Charming 4.5 x 6.5-inch black and white portrait, boldly signed in violet fountain pen in the 1930s. In good condition, with very slightly trimmed borders, decoratively trimmed corner tips and mounting remnants on the verso. Sometimes described as a poor man's Kay Francis, English-born Mona Barrie enjoyed a fairly substantial career as a versatile "second lead" in the 1930s and 1940s. She was noteworthy in films like Charlie Chan in London (1934), One Night of Love (1934), Mystery Woman (1935), King of Burlesque (1936), Something to Sing About (1937), Skylark (1941), W.C. Fields' Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), Dawn on the Great Divide (1942), The Strange Case of Dr. Rx (1942), Cairo (1942), and The Devil's Mask (1946). She abandoned acting in 1953 and died a decade later, of undisclosed causes, at the age of 54.

• Tweet