BEN GAZZARA - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 278025

BEN GAZZARA
Small b/w headshot of Gazzara in a sweater and checked shirt, signed "Best Wishes" in blue ink. Accompanied by original mailing envelope.
Photograph signed: "Best Wishes/Ben Gazzara" in blue ink.B/w, 4¾x7 overall, image 4¼x6¼ (one surface). Accompanied by: Original mailing envelope signed "Ben Gazzara" in unknown hand. Postmarked Los Angeles, California. Addressed to Dolores Ford, Telford, Pennsylvania. With one 4¢ purple-and-white Abraham Lincoln stamp attached. Ben Gazzara, born Biaggio Anthony Gazzara in New York City in 1930, is an Emmy-winning American actor of stage, TV and movies. Gazzara began studying acting after dropping out of the engineering program at City College of New York and got his start on stage and TV. His first Broadway role, as Jocko de Paris End as a Man (1953-54), earned him a 1954 Theatre World Award. He went on to create the role of Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955-1956) and star in A Hatful of Rain (1955-1956); both of these roles were played by other actors in the film adaptations. However, Gazzara was recast as Jocko Paris in the 1957 film adapation of End as a Man, one of his first movie roles, and managed to steal scenes from Jimmy Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder, two years later. Gazzara moved to TV after failing to find adequate movie roles and, since his role as Leon Uris' counterpart in QB VII, has favored off-beat roles, including a bisexual villain in Road House (1989) and dysfunctional characters in Buffalo '66, Happiness and The Big Lebowski (all 1998). He continues to appear in movies and TV shows, with a total of over 120 as of this biography. Lightly toned, creased and bowed. Light impressions on image (not visible head on). Otherwise in fine condition.