Classic Entertainment Autographs

Cat. #0008441: BEN CARTER

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Exceedingly rare vintage inscribed brown fountain pen signature on a 4x6-inch tan album page, acquired in-person around 1940, not long after his work on and in Gone with the Wind (1939). In good condition and just the third example we have encountered in over 35 years. Note that the image of the star shown here alongside the scan of the autograph is not included. African-American comedian Ben "Shadrach" Carter, who was the vaudeville straight man to Mantan Moreland, entered films in 1934, playing bug-eyed, wiry-haired playing porters, elevator men and chauffeurs in films like A Day at the Races (1937), Safari (1940), Dressed to Kill (1941), Reap the Wild Wind (1942), Crash Drive (1943), This Is the Life (1944), Lady on a Train (1945), Charlie Chan in The Scarlet Clue (1945), The Harvey Girls (1946), and Charlie Chan in Dark Alibi (1946). He also worked as a casting director, assigning every Black actor role for Gone with the Wind (1939), in which he had an uncredited role himself. Carter died tragically of diptheria at the age of 35, and his autograph is nearly impossible to find in any format.