Cat. #004071: ROBERT STRAUSS

Very tough to acquire vintage 8x10-inch black and white portrait, boldly signed and inscribed in blue ballpoint pen in the late 1950s. In fine condition for its age, with a minute ding in the area above the writing and a few minor surface crinkles. One doesn't soon forget gravel-voiced, simian character actor Robert Strauss, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Stanislas "Animal" Kasava in Stalag 17 (1953). He was similarly over-the-top, as a mixed bag of goons, bartenders, cops, cabbies, and bookies in films like The Seven Year Itch (1955), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), the war flick Attack! (1956), L'il Abner (1959), Elvis Presley's Girls! GIrls! Girls! (1962), and The Family Jewels (1965). Throughout the 1960s, he popped up in similar roles on classic western programs and sitcoms like "Bonanza" (1962), "Wagon Train" (1959-1962), "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1964), "The Munsters" (1964), "Green Acres" (1966), "Bewitched" (1966), "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1967), "The Monkees" (1967), and "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1966-1967). After years of eluding autograph hounds, Strauss died of a stroke at the age of 61 and his signature is highly uncommon in any format.