Karsh - American Legends (ISBN: 0821219065 / 0-8212-1906-5)

Boston: Little Brown, 1992. First Edition. From the library of the great film director Billy Wilder, signed and inscribed by the author / photographer Yousuf Karsh: “For Billy Wilder, whose portrait graces this book. Yousuf Karsh.” Laid in is a note written by Billy Wilder with Mr. Karsh’s address in Canada. On page 135 is Karsh’s photographic portrait of Mr. Wilder, with the following caption: “Billy Wilder, Film Director. On the long shelf holding his leather-bound movie scripts and six Oscars spanning a fifty-year career as writer-director-producer, the Winged Victory bronze presented to him by the ‘divine director Rene Clair’ was especially meaningful.” Oversized art book. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A collection of Karsh’s photograph portraits of American artists, authors, newsmakers, and celebrities, including Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Cesar Chavez, Martha Graham, Al Hirschfeld (who contributed a caricature drawing of Karsh on page 10), Jasper Johns, Billie Jean King, Jessye Norman (which is also on the front panel of the jacket), Jonas Salk, Charles Schulz, Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Vonnegut, Andy Warhol, Elie Wiesel, Tom Wolfe, etc. Billy Wilder’s legendary status in Hollywood as a director, screenwriter, and producer includes such classic films as Ninotchka, Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Stalag 17, Some Like it Hot, The Seven Year Itch, The Apartment, and The Fortune Cookie.