Highly rare and quite early 8x10-inch matte-finish sepia-tone publicity portrait, blind-stamped by Jesse Reyes of Hollywood, boldly signed and inscribed in black fountain pen sometime between 1928 and 1930. In good condition for its age, with thin borders; some pinholes to the upper and lower left-hand corners, and two slightly nicked corner tips. Dowdy, matronly character actress Jessie Ralph played kindly grandmothers, sagacious maids, stern governesses, and dizzy society types in a long string of classic films, including Murder at the Vanities (1934), Nana (1934), The Affairs of Cellini (1934), Les Miserables (1935), David Copperfield (1935), After the Thin Man (1936), Camille (1936), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), The Good Earth (1937), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Star Dust (1939), The Bank Dick (1940), with W.C. Fields, and The Blue Bird (1940). Horror buffs will remember her role as the midwife in Tod Browning's Mark of the Vampire (1935).

• Tweet