Highly rare vintage 8x10-inch black and white 1955 publicity portrait-- almost all "autographed" material from him one encounters is secretarial-- boldly signed and inscribed in black fountain pen in the period of the photograph. Priced to reflect a diagonal crease extending from the middle of the left side to the center of the bottom border; otherwise, in fine condition for its age. During the course of an extraordinary life, Murphy shot up from a poor Texas sharecropper's son to America's most decorated World War II hero, and a popular Western and action movie star. While stationed in Europe with his infantry unit, he was credited with killing 240 Nazis, was promoted to lieutenant and earned at least 24 medals, including the Purple Heart and the coveted Congressional Medal of Honor. Discovered by actor friend James Cagney, Murphy was signed to a Hollywood contract and earned critical and popular acclaim playing heroic types quite like himself in westerns and war flicks like Beyond Glory (1948), Bad Boy (1949), The Kid from Texas (1950), The Red Badge of Courage (1951), The Cimarron Kid (1952), The Duel at Silver Creek (1952), Gunsmoke (1953), Guns Across the River (1954), To Hell and Back (1955), The Quiet American (1958), The Gun Runners (1958), The Unforgiven (1960), and Whispering Smith (1961). In 1971, he was tragically killed in a Memorial Day plane crash, aged only 45 years, and authentic autographed material is extremely difficult to locate.

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