Yummy, quite early 8x10-inch black and white publicity portrait by Maurice Seymour, boldly signed and inscribed to inveterate collector Edward Barry in black fountain pen in the late 1940s. In good condition, with an ink smudge affecting a few letters of the dedication, not touching the autograph itself; the word "good" in "good luck" a shade light; and scattered handling bends and surface impressions, most noticeable at bottom left corner. Adorable Jan Sterling's sexy pout, flashy style and saucy delivery made her a favorite hard-bitten floozy in soaps, noirs and comedies of the 1940s and 1950s, including Johnny Belinda (1948), Caged (1950), Ace in the Hole (1951), Flesh and Fury (1952), The Human Jungle (1954), and Female on the Beach (1955). Ironically, it was for a far more sympathetic role in The High and the Mighty (1954) that she earned her only Oscar nomination in 1955.

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