Uncommon vintage 8x10-inch black and white glossy chest-up portrait, boldly signed and inscribed in blue ink in the late 1960s or early 1970s.  In fine condition, with light surface creases.  Large-and-in-charge character actor Claude Akins was equally adept at portraying sneering, cowardly villains and hard-nosed, no-nonsense cops, as evidenced in From Here to Eternity (1953), Rio Bravo (1959), The Defiant Ones (1958), Merrill's Marauders (1962), and The Killers (1964).  He regularly contributed to the horror, sci-fi and fantasy genres, starring in two classic episodes of T.V.'s "The Twilight Zone", entitled "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (1960) and "The Little People" (1962), as well as in B-level thrillers like The Night Stalker (1972), The Norliss Tapes (1973), Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), Tentacles (1977), Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977), Monster in the Closet (1986), The Curse (1987), and Where Evil Lives (1991).

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