Scarce vintage 8x10-inch glossy black and white portrait, boldly signed and inscribed in black felt-tip pen in the late 1960s or early 1970s. In fine condition, with scattered mild thumbing bends in the borders and a small area of unevenness to the glossy finish, completely invisible when the photograph is viewed head-on. No-nonsense Jack Webb began his career as a radio performer, briefly hosting his own satirical comedy series before finding his true metier in detective melodramas like "Pat Novak for Hire" (1948), which he co-developed with screenwriter Richard L. Breen. He entered films in the late 1940s, including a role as a police lab technician in the 1948 noir He Walked by Night (1948). Intrigued by the police procedure he'd learned while preparing for the part, Webb immersed himself in the subject until he felt ready to launch the first realistic radio cop show: "Dragnet", which premiered in 1949. He carried over his terse characterization of L.A. police sergeant Joe Friday into the "Dragnet" T.V. series beginning in 1952. Armed with a bottomless reserve of police terminology and a colorful repertoire of catchphrases, the laconic, ferret-faced Webb became one of the most successful-- and most widely imitated-- television personalities of his era.

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