August 2012 Auction Ends Thursday, August 30th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/30/2012
Lot of 20 Mary Astor letters signed. Nineteen autograph letters and one typed letter are all signed ''Mary'' by the classic Hollywood star, ranging in date from January of 1962 to November of 1964. Astor enjoyed a wildly successful career on the big screen that began in the silent era and culminated in an Oscar and an iconic role opposite Humphrey Bogart in 1941's ''The Maltese Falcon.'' These candid letters are addressed mostly to her agent Gloria Safier or simply to ''Darling'' (some are addressed to ''Gloria darling''). Throughout the lot, she discusses her choice to segue from actress to author. She claims the long hours required to shoot movies became overwhelming, citing a debilitating decline in her health and vitality at only 58 years of age. Interestingly, she never speaks too fondly of the business in which she made her name, or of its famous personalities. In the typed letter signed, she writes of her contemporaries: ''...It was great seeing Bette again, but the thing about her which was so stimulating, all the energy, the opinionated vigor - just seems old-fashioned. And Crawford with her seventeen pieces of luggage and her entourage - come on!...'' In one of the autograph letters, she writes ''...[at] Desilu...I'm going to do a big fat part in [ABC medical drama] 'Ben Casey'. $4500...'' Of her bestselling autobiography published in 1959 she writes in another autograph letter signed: ''...Everybody has said 'You should write a Hollywood Story' and I have always said I wouldn't - mainly because I couldn't write what people think of when they say a 'Hollywood Story.' But I found that I could write a story about some people who happen to work in TV & movies...'' The memoir, ''My Life / An Autobiography'' jumpstarted her career as a writer, and the creation of her 1964 novel, ''The O'Connors,'' is a recurring topic in the lot. Five letters are undated. Every letter running more than 1pp. is written or typed on separate sheets. Several letters to Safier have a typed copy of a Safier letter to Astor stapled on the front. Astor writes all but two upon stationery bearing the title and address of her Malibu estate ''Stella Maris''. These measure 8.5'' x 11''. The two on plain stationery measure 6'' x 7.75'' and 8.5'' x 11''. Light toning and creasing with the occasional paperclip imprint to an upper left corner. Entire lot is in very good to near fine condition. A revealing glimpse of the complex and legendary Hollywood figure that was Mary Astor.
Mary Astor 20 Letter Lot -- ''...It was great seeing Bette again, but the thing about her which was so stimulating...just seems old-fashioned. And Crawford with her 17 pieces of luggage...come on!''
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