JOHN VAN DREELEN - INSCRIBED PRINTED PHOTOGRAPH SIGNED IN INK - HFSID 345209

JOHN VAN DREELEN

The famous actor who managed to escape from a Nazi concentration camp is shown looking at his left and holding a cigarette in his hand, signed in blue ink

Inscribed Printed Photograph Signed In Ink: “For Kerin/John Van Dreelen” in blue ink. 3½x5½. John Van Dreelen (1922-1992) was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands to Dutch actor Louis Gimberg and French baroness Labouchere. He was fluent in several languages and was reported to have escaped a concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Holland by disguising himself as one of the German officers he would later play so often on both big and small screens. Even though he bookended and sprinkled his career with appearances in several European films, John is best remembered as an A-list guest star in dozens of American television shows from the early 1960s to the middle 1980s. Never a major player in American theatrical films, he nonetheless scored a few choice roles, including the Danish concert pianist who rescues and woos Lana Turner in an extended sequence in Madame X (1966). John Van Dreelen also enjoyed an international stage career and starred in the original American touring production of "The Sound of Music." Despite his close identification with despotic roles, he also easily breezed through light drama and comedy and cut a dashing and memorable figure in 1960s pop culture oeuvre. Lightly toned. Pencil notations on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.