Cat. #0013471: FRANKLYN FARNUM

Highly rare-- this is the third example we have encountered in 35 years-- vintage 5x7-inch black and white photo by Hartsook Studios, boldly signed and inscribed in black fountain pen in the 1910s. In good condition, with gentle edgewear. Ubiquitous character actor Franklyn Farnum, who appeared as an extra or supporting player in over 1,100 films, has the distinction of having appeared in more movies that earned the Best Picture Oscar than any other performer. His five-decade career including a much work in westerns during the silent era. With the advent of talkies, he found new work portraying townsfolk, partygoers, clerks, military men, passersby, jurors, hospital patients, barflies, doctors, business men, clubs, and shopkeepers in an incredible string of classic films. To name but a few, he had memorable roles in Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936), The Crime of Dr. Forbes (1936), The Man Who Lived Twice (1936), The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Revenge of the Zombies (1943), Hangover Square (1945), Dick Tracy (1945), The Farmer's Daughter (1947), I Remember Mama (1948), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), My Friend Irma (1949), The Heiress (1949), Sunset Blvd. (1950) as the undertaker who has to bury Norma Desmond's chimpanzee, All About Eve (1950), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Calamity Jane (1953), A Star Is Born (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), Guys and Dolls (1955), The She-Creature (1956), The Ten Commandments (1956), and Some Like It Hot (1959).