Highly uncommon vintage 5x7-inch black and white portrait, boldly signed in green fountain pen with his name alone in the early 1940s. Two light ink marks to the upper-left hand corner, and minor creases to the area of his neck and left jacket lapel; otherwise, in fine condition for its age. Before his tragic death of a heart attack at the age of 57, the gruff, burly character actor had memorable roles in some of Hollywood's best-loved films, playing the ship steward in Chained (1934), a bus driver in It Happened One Night (1934), Mac in Black Fury (1935), Ranse Willard in The Cattle Thief (1936), Don Foster in Legion of Terror (1936), Fingers in the Boris Karloff flick Night Key (1937), Eddie the cabbie in Topper (1937), the doorman in Dead End (1937), an unruly churchgoer in Of Human Hearts (1938), a motorcycle cop in Bringing Up Baby (1938), Biff Moran in Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938), Tug in The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938), the detective Mike in You Can't Take It with You (1938), Yankee Captain Tom in Gone with the Wind (1939), a gate gendarme in the horror classic Son of Frankenstein (1939), John Palmer Cass in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), a policeman in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Ike Botkin in Sergeant York (1941), John L. Sullivan in Gentleman Jim (1942), Detective Tom Polhaus in The Maltese Falcon (1941), Moose Malloy in The Falcon Takes Over (1942), Bert in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Sergeant Major Michael O'Rourke in Fort Apache (1948), McCarthy in The Time of Your Life (1948), La Hire in Joan of Arc (1948), Fr. Peter Lonergan in The Quiet Man (1952), Buffalo Baker in Hondo (1953), the Reverend Captain Samuel Johnson Clayton in The Searchers (1956), and Pat Weaver in Rio Bravo (1959).

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