RODDY McDOWALL - DOCUMENT SIGNED 01/18/1943 CO-SIGNED BY: HAROLD BOW, WINEFRED L. McDOWALL, T. A. McDOWALL - HFSID 173293

RODDY McDOWALL. Typed DS: "Roddy McDowall.", 1p, 8½x10. Beverly Hills, California, 1943 January 18. On letterhead of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation to Mr. Roddy McDowall, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, Los Angeles, California. Regarding McDowall's request to have his salary prorated over 52 weeks. In part: "Under the provisions of your Contract, your term begins January 6, 1943 and ends January 5, 1944, covering Fifty-two (52) weeks and One (1) Day, of which you are guaranteed Forty (40) weeks' salary at Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per week, or a total of Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00)...Prorating the above guarantee over the entire Fifty-two (52) weeks and One (1) Day of your term, we will pay you Two Hundred Fifty-five Dollars and Sixty-two Cents ($255.62) per week for the first Four (4) days, and Three Hundred Eighty-three Dollars and Thirty-eight Cents ($383.38) for the next Fifty-one (51) weeks, or Nineteen Thousand Five Hundred Fifty-two Dollars and Thirty-eight Cents ($19,552.38); and the sum of One Hundred Ninety-two Dollars ($192.00) for the Final Three (3) Days, the total of which payments equals Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00), the entire amount guaranteed in your Contract...." Also signed: "Winefrede L. McDowall//T. A McDowall" by McDowall's father (and guardian) and "Harold Bow" as Paymaster. McDowall, who was 14 years of age at the time he signed this contract (he would turn 15 on September 17, 1943), made two of his most famous early films, My Friend Flicka and Lassie Come Home, in 1943. His next films, The Keys of the Kingdom and The White Cliffs of Dover, were released in 1944. British-born actor Roddy McDowall (1928-1998) arrived in Hollywood to test for the juvenile lead in Fox's How Green Was My Valley (1941); he won both the role and a long-term contract. McDowall's first adult acting assignment was as Malcolm in Orson Welles' 1948 film version of Macbeth. Hespent the better part of the early 1960s playing Octavius in the mammoth production Cleopatra (Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor), co-starring with longtime friend Elizabeth Taylor. An accomplished photographer, McDowall was honored by having his photos of Taylor and other celebrities frequently published in the leading magazines of the era. McDowall's most frequent assignments between 1968 and 1975 found him in elaborate simian makeup as Cornelius in the Planet of the Apes theatrical films and TV series. Slightly soiled. 2 circular stamps at lower margin, 1 touches 1 letter of McDowall's father's writing. Fine condition.