Rare handwritten, signed letter in fountain pen on an 8 x 11-inch sheet of tan stationery, dated 1923.  In very good condition, with a touch of edge wear and the expected mailing folds.  Larger-than-life Welsh character actor Lyn Harding spent 40 years in British theater, specializing in unsavory characters like mad hypnotist Svengali and Bill Sikes in "Oliver Twist".  During the late silent and early talkie eras, he transitioned to a film career, channeling his imposing stature, menacing energy and crisp diction into unforgettable villain roles.  Best remembered for the role of Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes films of the 1930s, opposite Arthur Wontner, he was also deliciously wicked as the murderous Dr. Rylott in the Raymond Massey Sherlock Holmes picture The Speckled Band (1931), Professor Holloway in the Boris Karloff horror flick The Man Who Lived Again (1936) and Vespasian in I, Claudius (1937).

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