LEO G. CARROLL - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/15/1950 - HFSID 19230

LEO G. CARROLL. ALS: "L.", 1¾p, 5½x8¼, front and verso. Riverside, California, 1950 May 15. On letterhead of the historic Mission Inn to Willa Gray Martin. Begins: "Willa dear". In full: "I'm so sorry that I didn't get to see you before I left. Sunday was such a rush! I was closeted with Miss Casey & Mr. [illegible] until after 5 o'clock, & the limousine left at 5 45. We are most comfortably [illegible] here at the Inn; & all our shooting is done on the premises, so all we have to do is hop out of bed & [2 words illegible]. The company is composed mostly of old pals and I must say we all look a most intelligent lot in our cassocks & [illegible] -- Walter Hampden, Taylor Holmes, Bill Demarest, Clifford Brooke, Wesley Addy, George Zucco etc. Boyer is most friendly, & talks theater shop so entertainingly! Nancy & Bill still hadn't got a passage booked when I arrived a week ago, so it was all turned over to me again, and two days ago I managed to wrangle them space on the 'Iron Danger' sailing from L.A. on June 24th - Inter. Ocean Line -- to Amsterdam. I went to the last performance of 'The [illegible] Hour' with Miss Casey. So many celebrities there: it was almost like a first night. We ran into Fulton Oursler. He was greatly taken with the play. I introduced him to Rosemary. He wants her to have a shot at making a biblical play out the material he has collected in connection with his radio programmes 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' Are you familiar with them? Would it be [illegible] to expect to hear from you sometime? Anyway, I send you my love". At the time of this letter, Carroll was filming the 1951 religious drama, The First Legion, which starred CHARLES BOYER as Father Marc Arnous. Directed by Douglas Sirk, the film co-starred WILLIAM DEMAREST as Monsignor Michael Carey, CARROLL as Father Paul Duquesne, WALTER HAMPDEN as Father Edward Quarterman, WESLEY ADDY as Father John Fulton, TAYLOR HOLMES as Father Keene, GEORGE ZUCCO as Father Robert Stuart and CLIFFORD BROOKE as a Lay Brother. The cast also included Lyle Bettger, H.B. Warner and Barbara Rush. In 1951, Carroll also appeared in The Desert Fox and Strangers on a Train. In the year of this letter, two of his films, The Happy Years and Father of the Bride, were released. English actor LEO G. CARROLL (1892-1972), who usually played shy, self-effacing Englishmen, was reportedly a favorite of Alfred Hitchcock. He appeared in six of Hitchcock's films, including Spellbound and North by Northwest. Best known to television audiences for his title role in the sitcom, Topper (1953-1955), he later appeared as Alexander Waverly in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968) and The Girl From U.N.C.L.E (1966-1967), becoming one of the first actors to play the same character on two different TV series. WILLA GRAY MARTIN was an artist whose works include depictions of such notables as Woody Guthrie. Journalist and author FULTON OURSLER (1893-1952) was the editor of "Liberty" magazine and wrote a number of inspirational works, including The Greatest Story Ever Told (1949), an account of the life of Jesus Christ, and a biography of Father Flanagan of Boys' Town. Five of his plays had been performed on Broadway by the time this letter was written. Ink smudged at 2 words. Lightly creased with folds. ½-inch separation at upper horizontal fold at right margin. Show through of ink. Overall, fine condition.