| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| Date of Issue | May 23, 2012 |
| Year | 2012 |
| Quantity | 6,250,000 |
| Denomination |
First-Class Mail® Rate Forever Commemorative
|
| Denomination Value | $0.45 |
| Perforation or Dimension | 1.56 x 0.98 in./39.62 x 24.89 mm |
| Series | Great Film Directors |
| Series Time Span | 2012 |
| Issue Location | Silver Spring, MD 20910 |
| Postal Administration | United States |
For Billy Wilder, the background artwork was inspired by Some Like It Hot, a farce about two male musicians (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) who seek refuge from gangsters by posing as members of an all-girl band featuring luscious singer Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe).
On May 23, 2012, in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Postal Service™ will issue the Great Film Directors commemorative stamp (Forever® priced at 45 cents) in four designs in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps. The stamps will go on sale nationwide May 23, 2012.
With these stamps, the U.S. Postal Service honors four great filmmakers who captured the many varieties of the American experience. These extraordinary directors — Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, and Billy Wilder — created some of the most iconic scenes in American cinema. They gave audiences an unforgettable (and in some cases, deeply personal) vision of life.
The stamp art combines a portrait of each man with a scene from one of his most iconic works.
These four filmmakers received multiple Academy Award nominations, 15 Oscars, and numerous other honors during their lifetimes. But their greatest accomplishment lies in the vitality and artistry of the stories they told through film.
Art director Derry Noyes designed these stamps using art by award-winning illustrator Gary Kelley, who created the images using pastels on paper.
The Great Film Directors stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.