SIR JOHN MILLS - AUTOGRAPH CO-SIGNED BY: JACK DOYLE, MOVITA CASTANEDA, HENRI VADDER - HFSID 68022

JOHN MILLS, JACK DOYLE, MOVITA CASTANEDA and HENRI VADDEN
Pencil signatures on opposite sides of a 6x5 album leaf
Signatures: "Best Wishes/Henri Vaddery." and "John Mills" in pencil on front, and, on verso, "Jack/Doyle" and "Morta" in pencil, 6½x5¼ album leaf. Magazine photographs, b/w, of Doyle and Morta affixed to verso. Stage, screen and television actor, Sir John Mills (1908-2005), born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was one of Britain's most popular actors, appearing in over 120 films and made-for-TV movies over his career, which spanned eight decades. The winner of the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Ryan's Daughter (1970), Mills was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor (Dramatic) in 1962 for Ross. His favorite film was Tunes of Glory (1960), in which he co-starred with fellow British actor Alec Guinness (the two had previously teamed up in 1946 in Great Expectations). The father of actresses Juliet and Hayley Mills, he appeared with Hayley in 1961's The Parent Trap (Mills had appeared in his own Disney Movie, The Swiss Family Robinson, in 1960). His other films include Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Around the World in 80 Days (1956, cameo), Young Winston (1972), The Big Sleep (1978), The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978) and Gandhi (1982) as well as made-for-TV movies such as A Tale of Two Cities (1991). He played Gus the Theater Cat in the Great Performances rendition of Cats (1998). Mills, who was knighted in 1976, published his autobiography, Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen, Please, in 1981, nearly a quarter of a century before his death at age 97. Irish boxer, actor and signer JACK DOYLE (1913-1978), called "the Gorgeous Gael," had a shot at the British heavyweight title in 1933, but lost after reportedly consuming several drinks at a pub before the bout. His good looks earned him starring roles in two Hollywood movies, McGlusky the Sea Rover (1934) and Navy Spy (1937). He returned to England with a new bride, the glamorous Mexican-American actress Movita Castaneda. Doyle also had a fine tenor voice, performed to sold-out crowds at the London Palladium, and recorded several records for Decca, including a hit duet with Movita, "South of the Border." Doyle descended into alcoholism, lost Movita, and spent his money - as he put it - on "slow horses and fast women." MOVITA CASTANEDA (b. 1917) broke into movies playing exotic women in Flying Down to Rio (1933) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and in other roles through the 1940s. She was married to Jack Doyle from 1939 to 1944, and to American actor Marlon Brando from 1960 to 1962. She and Brando had two children. After some other minor TV roles, she had a recurring one as Ana in 17 episodes of the American prime time soap Knot's Landing (1987-1989). HENRI VADDEN was an English circus performer known for his dangerous "Spinning Cartwheel" act. He would start a large and heavy cartwheel spinning above his head with a pole attached to his chin, remove the pole, and catch the falling cart at its center with his spiked helmet. Vadden entertained King George VI at one of the Royal Variety Shows. Lightly creased and rippled. Light vertical crease at 2 letters of inscription. Tape remnants at blank left edge, which has binding holes. Lightly soiled, shaded at edges. Overall, fine condition.