VIVIEN LEIGH - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/09/1962 CO-SIGNED BY: CAL DARNELL - HFSID 190491

VIVIEN LEIGH
Leigh and her secretary both signed this letter in 1962 to ask that MCA deposit money in Leigh's bank account. According to this letter, Leigh had just made "a number of purchases here in Brazil, a few gems and perhaps a pretty dress or two"and needed $3,000 or so to be deposited in her account.
Typed letter signed "Cal Darnell" as Leigh's secretary and "Vivien Leigh", both in red ink. 1 page, 8x11½, on stationery from the Hotel Jaraguá, São Paulo, Brazil. May 9, 1962. Addressedto Arnold Weissberger, Esq. New York City. This letter appears to have been typed by either Darnell or a third party, as it refers to Leigh in the third person.It was written to inform MCA Studios that "Miss Leigh has made a number of purchases here in Brazil, a number of purchases here in Brazil, a few gems and perhaps a pretty dress or two from one of Brazil's chi-chi dress designers", and that she had to write two checks, drawn on her Chase Manhattan Bank account, to cover the purchases. This letter was to make sure that "sufficient funds are placed in her account at that bank to cover an undetermined amount (as of now) somewhere between three-thousand or four-thousand dollars USA?" Leigh has added a handwritten postscript: "Arnold dear MCA have about $8,000 dollars of mine somewhere!!.". Leigh (1913-1967, born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, West Bengal, British India, now India) was a British stage and film actress. She won Academy Awards for Best Actress as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939) and as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). She came to America in November 1938. On December 21st, she had a screen test for the Scarlett O'Hara role and on December 25, 1938 she was told by producer George Cukor that she had secured the part. On January 26, 1939, she began filming Gone With The Wind. Leigh was an accomplished actress on the British stage as well. She appeared in London's Old Vic Theatre opposite Lawrence Olivier as Ophelia in Hamlet in the late 1930s; the two started an affair and were married in 1940, divorcing in 1960. She was only 53 when she succumbed to a severe bout of tuberculosis in 1967. DARNELL was Leigh's secretary. Lightly toned and creased, with carbon copy marks. Brown stain near lower edge. Two lightly-torn binder holes at top. Light tears in top edge. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.