Vintage Sun Valley Hunting Photograph Inscribed by Clark Gable and Gary Cooper to Taylor “Bear Tracks” Williams.

A fine vintage black and white photograph, circa late 1940s, depicting a Sun Valley hunting party, inscribed to the celebrated guide Taylor “Bear Tracks” Williams by both Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. The photograph shows three hunters with their shotguns and game birds, boldly inscribed in the upper left by Clark Gable, “To Taylor, many thanks, Clark,” and inscribed and signed in the lower right by Gary Cooper. Taylor "Bear Tracks" Williams was the legendary chief hunting and fishing guide at Sun Valley, the man who led the stream of Hollywood stars and sportsmen drawn to the Idaho resort in its glamorous early years out into the mountains after game. Among his devoted clients and friends were Clark Gable and Gary Cooper, two of the keenest hunters in Hollywood, who inscribed this photograph to him in gratitude, as well as Ernest Hemingway, who made Williams his favorite guide and one of his closest Idaho companions. A Kentuckian by birth, well read, witty, and easygoing, Williams earned the name "Bear Tracks" not for hunting bears but for the shape of his own footprints, and he remained a fixture of Sun Valley life until his death in 1959, remembered as much for his friendships with the famous men he guided as for his skill in the field. The photograph measures 8 inches by 10 inches. A wonderful image capturing the friendship of two of Hollywood’s greatest stars and the legendary guide who led them into the Idaho mountains.