Beautiful, unusually early 7.75 x 9.75-inch black and white portrait, signed and inscribed in black fountain pen in the late 1930s. In fine codnition, with thin borders, which do not appear to have been trimmed. Statuesque Myrna Loy began her career in the silent era, playing exotic, Theda Bara-like femmes fatales. Of note were her performances in the mystery flick Thirteen Women (1932) and the horror classic The Mask of Fu Manchu (1933). With the advent of sound, she was increasingly cast as witty, urbane professional women, unforgettable as Nora Charles, opposite William Powell, in the six Thin Man movies (1934-1947); Billie Burke in The Great Ziegfeld (1936); Lady Edwina Esketh in The Rains Came (1939); Milly Stephenson in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946); Margaret in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947); Muriel Blandings in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1949); Lillian Gilbreth in Cheaper by the Dozen (1950); and, later, Mrs. Devaney in Airport 1975 (1974). In 1991, the beloved star was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.

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