VERA H. RALSTON - AUTOGRAPHED INSCRIBED PHOTOGRAPH 03/28/1973 - HFSID 277902

VERA RALSTON
B/w movie still from The Man Who Died Twice of Ralston from the knees up in a black gown and in front of a microphone, signed "Warm personal regards" in 1972. The Man Who Died Twice was one of Ralston's last films.
Inscribed photograph signed "To George M. Smith/Warm personal regards/Vera Ralston/3/28/73". With pencil notations in unknown hand on verso. B/w, 10x8 overall, 9½x6¾ image. Movie still from The Man Who Died Twice (1958). No. 58 in a series of 197. ©1958 Republic Pictures. The Man Who Died Twice was made the year that Ralston retired from movies and was one of her two last movies. Ralston (1919-2003, born Vera Hruba in Prague, Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic) first gained attention as an ice-skater, prompting Herbert J. Yates, the head of Republic Pictures, to bring her to the U.S. to become "the next Sonja Henie". Credited as Vera Hruba in her 1941 film debut in Ice-Capades, the actress, who took the name "Ralston" from the name of a breakfast cereal company, would go on to appear in 26 films for Republic Pictures - and would marry Yates (they were married from March 1952 until his death on February 3, 1966). She retired from the screen in 1958 - the year that Yates was deposed as the head of the studio. On June 16, 1973, seven years after her first husband's death, Ralston married Charles de Alva. The couple lived in Santa Barbara, California, where Ralston died on February 9, 2003. Lightly toned, creased and bowed. Light impressions and scratches on image (not visible head-on). Small tear on right edge. Adhesive remants on verso. Otherwise in fine condition.