Extremely rare black fountain pen signature, given at the close of a typed letter on tan stationery, dating to his Hollywood heyday. In fine condition, with gentle mailing folds and light toning in spots. Just the third example we've ever encountered! Familiar-faced Irish-born stage and screen character actor Charles Gerrard played Martin in Tod Browning's horror classic Dracula (1931), memorable in the scene in which he torments the deranged, fly-eating Dwight Frye in a sanitarium. Otherwise, beyond roles in a handful of mysteries like The Lone Wolf's Daughter (1928) and The Menace (1932), he was typically cast in high dramas, and silent and early talkie comedies.  Among his many notable credits were the Mabel Normand film The Pest (1919); Syd Chaplin's Her Temporary Husband (1923), The Man on the Box (1925) and The Better 'Ole (1928); and the Laurel and Hardy gem Another Fine Mess (1930).

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