KIRK ALYN 1ST SUPERMAN IN FILM PSA/DNA SIGNED 8X10 PHOTO JIMMY OLSEN

1ST SUPERMAN IN FILM TALKING TO HIS FRIEND JIMMY OLSEN SIGNED "SUPERMAN" KIRK ALLYN The first actor to play the role of Superman on film,Alyn portrayed the Man of Steel in two 15-part movie serials in1948 and 1950. Columbia Pictures hired him because he looked like Superman's mild-mannered, comic book alter ego, Clark Kent, and had dance training that helped him to dive out of windows and leap over cameras. When he was approached to play Superman, Alyn said, Columbia had already interviewed 100 actors, but "had trouble getting someone with a good build who could read lines." The producer and casting director invited the 188cm, 88.4kg Alyn to its office and asked him to remove his shirt and then his pants. Alyn was alarmed ("I thought this only happened to actresses," he recalled) until they told him that they had to be sure he would look good in Superman's form-fitting suit and tights. Making Superman fly, Alyn once said, was no simple feat. He wore a metal harness attached to steel wires. In the first rushes, he said, "you could see the wires plain as day," which led to the firing of the entire technical crew. The producers then turned to trick photography.