SIDNEY SHELDON - TYPED NOTE UNSIGNED - HFSID 270277

[SIDNEY SHELDON]
TNS: "Alexandra and Sidney" in type, 3½x2¼ card. No place, no date. To comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Begins: "Dear Phyllis". In full: "What a great night. What a wonderful, well-deserved tribute! Congratulations." Sheldon married his second wife, ALEXANDRA KOSTOFF, in 1989. He had previously been married to actress Jorja Curtright (1923 until her death in 1985), by whom he had one child. American author and director SIDNEY SHELDON (1917-2007) began his career as a radio joke writer before going to Hollywood, where he wrote his first credited screenplay, Mr. District Attorney and the Carter Case, in 1941. The following year, he had three hits on Broadway. In 1947, Sheldon won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (1947). Sheldon then won two Tony Awards for the 1959 musical, Redhead. Becoming a director and producer, he created such memorable shows as I Dream of Jeannie (1965-1970) and Hart to Hart (1980-1984). Sheldon also became a best-selling author, beginning with his debut novel, The Naked Face (1969), which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award. Other best sellers followed, including The Other Side of Midnight (1974), The Stranger in the Mirror (1975), Bloodline (1977) and Rage of Angels (1980). His 18 novels have sold over 300 million copies, and many have been made into feature films or made-for-TV movies or miniseries. Sheldon's autobiography, The Other Side of Me, was released in November 2005. 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). Lightly creased at lower right blank corner. Slightly soiled. Fine condition.