Dwight Frye Early Portrait Inscribed and Signed to His Wife....

Description

Dwight Frye Early Portrait Inscribed and Signed to His Wife. For horror fans who have indelible memories of Dwight Frye giggling as the lunatic Renfield in Dracula and scuttling as the hunchbacked Fritz in Frankenstein, this very rare 8" x 11.75" sepia portrait might be a surprise. It presents Frye, circa 1925, when he was a dapper, versatile Broadway star, hailed as "a future Barrymore." At the time, Frye was in love with a New York dancer named Laurette Bullivant, and he writes to her on the portrait, "Laurette/You by any other name would be as sweet/Dwight." Frye and Laurette would marry in 1928 and soon head to Hollywood, where Dracula, Frankenstein, The Vampire Bat, Bride of Frankenstein, and similar credits would tragically reduce Frye from "future Barrymore" of the stage to almost freak status in the movies. Laurette was his widow when Frye died in 1943 at the age of 44, the cruelly-humbled actor never expecting that his horror films would eventually win him posthumous cult status. The reverse includes the handwritten notation "Property of Dwight Frye/Bucksport, Maine" -- this being Dwight David Frye, the only child of Dwight and Laurette, who died in 2003. A striking portrait, a charming inscription and a moving testimony to Dwight Frye's promise before horror films provided him an unexpected fate -- and posterity. In Fine condition with two small tears on the right border and minor age toning. Accompanied by a COA from PSA/DNA.

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