TLS signed “Marlon,” one page, 7.25 x 10.5, personal letterhead, January 11, 1999. Terse letter in which Brando takes architect and business representative Bernard Judge to task for failing to properly fill out and file certain forms in regards to development of Brando’s Tahitiian atoll of Tetiaroa. In part, “The year has passed and with it the opportunity to benefit from the French law that was changed. You are receiving $1,000 a month as a retainer to handle all these details. Nowhere in our agreement was it ever indicated that the responsibility of filling out the forms lay with me. You were uniquely responsible for that. Fancy footwork aside, that opportunity has passed and my financial electives have been reduced. It’s important that you realize that I realize what transpired. The consequences of your failure to see that the papers were properly filled out may or may not have direful results. You have up to date hard cash in your pocket. I have to date the Tetiaroa book and disparate information about building materials plus a few sketches. I don’t know if that constitutes your having met your responsibilities to the fullest sense.” In very fine condition, with two punch holes to top edge. Tetiaroa, one of the Society Islands, is an atoll located due north of Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia located on the island of Tahiti. In 1789, three deserters from the Bounty became the first Europeans to visit the island during the ship’s twenty-three week stay in Tahiti. It was after departure that the famous mutiny on the Bounty took place. In 1904, the royal Pomare family of Tahiti gave the island to dentist Johnston Walter Williams. As a private island it passed through the hands of other owners until 1965, when Brando, after filming Mutiny on the Bounty, leased it from its current owner for 99 years. Brando lived on the island on and off until 1990. At various times he talked of plans to develop a resort on the island, but the enormous costs involved made it financially impossible for him to carry through on his ideas. PSA/DNA Auction LOA and R&R COA.
