Uncommon vintage inscribed signature in black fountain pen on a 4x6-inch yellow autograph album page, acquired in-person in 1938.  In good condition, with a fleck of soiling to the upper right-hand corner, well away from the writing.  Jerome Cowan was one of Hollywood's most prolific and instantly recognizable character actors.  With his pencil-thin mustache, slicked-back hair, immaculate suits, and witty repartee, he portrayed a vast assortment of rejected husbands, shifty politicians, lawyers, gangsters, and shady detectives.  He also excelled at delivering snappy repartee and witty or barbed one-liners which were typical of the gritty Warner Brothers films of the 1930s and 1940's.  Cowan's long list of classic film credits includes Beloved Enemy (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), There's Always a Woman (1938), The Maltese Falcon (1938), Torrid Zone (1940), High Sierra (1941), Frisco Lil (1942), Crime by Night (1944), Mr. Skeffington (1944), the horror gems Fog Island (1945) and Jungle Captive (1945), Deadline for Murder (1946), Cry Wolf (1947), Riffraff (1947), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), and sci-fi's Visit to a Small Planet (1960).  He also memorably portrayed Dagwood's boss George Radcliffe in the Blondie comedy series of the 1940s.  His extensive television work included a a short, but poignant performance, opposite Ida Lupino, in "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine", a 1959 episode of "The Twilight Zone", as a heavily aged former matinee idol.

• Tweet