GILBERT ROLAND - FIRST DAY COVER SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: CHARLES (CHARLES LEVISON) LANE, LITA GREY CHAPLIN, LEW AYRES, LYLE TALBOT, LEON AMES, HARRY BELLAVER - HFSID 294180

AMERICAN ACTORS
Gilbert Roland, Lew Ayres, Lita Grey Chaplin, Lyle Talbot, Harry Bellaver, Charles Lane and Leon Ames signed this FDC honoring Douglas Fairbanks
First Day Cover signed: "Gilbert Roland", "Lew Ayres", "Lita Grey Chaplin", "Lyle Talbot", "Harry Bellaver", "Charles Lane", "Leon Ames", 6½x3½. FDC in a Performing Arts series honoring Douglas Fairbanks. Postmarked Denver, Colorado, May 23, 1984. 20¢ stamp affixed, FIRST DAY OF ISSUE. GILBERT ROLAND (1905-1994) played dashing leading men in both silent and talking films, his movie career spanning half a century. Originally trained as a bullfighter, he was the only genuine Mexican to portray the Cisco Kid on screen (in eleven films). He received two Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actor, for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Cheyenne Autumn(1964). Roland appeared in more than 100 films, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) being the first, and Barbarosa (1982) being the last. LEW AYRES (1908-1996) starred opposite Greta Garbo in one of the last silent films, The Kiss (1929), and then starred in 1930's Oscar-winning talking film, All Quiet on the Western Front. A leading man through the 1940s, he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in Johnny Belinda (1948). He starred as Dr. Kildare in a series of feature films, but refused to play the role on TV because cigarettes were to be advertised on the program. Misidentified as a conscientious objector because of his desire to serve as a combat medic, Ayers was temporarily blacklisted in Hollywood during World War II. He remained active in movie and TV character roles through the 1980s. LITA GREY (CHAPLIN) (born Lillita Louise MacMurray, 1908-1995) had minor roles in two of Charlie Chaplin's films, The Kid and The Idle Class (both 1921). She became pregnant with Chaplin's child, and - fearing prosecution for having sex with a minor - he married her in 1924. They had two sons, but the marriage was an unhappy one. They divorced in 1927, after a scandalous trial and the largest divorce settlement in history up to that time. She wrote two autobiographies, including Wife of the Life of the Party (1995). Chaplin biographer Joyce Milton asserts that Nabokov's Lolita was inspired by the Grey-Chaplin marriage. Some actors would wince at some of the jobs that LYLE TALBOT (1902-1996) took later in his career, but at least he kept busy. Talbot appeared in 300 movies and TV shows between 1932 and 1987, which included roles as Commissioner Gordon in Batman and Robin (1949) and Lex Luthor in Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), both serials. He also had the dubious honor of appearing in not one but two movies by schlock director Ed Wood, Jr.: Glen or Glenda (1953) and the legendary Plan 9 From Outer Space (1956). Talbot had roles in more reputable movies, too. His good looks earned him co-star duties with Ginger Rogers in a number of mysteries in the 1930s (The Thirteenth Guest, 1932; A Shriek in the Night, 1933). As he got older, he became one of Hollywood's busiest villains. Talbot was busy on TV, too; he had a recurring role as Joe Randolph on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1956-1966). Talbot was also one of 24 actors to organize the Screen Actors Guild in 1935. American character actor HARRY BELAVER (1905-1993) made his Broadway debut in 1931, and performed two years later in the U.S. premiere of The Threepenny Opera. He played Chief Sitting Bull in the original Broadway version of Annie Get Your Gun (1946), and repeated the same role in the 1966 revival. In films and television, Bellaver usually played working class characters including taxi drivers, doormen and petty thieves. He had a starring role as Detective Frank Arcaro on TV's Naked City (1958-1963), and made recurring visits to TV Westerns and detective dramas. Major film roles ranged from The Tanks Are Coming (1951) to Blue Collar (1978). CHARLES LANE (1905-2007) was the screen name of Charles Levison, an actor whose career spanned over 60 years. He was cast as an unlovable snoop or skeptic in films such as: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, It's A Wonderful Life, and Arsenic and Old Lace, and in numerous television comedies like Petticoat Junction (1963-1970, "Homer Bedloe"), Dennis the Menace (1959-1960, "Mr. Finch"), and Soap (1977-1978, "Judge Anthony Petrillo"). Lane appeared in over 250 films and guest starred on almost every TV sitcom from the 1950s through the 1970s. He was honored at the TV Land Awards on March 16, 2005 for his long career and 100th birthday. Actor Leon Ames (1902-1993), born Leon Waycoff, began his film career as a matinee idol but is best known for playing a befuddled patriarch in films and on television. Ames, who made his film debut in 1931, played in a long list of features through the 1980s, including Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Little Women (1949), Peyton Place (1957), From the Terrace (1960), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), Testament (1983) and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986, his last film). He debuted on television as the star of Life With Father (1953-1955), and Ames would eventually land starring series roles in Father of the Bride (1961-1962) and Mr. Ed ((1963-1965), as neighbor Gordon Kirkwood). Ames also made several TV movies and appeared as a guest star on a long list of series, beginning with early TV anthologies. In addition, he was the owner of a successful Los Angeles automobile dealership. Lightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.