The Stanley Kubrick Alumni Project

ChasBlankenship · March 1, 2018 3:24PM

Hey everyone!

My name is Chas Blankenship. I'm from Dallas, TX and I've been a longtime viewer, admirer and enthusiast of the films of Stanley Kubrick. His artistry, creative discipline and innovation are things I find inspiring in my own creative pursuits as an author.

Since 2013, I took it upon myself to create a passion project of sorts to celebrate my love of Kubrick's work by collecting autographs from the actors who populated his films and brought them to life with their vivid and captivating performances.

In the time since then, I have collected a current total of ten signatures upon the cover of my copy of "The Stanley Kubrick Archives," which you can see below. Given the yearbook-like nature of choosing a book cover and the manner in which the signatures appear, I came to call it the Stanley Kubrick alumni project:

The signatures were added in the following chronological order:

Adam Baldwin ("Full Metal Jacket"), Ryan O"Neal ("Barry Lyndon"), James Earl Jones ("Dr. Strangelove"), Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork Orange"), Lisa Burns ("The Shining"), Louise Burns ("The Shining"), Murray Melvin ("Barry Lyndon"), Dan Richter ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), Matthew Modine ("Full Metal Jacket") and Danny Lloyd ("The Shining").

These were collected by way of either attending local convention appearances (Adam, Malcolm, Lisa, Louise and Danny) or by corresponding with the actor and mailing the book (Ryan, James Earl, Dan and Matthew). For Murray Melvin, a friend of mine brought the book with her while she studied abroad in England during the summer of 2015.

More signatures are intended to be added. Both Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood will be attending this year's Dallas Fan Expo, where I'll meet them and have them sign.

I'm happy to be here among fellow autograph collectors and to share my collection with you all.

In the event that any of you might have means of putting me in touch with other such Kubrick-actors, like Tom Cruise or Vincent D'Onofrio, that would be incredible and greatly appreciated. But in any event, I'm glad to share this collection with you.

Chas