Terrific vintage 8x10-inch black and white costume portrait as Sir Thomas Nevil in the 1947 stage production of "Vendetta," adapted for the screen in 1950, boldly signed with his name alone in black fountain pen in the 1940s. Labeled along the upper border by the original collector; otherwise, in good condition for its age. After establishing himself on stage and in English silent films, character actor Nigel Bruce settled in Hollywood in 1934, where he carved a niche for himself playing bumbling, befuddled British gentlemen. It was this quality which landed him his best-known role, that of Dr. Watson, opposite Basil Rathbone, in the horror-themed The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), which proved so popular with audiences that he went on to repeat the part in 14 feature films and on the Holmes radio program of the 1940s.  His work in other genres included such classic films as She (1935), Becky Sharp (1935), The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), The Rains Came (1939), The Blue Bird (1940), Rebecca (1940), Lillian Russell (1940), Suspicion (1941), Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (1952), and the early 3-D flick Bwana Devil (1952). In 1953, Bruce died of a heart attack, just before appearing with Basil Rathbone in a Sherlock Holmes stage production. He was only 58.

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