British-born film director (1889-1957) who helmed such horror classics as Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man. After a series of strokes left Whale physically weak, he committed suicide by throwing himself into his swimming pool. Original vintage pencil and watercolor sketch of a grimacing woman in Victorian clothing accomplished by Whale on an off-white 7 x 9 sheet, captioned "Freda Fay as 'Mrs. Otherly,'" and signed in pencil, "J. Whale 1920." The consignor notes that the drawing is a costume sketch for an Irish production of Simon Cameron's Abraham Lincoln: Sketches from behind the Footlights. In fine condition.
A decade before his debut in cinema, Whale had garnered acclaim for himself as a set and costume designer on the British theater scene. Having enlisted in the army during World War I and commissioned a second lieutenant, he was captured and made a prisoner of war in 1917. It was during this imprisonment that Whale discovered a flare for staging theatrical productions, leading him to an eventual encounter with Frankenstein's monster. Whale's autograph remains quite rare in any form, making this original sketch a particularly desirable example.
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