RAYMOND MASSEY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 10/17/1972 - HFSID 295124

RAYMOND MASSEY
Very touching handwritten letter congratulating winners of a Special Olympics competition
Autograph Letter signed: "Raymond Massey", 2 pages (front and verso), 6x8. Beverly Hills, California, 1972 October 17. On personal letterhead to "Dear young friends", in full: "It is so nice to hear from you again and to receive the newspaper clipping telling of the Special Olympics. I want to congratulate June Kimball for her three firsts in the softball throw and the fifty and three hundred yard dashes, Donna Nichols on her first in the long jump and the two seconds, Dwight Patterson for the long jump win, and Queenie Day for two firsts in the 50 and 300 yard dashes, Stuart Nichols for the 50 yard win and the two seconds in the 300 and the softball throw and all the other winners and competitors. I wish all of you who have qualified for the State Special Olympics in Portland the best of good luck. Please let me know how you did there. Thank you, Donna Lee Nichols, for the fancy clown picture and whoever made the green paper basket, thank you. I hope you have a good happy year in school and please write to me and tell me about how you did at Portland. May God bless you all and help you and take care of you. Yours affectionately". In 1931, Raymond Massey (1896-1983) starred in his first talking picture as Sherlock Holmes in The Speckled Band. He divided his time between stage and screen, offering excellent performances in major motion-picture efforts (The Scarlet Pimpernal, 1935 and Things to Come, 1936). Massey's appearance in Abe Lincoln in Illinois was his most famous role; he appeared in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway production and then repeated his Lincoln characterization in this film version, earning an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Twenty-two years later, he played a cameo as Honest Abe in How the West Was Won (1962). On television, Massey hosted the 1955 syndicated anthology I Spy, and more memorably was Dr. Gillespie in the weekly series Dr. Kildare. Multiple mailing folds. Corners worn. Fine condition.