RODDY McDOWALL - DOCUMENT SIGNED 10/26/1953 CO-SIGNED BY: ALFRED DE LIAGRE - HFSID 178252

RODDY McDOWALL. Partly Printed DS: "Roddy McDowall" as Actor and "Alfred de Liagre" as Manager, 2p, 8½x21, front and verso. New York, New York, 1953 October 26. Headed: "Actor's Equity Association/Standard Minimum Contract/For Legitimate Dramatic and Musical Productions". McDowall enters into an agreement with de Liagre to appear in the play, Escapade, to open on or around October 31, 1953, at a salary of $400 per week. McDowall and de Liagre have also initialed: "RMcD." and "deL" twice on a Rider, 8½x5¼, affixed at left margin. Among the provisions on the Rider is an increase in salary to $500 per week if the Standard Minimum Contract is converted to a Standard Equity Run-of-the-Play contract. Escapade, which starred McDowall as Daventry, a disciple of the philosophic Icarus, Brian Aherne and Ursula Jeans, was a three-act comedy written by Roger MacDougall. The play, directed by de Liagre and produced by de Liagre and Roger L. Stevens, opened at the 48th Street Theatre on Broadway on November 18, 1943 and ran through November 28, 1953 (13 performances). Although this play was short-lived, it marked the beginning of a new phase in McDowall's career; he remained on Broadway for seven years, returning to films in 1960. 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. Lightly creased, slightly soiled. Staple holes at upper left corner and blank left margin, file holes at upper blank margin, ¼-inch paper loss above 3 of the file holes. Chipped at upper left blank edge, upper right blank corner chipped off. Overall, fine condition.