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Spoto (Donald) papers
LSC.1563
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Donald Spoto papers
Creator:
Spoto, Donald, 1941-
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1563
Physical Description:
17 linear feet
(34 boxes and 6 oversize boxes)
Date (inclusive): circa 1940-1988
Abstract: Donald Spoto (1941- ) wrote biographical studies of film and theater personalities. The collection contains files relating
to Spoto's biographies and includes books, magazines, interviews, bibliographies, holograph notes, cassette recordings, film
scripts, letters, and galley proofs covering the lives of Tennessee Williams, Alfred Hitchcock, Lotte Lenya, Preston Sturges,
and Laurence Olivier. Spoto's doctoral dissertation and two of his original screenplays are included as well.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed audiovisual materials. For information
about the access status of the material that you are looking for, refer to the Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed audiovisual materials must be made in advance using the
request button located on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Donald Spoto papers (Collection 1563). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Donald Spoto, 1988-92.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9932222343606533
Processed by Manuscripts Division staff, 1999.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit
feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
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Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.
Spoto was born June 28, 1941 in New Rochelle, New York; BA, Iona College, 1963; MA (1966) and Ph.D. (1970), Fordham University;
taught at New School for Social Research, New York City, 1975-86; began teaching at University of Southern California in 1987;
visiting lecturer, British Film Institute, National Film Theatre, London, 1980-86; published biographical studies of filmmakers
Stanley Kramer, Alfred Hitchcock, Preston Sturges, playwright Tennessee Williams, and actors Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe,
Lotte Lenya, Laurence Olivier, Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman, and James Dean.
Collection contains files relating to Spoto's biographies of film and theater personalities. Research material is organized
first by personality, then by work. Includes books, magazines, interviews, bibliographies, holograph notes, cassette recordings,
film scripts, letters, and galley proofs covering lives of Tennessee Williams, Alfred Hitchcock, Lotte Lenya, Preston Sturges,
and Laurence Olivier. Also includes Spoto's doctoral dissertation and two of Spoto's original screenplays.
Arranged in the following series:
- Series 1. Biographical
- Series 2. Tennessee Williams
- Series 3. Alfred Hitchcock
- Series 4. Lotte Lenya
- Series 5. Preston Sturges
- Series 6. Laurence Olivier
- Series 7. Screenplays
Books Removed for Cataloging:
- Leavitt, Richard F. The world of Tennessee Williams. With an introduction by Tennessee Williams. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, c. 1978. First edition, signed by Richard Freeman Leavitt and Tennessee Williams. Copy number: 226/250.
- Leavitt, Richard Freeman, comp. and ed. Ave atque vale! memorial pages preserving the final notices. . .of Tennessee Williams. 1983?. Limited edition. . .copy number 7. . .is presented to Dakin Williams.
- Van Antwerp, Margaret A., and Sally Johns, eds. Tennessee Williams. Afterword by Louis Auchincloss. Detroit: Gale Research Company. . . c. 1984. A Bruccoli Clark book. Dictionary of literary biography, documentary series, an illustrated chronicle, vol.4.
- Williams, Tennessee. It happened the day the sun rose. Los Angeles, Sylvester & Orphanos, 1981. Copy 95 of 350.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Motion picture producers and directors -- Research.
Motion picture actors and actresses -- Research.
Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archives.
Olivier, Laurence
Spoto, Donald, 1941- --Archives.
Sturges, Preston.
Williams, Tennessee 1911-1983.
Hitchcock, Alfred
Lenya, Lotte
- Collection Overview
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Collection Details
- Conditions Governing Access
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
- Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
- Preferred Citation
- Provenance/Source of Acquisition
- UCLA Catalog Record ID
- Processing Information
- Biography
- Scope and Content
- Organization and Arrangement
- Items Removed from Collection