GEORGE SCHAEFER - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 07/22/1967 - HFSID 132074

GEORGE SCHAEFER
The Broadway and television director and producer sends a message of sympathy to the widow of actor Basil Rathbone the day after the death of Rathbone, whom Schaefer had directed in the 1967 TV presentation, Soldier in Love.
ALS: "George Schaefer", 1p, 6¼x4¼ card. New York City, 1967 July 22. On card imprinted with his address to "Dear Mrs. Rathbone". In full: "Those of us who had the privilege of working with Basil were shocked and grieved at the news yesterday. Not only was he a superb artist and gentleman but one of those rare, very real and honest souls who saw and appreciated and communicated. I treasure my few letters from him. Both Mrs. Schaefer and I send you our sympathy. Please call on us if we can be of any help. We are neighbors. Sincerely". Rathbone had died in New York City on July 21, 1967, the day before this letter was written, at the age of 75. At the time, he was married to his second wife, the former Ouida Bergère, his spouse since April 26, 1926. In 1967, Rathbone was seen in Soldier in Love, a presentation on TV's George Schaefer's Showcase Theatre (Rathbone would reprise his role as the Duke of York in a 1967 presentation of Soldier in Love on the Hallmark Hall of Fame). In 1967, Schaefer, who was married (1954-1997) to the former Mildred Trares, also produced Saint Joan, an episode of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. George Louis Schaefer (1920-1997), who won (with Maurice Evans) the 1974 Tony Award as Best Producer (Dramatic) for The Teahouse of the August Moon, won Best Director Emmy Awards for Hallmark Hall of Fame (1959 and 1965) and Macbeth (1960) and the made-for-TV movies, Elizabeth the Queen (1968) and A War of Children (1972), and he was nominated for Emmys in the category in 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966 (four nominations), 1967, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1984 and 1986. Also tied with TV director James Burrows for most Director Guild of America Award nominations, Schaefer served as President of the DGA from 1979-1981. Schaefer, who got his start in the military during WWII, directing about 50 plays for the troops, would direct the first live TV productions of Hamlet and Richard II. He also directed a handful of feature films, including Pendulum (1969), Doctors' Wives (1970) and Once Upon a Scoundrel (1974), in addition to his long list of TV episodes and features, from 1954's Richard II to Harvey, which aired in 1998, the year after the death of Schaefer, who was also a prolific TV producer. Slightly creased and soiled at upper left corner. Fine condition.