Scarce 8x10-inch black and white portrait in her prime, signed and inscribed in blue marker in 1984.  In very good condition.  After making her bones on the vaudeville stage as part of the Five Sedgwicks acting troupe, she entered films in 1914.  She spent four years playing supporting roles, and her career trajectory seemed a done deal until a fortuitous accident instantly transformed her into a much-loved serial star:  The starlet poised to play Alicia Page, opposite Eddie Polo, in Universal's The Lure of the Circus cliffhanger series fell terribly ill, and Sedgwick was selected as her eleventh hour replacement.  The brassy little beauty proved wildly popular with audiences and she went on to star in a dozen serials, but, alas, eventually tired of them, changing her name to Greta Yoltz in an effort to find dramatic work elsewhere.  Nothing doing:  Nobody cared for her much, when she was playing a mother, sibling, schoolteacher, or sweetheart.  They preferred her as Alicia Page, walking tightropes, leaping out of windows and battling ferocious animals.  Sedgwick couldn't bring herself to do it and retired from acting with the advent of talkies, slipping into complete and total obscurity.  Her autograph is very elusive in any format and this is the nicest example we've ever encountered.

• Tweet