Letter from Sir Noël Coward, to the Anglo-Canadian performer Barry Morse referencing the opening of "Ace of Clubs" in Manchester. Signed. Coward, Sir Noël Peirce ( 1899- 1973); Barry Morse (1918-2008), recipient and provenance Autographs

1 page tls on Midland Hotel stationery in envelope postmarked 23 May 1950. Sent to 21, de Vere Gardens, W.8.Barry Morse: Born in London in 1918 , England to a Cockney family, Barry Morse began his career with performances as a boy soprano on BBC radio in the late 1920s. As a boy scout, he also acted in a number of amateur plays and productions in London's East End as a child. But it was as a 15-year old school dropout and errand boy that he won a full scholarship to the famed Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).He was probably best known to the public around the world for his television roles as "Lt. Philip Gerard" in The Fugitive with David Janssen and later in the syndicated series Space: 1999 as "Professor Victor Bergman" with Barbara Bain and Martin Landau. His other series starring roles included The Adventurer and The Zoo Gang. He also appeared in some of the most popular miniseries presentations of the day, including The Golden Bowl, The Martian Chronicles, Whoops Apocalypse, Sadat, A Woman of Substance, The Winds of War, Master of the Game, War and Remembrance, Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story, and more. His final TV miniseries project was Icon starring Patrick Swayze, based on the best-selling book by Frederick Forsyth.He had a seven-decade, 3000-role career in theatre, film, radio and television (where he was best known for his performance as the relentless detective in the series The Fugitive). He died in 2008.He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, before performing in the city's West End, on the BBC and in the provinces. He came to Canada in 1951, and was immediately performing in live radio and appeared on CBC television soon after, first living in Montreal (while he performed, on stage, at the Mountain Playhouse), then Toronto (where he worked at the Crest Theatre).He was briefly (1966) artistic director of the Shaw Festival, but during his time managed to draw the world's attention to the festival and bring in name actors. He was also a founding member of Theatre Compact, a troupe of Canadian stars who performed in Toronto, 1976-78.He performed around the world, including lead roles in The Private Life of George Bernard Shaw (1995); Love Letters ; a US national tour of Pinter's The Caretaker as Davies; and his one-man show Merely Players, which premiered in 1959, and enjoyed a Canadian national tour in 1984.He was married to actor Sydney Sturgess (from 1939 until her death in 1999), and they had two children, Melanie and Hayward.His autobiography, Pulling Faces, Making Noise was published in 2004, and his memoir about acting, entitled Remember With Advantages:Chasing 'The Fugitive' and Other Stories from an Actor's Life was published in 2007.