Cat. #000982221: VIRGINIA CHERRILL

Highly scarce vintage 4.25 x 7-inch black and white portrait, boldly signed and inscribed in black fountain pen in the 1960s for inveterate collector John Virzi. In good condition, with some possible trimming to the edges. With her mesmerizing blue eyes and fragile, yet tough demeanor, it was no wonder that Charles Chaplin saw in Virginia Cherrill the perfect blind flower girl for his last totally silent film, City Lights (1931). He spotted the gorgeous socialite at a boxing match and, though she had no acting experience, was so impressed by her ability to feign sightlessness that he made her his co-star. The outcome would be one of Chaplin's most poignant, beloved movies.  The luminous Cherrill seemed to have a bright future in film, as further demonstrated by strong work in Girls Demand Excitement (1931), Tod Browning's Fast Workers (1933) and Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933). Being of a reserved, altruistic bent, however,. Hollywood life didn't agree with her and she abandoned acting following her marriage to Cary Grant. After the union fell apart, Cherrill relocated to England to try to reembark upon her film career, but then left for good after remarrying in 1937, this time to the ninth Earl of Jersey. She thereafter slipped into obscurity, dedicating her life to charity work, especially during World War II.