Errol Flynn And Olivia de Havilland

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Errol Flynn And Olivia de Havilland
Two typescript letters, signed, the first, a carbon copy, from Errol Flynn to Dear Livvy on Thomson Productions, Inc...Hollywood, Calif... headed paper, 21st June, 1945, thanking her for a recent letter..and the enclosure [not present] (My god, it was longer than Gone With The Wind!)...and proposing that they appear in another film together produced by his own production company, Thomson Productions...Having a pretty fair notion just how you feel about the lovely Warner Bros. I know this is taking a long shot in hoping to interest you....My main reason...is because I know how the goodly public...would like to see us together once more...Thomson Prods. is a partner with Warners, so I could guarantee that not only would the Bros. not get in your hair but on the contrary would lay out a good number in velvet carpets for you, signed in red pencil Errol, 1p.; the second, de Havilland's reply on personalised stationery, July 26th, 1945, explaining the delay in her response...I have been in the throes of starting a picture at Paramount...I believe I read in the papers that your plans are already under way for you to make the film you mentioned, "Never Say Goodbye", with Eleanor Parker...I should most likely have been unable to go into production as soon as you would have liked, since I don't expect to finish this picture for another seven weeks...I do wish you lots of luck...All the best, Olivia 1p., additionally annotated in Flynn's hand in pencil beneath her signature De Haviland (sic) and at the top Thomson Prod. file (2)

Lot Essay

The reference to Warner Bros. regards Olivia de Havilland's long running legal battle with the studio. De Havilland was frequently cast as a gentle heroine in films dominated by the male lead [she played opposite Flynn at least eight times], when following the success of Gone With The Wind she demanded better roles, she was put on suspension by the studio for six months. Earlier in the year in 1945, she won her case against the inequitable extension of her seven-year contract and consequently studios could no longer add the time an actor had spent on suspension to the length of their contract. The film de Havilland refers to was To Each His Own for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress.

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