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Auction History Result 7w0626 WILLIAM S. HART signed 6x8 photo 1920s great portrait of the silent cowboy star! Date Sold 3/4/2021 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Autographed Photo (measures 6" x 8" [15 x 20 cm]) (Learn More) William S. Hart was born in New York in 1864, as the U.S. Civil War was coming to a close. He spent some time out West, but mostly lived in New York, working some as a postal clerk. Almost all screen cowboys who followed Hart have had strong western backgrounds, growing up on ranches, and participating in rodeos, but not Hart. He became interested in stage acting, and In 1899 he created the role of Messala in the first stage production of "Ben-Hur", and later the role of Trampas in the first stage production of "The Virginian". In 1913 or 1914 at the age of 48 or 49 (information is sketchy) he made his first movie and he began directing most of his movies, and within a few years was producing them as well. The movies were usually set in the West, but not always "westerns" in the modern sense, but almost all were elaborate moralistic melodramas, with tales of romantic betrayal, and long journeys by the hero to get vengeance and redemption. He WAS a big man with a very craggy face and he looked like a western hero (his nickname was "Two-Gun"). His movies were extremely popular with the public in the late 1910s. By 1925 Hart had made around 75 movies, and he was now 60, certainly quite old for a screen cowboy. The public was tiring of his movies, and there were new younger western stars who had been in circuses and Wild West Shows (Tom Mix, Buck Jones, and Hoot Gibson) and they had far better cowboy abilities. Besides, Hart was involved in both a messy divorce AND a paternity suit, and that publicity was not helping him. Hart made one final film, Tumbleweeds, in 1925, and then retired. Hard passed away in 1946 at the age of 81, and he donated his large estate to the City of Los Angeles. His mansion is now a museum and has been preserved with its original fixtures and furnishings intact and the surrounding land is now a park. Important Added Info: Note that this photo has been personally autographed (signed) by William S. Hart! This signed photo has "PROPERTY OF THE B J NICKELODEON" stamped on the back. We have auctioned many original stills and lobby cards from this collection that are from the 1910s and 1920s, and they included a number of William S. Hart ones. Given that this came from the same collection, we feel it is incredibly likely that it was signed in the 1920s at the latest, and that Mr. Hart did in fact sign it personally, but our consignor does not have a certificate of authenticity. As is true of all the signed items we are currently auctioning, we give every buyer 30 days in which to review what they purchased and they can return any item as long as it is within 30 days of the end of the auction. On non-signed items, we give a "lifetime guarantee" on everything we auction, but on signed items, we give the above modified guarantee of 30 days after the auction closes. Condition: good. The photo was trimmed and mounted to a heavy board (no doubt to put in a frame). The board is cracked on the back of the bottom left, but it does not affect the photo, which could be re-framed as it is, or one could have it professionally removed from the old backing board. Learn More about condition grades 
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