LUCIE ARNAZ - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/10/1998 - HFSID 270123

LUCIE ARNAZ
She signs an affectionate, autograph letter to her friend Phyllis Diller.
ALS: "Lucie A [heart]" on back panel, 2 pages, 5½x4¼. Katonah, New York, 1998 September 10. On note card imprinted "Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill" on front to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Begins: "Darling Phyllis". In full: "Great to hear from you on 'our' birthday. Thanks for the sentiments and I didn't realize that you'd done 'Ruth' in the 60's. Isn't it a dream role? We're trying to set up a tour of that production right now. I'll let ya know if we succeed. You are such a talent and what a great friend. I always love getting a card from you, girl. Next time I have more than a day or two in L.A., where I'm not racing around, I'll give you a call and maybe we can have a drink and talk about......oh my God - there's so much!! God bless and stay well. love". Slightly creased with mid-horizontal fold, not at signature. Fine condition. Accompanied by original stamped mailing envelope, unsigned, 5¾x4½. 32-cent flag stamp affixed, postmarked Westchester, New York, September 11, 1998. Addressed by Arnaz to: "Ms. Phyllis Diller, 163 South Rockingham Ave., Los Angeles, California, 90049". On back flap, which is imprinted "Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill", Arnaz has written her two-line return address. Lightly creased. Cut open at upper edge. Fine condition. Both Arnaz and Diller were born on July 17; Arnaz in 1951 and Diller in 1917. LUCIE ARNAZ (born Lucie Desiree Arnaz in 1951), the daughter of early TV comedy legends Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, had married her second husband, stage, screen and television actor LAURENCE LUCKINBILL, in 1980, the year she appeared in The Jazz Singer as Molly Bell and in the made-for-TV movie, The Mating Season, with Luckinbill. The couple, who would have three children, welcomed their first son, Simon Thomas, on December 9, 1980. Their other children include another son, Joseph, and a daughter, Katharine. Arnaz had previously (1971-1977) been married to actor Phil Vandervort. Lucie had made her television debut (along with her brother, Desi, Jr.) on the last half-hour I Love Lucy episode in 1957. She had bit parts in her mother's subsequent The Lucy Show (beginning in 1963), and played full supporting parts in Here's Lucy (1968-1974). Making her Broadway debut in 1978, Arnaz won the Theatre World Award that year for her performance in They're Playing Our Song. She has also starred in several feature films, including Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977), in two of her own TV series, The Lucie Arnaz Show (1985) and Sons and Daughters (1991), and in made-for-TV movies, including the acclaimed Who is the Black Dahlia? (1976), and she has made guest appearances on numerous TV shows and series. 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). Two items.