Nifty 7.5 x 9.5-inch black and white publicity portrait, dating to the 1950s, boldly signed and inscribed in black fine-tip pen in 1981. In good condition, with very neat border trimming and one minor crinkle to the upper edge. With his intimidating face like craggy granite and a solid 6'5" frame, former wrestler and football player Mike Mazurki was one of cinema's first serial thugs, specializing in playing strong-arm men, gangsters and bullies for over 50 years.  Following some bit work in films, his career took off in the 1940s, with his chilling portrayals of Moose Malloy in Murder, My Sweet (1944) and Splitface in Dick Tracy (1945).  Occasionally veering into deadpan comedy, his long list of classic film credits includes The Shanghai Gesture (1941), horror's Dr. Renault's Secret (1942), The Canterville Ghost (1944), Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood (1945), The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), Killer Dill (1947), Nightmare Alley (1947), Come to the Stable (1949), Night and the City (1950), Blood Alley (1955), Around the World in Eighty Days (1955), Some Like It Hot (1959), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and Donovan's Reef (1963).

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