JULIE HARRIS - TYPED LETTER SIGNED CIRCA 2003 - HFSID 270339

JULIE HARRIS
In a letter to a supporter, Harris writes on the history of WHAT theatre, encouraging sponsorship
Typed letter signed: "Julie", 1 page, 8½x11. Wellfleet, Massachusetts, no date, but circa 2003. On sheet imprinted with her name to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Handwritten salutation: "Dear Phyllis,". In full: "I have long admired WHAT's spirit of adventure. As a member of the audience, I have been transported intellectually and passionately. As an actor on its stage, I have been challenged to respect the amazing audience this theatre draws. These are the things we - as audiences and actors - ask of a theater, and WHAT delivers, year after year. Theater is a way of expressing our humanity. It brings us together and shows us what it means to be alive. For 18 years, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater has done just that - making us feel joyous and sorrowful, compelling us to see things in one way and then another, firing our imaginations with what is possible...and empathy, always with empathy. How much we owe them...WHAT has outgrown its small stage and dreams of expansion, of stretching its artistic wings, of opening its doors to us all year long, of programs for children, of a playwright's laboratory, of so much more. I am excited by the possibilities in such competent hands. At last we can properly express our gratitude and ensure that this powerful and special theater will live on. I urge you, please support them, help them expand, help them build, help them now for future generations. Nearly two million dollars has been raised. They need just $800,000 more. Please be generous. Thank you for thanking them." Return address from Harris' mailing envelope stapled at lower right margin. The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT) was founded in 1985. The theatre, which is promoted as one of Cape Cod's most electic, edgy professional theater companies, today occupies a 90-seat theater on Mayo Beach and boasts a children's program. Stage, screen and television actress JULIE HARRIS (1925-2013), born Julia Ann Harris, has six Tony Awards, the most ever won by a performer. She won for I Am a Camera (1952), The Lark (1956, as Joan of Arc), Forty Carats (1969), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1973) and as Emily Dickinson in the one-character play The Belle of Amherst (1977), plus a special Tony (2002) for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. She also earned five additional Tony nominations, and a Grammy Award for the recording of The Belle of Amherst. Harris toured for two seasons in the acclaimed stage version of Driving Miss Daisy. She earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her youthful role in The Member of the Wedding (1952), and performed memorably as James Dean's girlfriend in East of Eden (1956). Harris received nine Emmy nominations, winning the awards for the televised plays Little Moon of Alban (1959) and Victoria Regina (1962) and as the voice over in Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (2000). TV viewers may remember her best for Knot's Landing (1981-1987). Comedienne PHYLLIS DILLER (1917-2012), known for her outrageous appearance, zany outfits, distinctive laugh and a stand-up act that featured frequent references to her fictional husband, "Fang", and zingers about her sex appeal and numerous plastic surgeries, got her big break in March 1955 (at age 37), when she debuted at San Francisco's Purple Onion club. A subsequent appearance on The Tonight Show hosted by Jack Paar launched her national career, which got a big boost after Bob Hope saw Diller in a Washington, D.C. club. A favorite of the comedian, Diller would appear in three of Hope's films and 23 of his TV specials. Diller, who recorded her first comedy record album in 1959, took her groundbreaking "funny hausfrau" act to nightclubs and television variety shows and specials and she also appeared on the big screen. Her feature film credits include Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Fat Spy (1966), Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), The Sunshine Boys (1975) and The Silence of the Hams (1994), and she provided the voice of the Queen in A Bug's Life (1998). By 2000, the comedienne, who had trained as a concert pianist before her marriage (1939-1965) to Sherwood Anderson Diller, had appeared as a piano soloist with 100 symphony orchestras across the U.S. Despite retiring from nightclub/stage tours in May 2002 at the age of 84, Diller continued to make films (Motorcross Kids, 2004; Forget About It, 2005) and occasionally appear on TV programs, including two episodes of 7th Heaven (2002, 2003) and a guest shot on The Wayne Brady Show (2004). Lightly creased with folds, not at signature or writing. Slightly soiled at blank right margin. Fine condition.