EDMOND O'BRIEN - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 06/19/1947 - HFSID 288778

EDMOND O'BRIEN
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Edmond O'Brien's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by O'Brien, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Edward O'Brien", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1947 June 19. Edmond O'Brien grants to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc., its successors and assigns, the exclusive right 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. Edmond O'Brien (1915-1985), an aspiring magician, made his Broadway debut at the age of 21 in Daughters of Atrus and was signed by RKO Pictures in 1939. O'Brien, who won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1954 (The Barefoot Contessa) and was nominated for the same award in 1964 (Seven Days in May), appeared in a number of feature films, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Winged Victory (1944), D.O.A. (1949), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Julius Caesar (1953), Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), 1984 (1956), Stopover Tokyo (1957), Up Periscope (1959), The Great Imposter (1961), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Longest Day and The Birdman of Alcatraz (all 1962) and Fantastic Voyage (1966). He also starred in a number of made-for-television movies, appeared on two series, Sam Benedict and The Long Hot Summer, and was a guest star on Playhouse 90 and Mission Impossible. O'Brien, who was cast in the Lowell Thomas role in Lawrence of Arabia, suffered a heart seizure during the filming in 1961, resulting in him being replaced with Arthur Kennedy. 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. Ink note (unknown hand) at top and bottom. Normal mailing folds. Lightly toned with creased corners. Otherwise, fine condition.