From the Estate of Mae West is this vintage original 3.5 x 5.5 in. double-weight glossy publicity photograph from a 1950's stage act tour featuring MAE WEST AND ANTHONY DEXTER. She is depicted with her famed platinum blonde hair and wearing a black Gay Nineties-themed dress with a large hat and a white boa as she puts her arms on her handsome co-star, actor Anthony Dexter. Miss West had these photos printed to give out for publicity purposes. It is in very fine+ condition with a tiny dot near the center of the right border.

According to Kevin Thomas, the former film critic for the Los Angeles Times as well as a friend of Miss West, she apparently had "a thing" for silent film star Rudolph Valentino and she had wanted to work with him, but he passed away suddenly at the youthful age of 31, so this ambition of hers never came to be. She found the next-best thing in Valentino look-alike, Anthony Dexter, which is how this 1950's stage act tour featuring him came about.

Anthony Dexter, the handsome actor best remembered for his portrayal of Rudolph Valentino in the film Valentino (1951), was born Walter Reinhold Alfred Fleischmann in Talmadge, Nebraska. After college, he became a stage actor, then served in U.S. Army in World War II and then returned to acting. He moved to Hollywood in the late 1940’s, changing his name to Anthony Dexter. Among his first gigs was a nationwide stage tour with actress Mae West.

His casting in the title role of the 1951 film Valentino, which was greeted with a fanfare of publicity, was the culmination of one of the greatest talent hunts in the history of motion pictures. Producer Edward Small's search covered 11 years of effort and brought forth 75,000 applicants for the job of playing the legendary silent film star, Rudolph Valentino. Following his success in that film, however, Dexter appeared mostly in lesser films. His other films include The Brigand (1952),Captain John Smith And Pocahontas (1953); Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl (1954); The Black Pirates (1954); He Laughed Last (1956); The Story of Mankind (1957); The Parson and the Outlaw (1957), and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). After retiring from the screen, he took the name Walter Craig and became a teacher of English and Drama in Los Angeles. When he retired from teaching, he moved to Greeley, Colorado.