Uncommonly early and just great 8x10-inch sepia-tone Warner Brothers-First National Pictures studio portrait as Mike Mascarenhas in Howard Hawks' Tiger Shark (1932), boldly signed with his name alone in black fountain pen at the time of the film. In good condition, with a few minor handling dings. After a promising career on stage, and in silent and early talking pictures, he achieved immortality with his portrayal of crime lord Rico Bandello in Little Caesar (1931). He was thereafter featured in a long string of gangster movies produced by Warner Brothers throughout the 1930s, often starring James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart. Small and fierce, with a broad face that conveyed both menace and pathos, Robinson moved beyond gangster roles in the 1940s, providing unforgettable support in films like Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940), Flesh and Fantasy (1943) and Double Indemnity (1944). Despite a history of patriotic efforts on behalf of the United States , he was investigated as a Communist sympathizer during the Red Scare of the 1950s and, although, exonerated, saw his film career founder. Following a brief retreat to the stage, he reemerged in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments and went on to find new audiences with roles in The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Mackenna's Gold (1969) and the sci-fi flick Soylent Green (1973). While— perhaps unthinkably— he never received an Oscar, the Academy honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award two months after his death in 1973.

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