 468 in all, were sold at dime stores after World War II in sheets of 6-12, at 10 cents per sheet, and were an immediate hit with collectors. Now called the Motion Picture and Television Fund, the non-profit organization funds its own hospital and retirement home. It confers the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award annually at the Academy Awards ceremony to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry." Three filing holes at left. Normal mailing folds. Slightly worn and toned. Otherwise, fine condition.