Highly uncommon vintage inscribed signature in black fountain pen on a 4x6-inch pale green autograph album page, acquired in-person by photographer and inveterate collector Edward Gelman in 1967.  In good condition and suitable for matting.  The esteemed Czech-born stage actor, director, producer, playwright, translator, poet, and composer, who co-scripted the horror film The Golem (1936), fled his homeland after the Nazi invasion of 1938, finding new work as a character player in Hollywood.  Although he spoke English masterfully, he was frequently cast as terribly or at least slightly out-of-place foreigners, typically Teutonic or Slavic in nature, with excellent roles in Your Money or Your Life (1932), Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Iron Mistress (1952), 12 Angry Men (1957), the sci-fi flick The 27th Day (1957), Uncle Vanya (1957), The Bravados (1958), Butterfield 8 (1960), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), and Somewhere in Time (1980).  He was also memorable as Fritz the butler on the T.V. series "Nero Wolfe" (1981).

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