Scarce vintage 3.5 x 5.5-inch sepia-tone postcard portrait, dating to the early 1930s, boldly signed in black fountain pen, also adding the name of her dog, Binkie.  In good condition, with a minute tear to the upper left-hand border, gentle diagonal creases in all four corners, where the photo was removed from mounts, and ink and pencil notations on the verso.  Thatcher began her career as a dancer, noted for her controversial Egyptian harem dance, during which she wore what the press dubbed "the boldest costume ever worn in England".  She went on to a career in English music halls and theater before entering film in the silent era.  Her presence in talkies was an unforgettable one:  She specialized in playing upper-class, off-beat schemers, gossips, bad girls, and bitches, in films like The Private Life of Don Juan (1934), If I Were King (1938), Beau Geste (1939), Man Hunt (1941), and The Moon and Sixpence (1942)-- always dazzlingly clad, with impeccable diction.  She is remembered by fans of the horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery genres for her roles in First Men in the Moon (1919), The Thirteenth Chair (1937), the werewolf film The Undying Monster (1942), Flesh and Fantasy (1953), Gaslight (1944), and The Hour of 13 (1952).

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