Extremely rare vintage black fountain pen signature on a roughly 2x5-inch portion of a pale green album page, acquired in-person in 1946 and affixed to an 8.5 x 11-inch piece of white cardstock, beneath a computer-printed image of the star. This is only one a small number of examples we've ever encountered and is especially nice in that he signs with his full name, and not with the abbreviated Chas Middleton, which was his custom. In good condition. Note that the image of the star shown here alongside the scan of the autograph is not included. Eccentric Charles Middleton was the son of a Kentucky millionaire and had no reason in the world to work, but decided to pursue acting as a means of expressing himself. After stints with a traveling circus, and vaudeville and theater troupes, he entered films in 1920, only coming to full fruition with the advent of sound, which showcased his ominous baritone voice. He was the ideal foil for comedy stars Harold Lloyd, Eddie Cantor, Wheeler and Woolsey, Laurel and Hardy, and the Marx Brothers, unforgettable in Palmy Days (1931), Duck Soup (1933) and Flying Deuces (1939), and marvelous in dramas like Show Boat (1936), The Good Earth (1937), Jezebel (1938), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). He also had a bit role in Gone with the Wind (1939), as the supervisor of a group of convict workers. However, it was for his portrayal of the despicable Ming the Merciless in sci-fi's Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s and 1940s that Middleton will forever be remembered. 

• Tweet