Rare and choice late 1930s 8x10-inch sepia-tone portrait, signed and inscribed in black fountain pen, with his autograph given in both Western and Korean characters. The earliest signed portrait of the star we have ever encountered! In fine condition for its age, with gentle edge wear. Great Korean-American character actor Philip Ahn portrayed hundreds of Chinese and Japanese characters in films and television programs of the 1930s through 1970s. While he was typically cast as kindly, soft-spoken servants and neighbors, sympathetic types, he also excelled in villainous "Yellow Peril" roles. Of particular note were his performances in The Good Earth (1937), Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937), Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937), Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938), Dragon Seed (1944), The Purple Heart (1944), Blood on the Sun (1945), Back to Bataan (1945), Charlie Chan in the Chinese Ring (1947), The Cobra Strikes (1948), the horror classic The Creeper (1948), Women in the Night (1948), Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), and Shock Corridor (1963).

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