Quite scarce vintage 8x10-inch sepia-tone costume portrait as the evil sea captain in John Robertson's Captain Salvation (1927), boldly signed and inscribed in violet fountain pen in the 1920s. In good condition for its age. Dubbed "the man you loved to hiss," 6'4," steely-eyed character actor Ernest Torrence was one of the silent and early talkie screens' great villains, memorable alongside Lon Chaney, Sr., in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), and as criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty in the Clive Brook Sherlock Holmes film of 1932. Equally adept at comedy roles, he also portrayed Buster Keaton's father in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928). He died young, aged only 54.

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