Extremely rare and quite choice vintage 7.5 x 9.5-inch sepia-tone portrait, shown with a cigarette adangle betwixt his fingers in his silent movie days, boldly signed and inscribed in white fountain pen to the screenwriter of 1928's Terror Mountain, in which he starred, in the period of the film. In good condition for its age. After building up a hulking physique as a sailor, boxer, lumberjack, coal miner, and champion weightlifter, Tom Tyler entered films in 1923, starring in early western features and serials. During the talkie era, he struggled to conceal his dense Lithuanian accent and was increasingly relegated to character roles in big budget films, including Stagecoach (1939), Gone with the Wind (1939) and the horror classic The Mummy's Hand (1940), as the undead Kharis. In 1941, Tyler landed the plum title role in the Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) cliffhanger, but, due to increasing difficulties with rheumatoid arthritis, his career completely collapsed by 1943. In an attempt to make ends meet, he took whatever parts he could in various T.V. westerns, including a "starring" role, alongside Tom Keene, in Ed Wood's unsold pilot "Crossroad Avenger" (1953). The following year, he died of a heart attack at the age of 50 and his autograph is virtually nonexistent in any format.