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Gene Kelly (born Eugene Curran Kelly) was a legendary musical and dance star (but he also appeared in straight dramatic roles) from the 1940s through the 1990s. Together with Fred Astaire, he is one of the two best remembered stars of dancing musicals, and yet he was far from an overnight success. He made his first movie in 1942, "For Me and My Gal", when he was 30 years old, and for most of the 1940s, he did not make many appearances in musicals. Between 1948 and 1951, he appeared in several memorable musicals, but he and his wife, Betsy Blair, were caught up in the blacklisting scandals of the early 1950s, and while he himself was not blacklisted, it did hurt his career. Some of his movies include: Singin' in the Rain, Inherit the Wind, On the Town, An American in Paris, Anchors Aweigh (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film), and scores of others! He passed away in 1996 at the age of 83.

Important Added Info: Note that this still has been personally autographed (signed) by Gene Kelly! Note that this autographed 8x10 is one of 91 that were consigned to us by a former theater owner. He owned two different major theaters in Louisiana from the 1940s through the 1970s, and he sometimes had premieres of movies at his theaters, at which time some of the celebrities connected to the movies would appear in person (this was often done in the 1950s and 1960s). When celebrities came to his theater, he would have them autograph 8x10 stills for him in person, and that got him started collecting signed stills, so at some point in the 1950s, he began requesting the studios to have them send him stills signed by the stars of movies he had recently shown at his theater when he was holding a special event or having the anniversary of his theater's opening! Over the next decade, he collected 91 signed stills that were sent to him by the studios through the mail, as well as several dozen that he obtained in person. We auctioned those "in person" signed stills in our previous auctions, and now we are auctioning the 91 stills where he obtained the signatures through the mail from the studios.

We know for certain that he received these stills directly from the studios, but we can't say for certain if the stills were signed by the stars or if they were signed by secretaries. But since he owned a major theater, and since many of the stills were personalized to him (or to his theater), we would think it likely that most, if not all, of these 91 stills have genuine signatures that are NOT secretarial signatures. But we suggest that anyone bidding on these stills compare their signatures to other examples of that star's signature, so they can best determine if the signature is from that star.

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