Scarce and terrific vintage 8x10-inch sepia-tone portrait as Queen Elizabeth in Drake the Pirate (1935), boldly signed in black fountain pen at the time of the film, with an inscription near the bottom. In fine condition for its age, with two surface creases to the left and upper areas, and light edgewear. Plump, twittering, delightfully dizzy British character actress Dame Athene Seyler made her bones on the stage, then entered silent films in 1921.  Making a seamless transition to talkies, she was cast as acid-tongued queens and society types, meddlesome mothers, and loyal servants in classic films like The Private Life of Don Juan (1934); Regal Cavalcade (1934); Scrooge (1935); The Mill of the Floss (1937); The Saint in London (1939); The Queen of Spades (1949); The Pickwick Papers (1952); The Beggar's Opera (1953); the horror favorite Night of the Demon, released in the U.S. as Curse of the Demon (1957); A Tale of Two Cities (1958); The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958); The School for Scandal (1959); Make Mine Mink (1960); Francis of Assisi (1961); and Satan Never Sleeps (1962).

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