Cat. #005441221: WALLY VERNON

Scarce vintage glossy 8x10-inch portrait by John E. Reed, boldly signed and inscribed in black fountain pen in the 1940s. In very good to fine condition, with scattered light creasing, and a heavier area of creasing in the right background area. Wonderfully eccentric comic character actor and dancer Wally Vernon has been compared to everyone from Donald O'Connor to Ray Bolger.  He was memorable in Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), the horror-themed comedy The Gorilla (1939), Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939), and Margie (1940) before finding new work in westerns, as a sidekick to Don "Red" Barry.  In 1970, he was tragically mowed down and killed by a speeding car, aged only 64 years.