Kirkwood, James Sr. - 1931 ALS on a 3 1/2 x 5 Sheet - Silent Actor / Director
1931 Black fountain pen signed quote on a 3 1/2 x 5 sheet, dated to May 28,1931. Twice-folded sheet with lite vertical and horizontal folds. Tape remnants from a previous mounting on verso.
Bio: James Cornelius Kirkwood Sr. (February 22, 1876 – August 24, 1963) was an American actor and director. Kirkwood debuted on screen in 1909 and was soon playing leads for D. W. Griffith.
He started directing in 1912, and became a favorite of Mary Pickford, with whom he is rumored to have had an affair. In 1923, he married actress Lila Lee; with her, he had a son, James Kirkwood Jr., who became a successful writer, winning both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize for A Chorus Line.
He was director George Melford's original choice for the starring role of Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan in The Sheik (1921), which was later famously passed to Rudolph Valentino. Kirkwood continued acting well into the 1950s. His film career would span more than two hundred films over nearly a half century. He died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital at the age of 87.