KARL MALDEN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 10/11/1997 - HFSID 270343

KARL MALDEN
The actor pens a personal letter to Phyllis Diller, dated 1997
Autograph Letter Signed: "Karl", 2 pages, 7¼x3¾, front and verso. Los Angeles, California, 1997 October 11. On card imprinted with his name to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Begins: "Dear Phyllis -". In full: "I was told many years ago that there are only nine plots in Drama. No one said they would keep doing this one over and over. - Im (sic) too old to play the part anyway. - Lets (sic) you and take this one on the road. - We could get laughs! Thank you for the clippings. We miss seeing you. Mona sends her best as I do. Love". Pinhead-size stain above one word. Fine condition. Accompanied by original, stamped mailing envelope, 7½x4. Two 23-cent F. Scott Fitzgerald stamps affixed, postmarked Los Angeles, California, October (day illegible) 1997. Addressed by Malden to: "Phyllis Diller, 163 So Rockingham Ave., L.A. 90049 California". Slightly creased. Stained at two words (all legible). Malden's return address imprinted on back flap. Fine condition. In the year he wrote this letter, Malden made a guest appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Mona was his wife, the former MONA GRAHAM. The couple has been married since December 18, 1938 and has two daughters. In 1947, actor KARL MALDEN, born Mladen Sekulovich in 1912, created the role of Mitch, the erstwhile beau of Blanche Dubois, in Tennessee Williams' Broadway play, A Streetcar Named Desire. He repeated the role in the 1951 film version, winning the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. Malden was also nominated for an Oscar in the same category for his performance in On the Waterfront (1954). He was best known to TV fans of the 1970s as Lieutenant Mike Stone, the no-nonsense protagonist of the long-running cop series The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977). During that time, he mentored a young actor named Michael Douglas, who played Inspector Steve Keller from 1972-1976. 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). 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). Two items.