Lee, Nelle Harper. (1926-2016) [Peck, Gregory. (1916–2003)] [d'Harnoncourt, René. (1901-1968)
Signed Photograph with Gregory Peck
Exceedingly rare signed original period photograph of the author smiling broadly and standing between To Kill a Mockingbird actor Gregory Peck and the Director of the Museum of Modern Art, René d'Harnoncourt. Lee has signed and inscribed to her close friend Luna Diamond, former secretary to the National Council on the Arts, in a light area of the image in black ink, "For Luna / with my love, Nelle Harper Lee." City News Bureau stamps to verso, slight wear around the blank borders and some staining to verso, overall fine. 10 x 8 inches.This charming image is from a meeting of the National Council on the Arts, of which all three figures depicted were early members, and is the only signed photograph we have ever encountered of Lee with any of the actors from the film of her celebrated novel. In fact, while a closeup bust portrait of Lee turns up occasionally authentically signed (usually later in life), this is the only period signed candid photograph of her to have become available in over 30 years of sales records we have searched.
To Kill a Mockingbird became an immediate bestseller and won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The New Yorker declared it "skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenious". It has gone on to become of the best-loved classics of all time and has been translated into more than forty languages selling more than forty million copies worldwide. Named the best novel of the twentieth century by librarians across the country (Library Journal), in 2008, a Uk Guardian survey of librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die." Made into the Academy Award-winning film, directed by Robert Mulligan, starring Gregory Peck. It went on to win three Oscars: Best Actor for Gregory Peck, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, and Best Screenplay for Horton Foote. It was nominated for five more Oscars including Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Mary Badham, the actress who played Scout. In 1995, the film was listed in the National Film Registry. In 2003, the American Film Institute named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the 20th century. In 2007 the film ranked twenty-fifth on the AFI's 10th anniversary list of the greatest American movies of all time.
From the collection of Luna Diamond, former secretary to the National Council on the Arts who enjoyed a 43-year career in government. Mrs. Diamond, once described by actor James Earl Jones as "the council's own Jewish mother," worked for the arts agency for 15 years. She became assistant to Roger Stevens at the newly formed National Endowment for the Arts in 1965. She later served as congressional liaison under chairman Nancy Hanks until retiring in 1980. She previously had been a secretary to Clinton P. Anderson (D-N.M.), beginning in 1941 when he was a congressman, through his term as secretary of agriculture in the Truman administration, and into several of his terms as a senator. She was a community volunteer throughout her life, at one point serving on 18 community boards, and was included in the book "Women of Achievement in Maryland History" (2002). She was a recipient of the Elliot Niles award from the B'nai B'rith and the Woman of Valor award in 1995. (21507)
Book Literature Signed Photograph Film