Legends of Hollywood Stamp Series

The second release in the Legends of Hollywood series is James Dean. Stamp artist Michael Deas used a photograph taken of Dean by Roy Schatt in 1954 as the inspiration for this stamp. The original photograph showed Dean with a cigarette in his mouth, but it was eliminated because of the Postal Service's policy of not showing smoking on any of their stamps.

The selvage text reads as follows: "In a brief but brilliant career, the actor James Dean (1931-1955) spoke for millions of American teenagers as the misunderstood youth in East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause. His stature grew mythic after he died in a car crash, shortly before his final film, Giant, was completed."

So far, this release is the only stamp to honor a director. Richard Sheaff, the art director for this stamp decided to use a black and white photo of Alfred Hitchcock in tribute to the fact that most of Hitchcock's movies and TV shows were done in black and white.

Art director Howard Paine used both painted and photographic artwork for this stamp. Thomas Blackshear based the art on this stamp on a black and white publicity still of Cagnery from a Warner Brothers film. We think of Cagney as a tough guy, but in reality James was a pretty good song and dance man.

Lucille's family insisted that the stamp not depict the Lucy that we all love and remember from the "I Love Lucy" show. Instead, stamp artist, Drew Struzan, created this beautiful stamp from a photograph supplied by Lucy's children. The selvage art is from a 1957 episode of "I Love Lucy".

This beautiful silhouette of Audrey is a Michael Deas design. Audrey's son, Sean Ferrer, wanted the bump on Audrey's nose to be left on the portrait, because he described his mother as "a beautiful package of imperfections." The selvage art is a photo from one of Audrey's most famous roles, "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Stamp artist Drew Struzan based his artwork on a photo of Wayne from the movie "the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". While the photo was in black and white, the Postal Service was allowed access to the clothes that Wayne wore in the film which gave artisit Struzan as reference to put in the correct colors. The selvage art is also a Drew Struzan creation and based on Wayne's character in the movie "The Searchers".

This beautiful stamp is based on a photo from Judy's movie, "A Star is Born". The first idea for the stamp had art director Ethel Kessler and stamp artist Tim O'Brien designing a stamp that showed Judy as a young actress. Her family wished that the stamp would show her as a more mature woman and their wish was granted. The selvage art work of course, is of Judy in one of her most famous roles, "Dorothy" in "The Wizard of Oz".

Stamp artist Drew Struzan used as inspiration, a photo of James taken during the filming of the movie "The Stratton Story". It was this photo that Stewart's family liked best when shown several different poses. The selvage art is from on of Stewart's most loved movies, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

A portrait of Gary which was based on a black and white photo of Gary taken by George Hurrell around 1940, was the inspiration for art director, Phil Jordon's stamp. The selvage art is based on the photo from Gary's Academy Award winning performance in High Noon as Marshall Will Kane.