NANETTE FABRAY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED CIRCA 1981 - HFSID 270193

NANETTE FABRAY
The actress writes to Phyllis Diller, updating her on a recent housing project
Autograph letter signed: "Nanette Fabray", 1 page, 9½x7¾. 18-cent stamp affixed, postmarked Marina Del Rey, CA, August 17, 1981. On verso of "Post Heroes" sheet featuring stamp depicting American poet Walt Whitman on front to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Begins: "Dear dear Phyllis". In full: "You are in Bermudah (sic)! Fun? Work? Exportated (sic)? I just got back from Canal Fulton Ohio. As the kids say, puke, bork, barf, yeech. The big news there, was that you will be playing Ro[illegible] this year at the Carrousel (sic). Anyway I'm home & it's divine. I'll start work on building the new house in a couple of weeks. I split a lot off this property where my house is. I feel like a big time developer. Well, that's the only interesting thing to come up all year. Oh well. love ya". Addressed by Fabray to: "Phillis Diller, 163 So. Rockingham, Los Angeles, 90049". In the year she wrote this letter, Fabray appeared in one feature film, Amy, and made a guest appearance on an episode of The Love Boat. The career of NANETTE FABRAY (Ruby Bernadette Nanette Fabares 1920-2018) includes feature films, Broadway and television. Fabray, a veteran of vaudeville, made her feature film debut in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and gave one of her best performances in 1953's The Band Wagon. Her success on Broadway included a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Love Life (1949), and she was nominated for a Tony in the same category for Mr. President (1963). On the small screen, Fabray had her own sitcom, The Nanette Fabray Show (1961), played Bonnie Franklin's mother in One Day at a Time and won three Emmy Awards after replacing Imogene Coca as Sid Caesar's comedy partner (1954-1955). Fabray, who is the aunt of actress Shelley Fabares, also appeared in a number of made-for-TV movies. 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). Slightly creased, touching signature. Slightly soiled. Postal markings at upper margin touch four lines of writing (all legible) and show through to front. Otherwise, fine condition.