WILLIAM GARGAN - AUTOGRAPHED INSCRIBED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 278029

WILLIAM GARGAN
B/w photo of Gargan from the neck up in profile, signed "Bill Gargan" in blue ink
Inscribed photograph signed: "Mr Smith/Joyous [illegible]/Bill Gargan" in blue ink.With pencil notations in unknown hand on verso. B/w, 9 ¾ x 8 overall, 9 ¼ x 7 ½ image, one surface. Gargan (1905-1979, born in Brooklyn, New York) was an Oscar-nominated American actor with over 100 TV shows and movies to his credit between 1928 and 1958. Gargan started as a stage actor in 1924 and appeared on Broadway a year later in Aloma of the South Seas (1925), his first of eight Broadway appearances. His first film appearance was a bit part in 1928's Lucky Boy, with his first starring role in 1932's Rain. He played high-energy, extroverted leads in B-movies during the 1930s, moving to character roles in the 1940s. He moved to TV in 1949; his most well-known role there was probably Martin Kane in Martin Kane, Private Eye (1949-1951) and The New Adventures of Martin Kane, Private Eye (1957-1958). Gargan lost his larynx to cancer in 1960, which ended his acting career; his final role was as a mute clown in TV's The King of Diamonds. He devoted himself to the American Cancer Society after losing his speech and published an autobiography in 1969 about his fight with cancer entitled Why Me?. Lightly toned, creased and bowed. Parts of signature are faint but legible. Light impressions and horizontal striations on image. Pencil notes (unknown hand) on verso. Otherwise in fine condition.