Audrey Hepburn and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in Wait Until Dark – Original Warner Bros. Press Photograph – 1967

Description

An original black-and-white press and publicity photograph showing Audrey Hepburn as Susy Hendrix with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as her husband, Sam Hendrix, in the acclaimed 1967 psychological thriller Wait Until Dark.

Hepburn is shown standing closely beside Zimbalist, gently touching his face with both hands. Susy’s blindness is conveyed through the tactile intimacy of the gesture: rather than looking directly at Sam, she identifies and connects with him through touch. Zimbalist’s restrained, concerned expression adds emotional depth to the composition, making this a particularly effective character image rather than a conventional posed cast portrait.

The lower-left corner carries the original production reference, apparently:

902–67

The reverse bears a Shields Gazette Library stamp and an archive-use date of 13 January 1975, together with a handwritten identification reading “Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark”. The 1975 date records the photograph’s later filing or reuse by the newspaper; the image itself belongs to the original 1967 Warner Bros.-Seven Arts publicity series.

In the film, Susy Hendrix is a recently blinded woman living in a Greenwich Village basement apartment with her photographer husband, Sam. During a flight from Montreal, Sam unknowingly accepts a doll containing heroin. When three criminals subsequently enter the apartment in search of it, Susy is subjected to an increasingly elaborate campaign of deception and intimidation. Sam’s absence during much of the action leaves her dependent upon her own intelligence, memory and heightened awareness of sound and touch.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. played Sam Hendrix, while Alan Arkin appeared as the violent and manipulative Roat, Richard Crenna as Mike Talman and Jack Weston as Carlino. The film was directed by Terence Young, produced by Hepburn’s then husband Mel Ferrer, and adapted from Frederick Knott’s successful stage thriller.

The present image captures a quieter and more personal aspect of the film than the better-known scenes of menace and confrontation. Susy’s hands upon Sam’s face communicate trust and familiarity, while also illustrating the physical vocabulary Hepburn developed for the role. Contemporary accounts and later commentary have emphasised the demands of portraying a blind woman convincingly; Hepburn’s performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The American Film Institute subsequently ranked Wait Until Dark number 55 in its survey of the most thrilling American films.

Original Warner Bros. publicity photographs from Wait Until Dark survive in a variety of compositions, including portraits of Hepburn alone and scenes with Alan Arkin or the supporting cast. Period sets have also appeared at major auction houses, confirming the established collecting interest in original photographic material from the film.

This is a genuine original-release-era film press photograph and not a modern reproduction.

Condition

Very good condition for an original working press photograph of this age. There is light overall toning, minor surface marking and ordinary newsroom handling wear. The sheet has gentle curvature, slight edge and corner wear and a few small pressure marks and light creases.

The image remains clear and strongly contrasted, with excellent detail throughout Hepburn’s profile, hands and textured clothing, together with Zimbalist’s face and dark suit. The pale margins display light age-related wear but remain substantially intact.

The reverse has light toning and several areas of brown adhesive staining or residue where former caption or filing material has been removed. It retains the Shields Gazette Library stamp, the archive-use date of 13 January 1975 and a handwritten identification. No full original studio caption is now present.

Please study the photographs carefully as they form part of the description.

Film: Wait Until Dark
Subjects: Audrey Hepburn and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Roles: Susy Hendrix and Sam Hendrix
Director: Terence Young
Producer: Mel Ferrer
Source play: Frederick Knott
Film date: 1967
Archive-use date: 13 January 1975
Studio/distributor: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Production reference: Apparently 902–67
Photographer: Uncredited
Provenance: Photographic archive of the Shields Gazette
Size: 25.9 × 20.2 cm
Format: Original black-and-white film press photograph

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