Baby LeRoy Extremely Rare Very Early Original Signed* 8/10 Photo '35 W.C. Fields

Description

Here is an extremely rare very early vintage original signed 8" by 10" photo of child actor Baby LeRoy, from his W.C. Fields' movies prime of the 1930s. *The photo is hand-signed but will be listed as secretarial, since the date (1935) and age (2) listed on the back make it unlikely that he actually signed this. However, if it is secretarial, it is an official signature from the time (rather than something added later), as shown by the last image (found online), which shows a very similar on a page signed by many stars of the day, including W.C. Fields.
Ronald Le Roy Overacker (1932 –  2001), better known by his stage name Baby LeRoy, was an American child actor who appeared in films in the 1930s. When he was 16 months old, he became the youngest person ever put under term contract by a major studio.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Baby LeRoy's career began when he was less than one year old, co-starring with Maurice Chevalier in A Bedtime Story, and ended with a cameo role as himself in Cinema Circus (1937). He is best known for his appearances in three W.C. Fields films: Tillie and Gus (1933), The Old Fashioned Way (1934) and It's a Gift (1934).
Youngest motion picture actor to receive star billing.
At age 8, Baby LeRoy landed the lead role in Paramount's The Biscuit Eater (1940). This was to be his comeback film, after a two year absence from the big screen, when he last appeared, at age 6, in a bit part as himself in the comedy short, "Cinema Circus". He began filming the opening scene of The Biscuit Eater (1940) in October, 1939. The scene called for Baby LeRoy to swing across a lake holding a rope, but he lost his grip and fell into the lake as the cameras rolled. This happened both times that the scene was attempted. As a result, Baby LeRoy became ill with a very bad cold. By the next day he had lost his voice. As filming was on location in Albany, Georgia, and the crew and the rest of the cast could not wait the two weeks for the young actor to recover, as the doctor who examined LeRoy had determined, the film's director, Stuart Heisler, instead placed an emergency call to Paramount in Hollywood. Paramount wasted no time replacing Baby Leroy with another Paramount child actor, Billy Lee, who soon arrived with his father who was managing his career, while Baby LeRoy was sent back to Hollywood to recover from his illness, with a promise from Paramount that he would be given another lead role for another chance at a comeback. Unfortunately, that never materialized. Filming of The Biscuit Eater(1940)_ resumed the very day Lee arrived. This 1940 film became the one that he is still most noted for among the 40 films he appeared in between 1933 and 1942, while Baby Leroy is still said to have retired from motion pictures at age 4, four years earlier than this final chapter of his career.
Once had his milk spiked with gin by W.C. Fields.
When he made his screen debut, aged six months, in A Bedtime Story (1933), the contract had to be signed by his grandfather, as not only was Baby LeRoy underage, but so was his 16 year-old mother.
Extremely rare.
Will ship worldwide. I always combine shipping on multiple orders.