White shirt that helped make Colin Firth a star coming to D.C.

WASHINGTON – It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single white shirt, a pond and a chiseled chest helped make actor Colin Firth a star as Mr. Darcy in a TV version of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Now, that shirt is coming to Washington.

Folger Shakespeare Library spokeswoman Garland Scott confirmed Tuesday that the shirt will be part of “Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity,” an exhibit on the posthumous fame of Shakespeare and Austen.

The exhibit runs Aug. 6 through Nov. 6. The shirt being displayed is one of several Firth wore while filming the 1995 BBC miniseries. In a scene that made fans soon, he appeared in the wet garment after a swim in a pond.

The shirt’s presence in the exhibit was first reported by The New York Times.