Signature Study: Alec Guinness & Peter Cushing

The careers of both Sir Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing started long before the Studio dictate that Star Wars could not be made without at least 2 recognized film celebrities in the cast. Thanks to the two of them signing on, the film was green-lit.

With careers that started decades before Star Wars both of these gentlemen have earlier versions of their signatures, each with fuller more easily read autographs, in my own collecting of their scribbles, I have kept my collection to the timeframe of the films that I love and that period leading up to their passing. Peter passed in 1994 long before the crush of Star Wars autograph collectors flooded the hobby, and Alec passed in 2000, just 3 or 4 years into that same hoopla. Alec was definitely turned off with the fandom and even mentioned in his autobiography that he was throwing mail from the USA away unopened.

These signature studies can be seen as incomplete because they are really only covering the late 1970's until their deaths, but I hope they will serve to show how one celebrity's autograph can remain unchanged right to the end, yet another's can go thru drastic changes over 20 years of missing his lost wife and suffering from failing health.

Alec spent his last years throwing away fanmail, while Peter signed autographs on his deathbed to be sure that his secretary/assistant could still send responses to autograph requests after he was gone.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bradford on February 10, 2015 at 8:30am

Amazing insight. Thank you for spending time on this and offering enthusiasts a wealth of knowledge. Your contribution is greatly appreciated, Pete.

By the way, I don't think you will experience the drama you had with the aforementioned group.

Great points made about the consistency of some celebrity's signatures throughout their career.

By the way, never seen a Cushing signature on a Star Wars trading card. Do you have one of Alec? Good stuff.

Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on February 10, 2015 at 8:39am

When you think about how difficult it was to get an 8x10 photo of your favorite celeb back in the 1970's and 1980's trading cards were the next best thing. If you did not live in a major city, you likely did not have a Movie Memorabilia or photo store to walk into.

It also made perfect sense to send a trading card TTM, especially if it was going over to the UK. We have mastered sending 8x10's now, but doing so in the 1970's meant sticking it in an envelope and hoping it came back flat.

Both Alec and Peter had 5x8 photos from many of their films to send out to fans, I am not sure if they were produced by the studio for their use, or if they paid to have them made themselves. These photos fit in your standard letter envelope and survived the trip across the ocean much better than 8x10s.

Permalink Reply by GraphingMlb on October 26, 2015 at 4:16pm

Thanks for the Insight Pete,I picked up a Guinness today and am very excited to get it framed up with a nice picture.Cushing is next on my list of course. I picked up the one on bottom right with Remark.

Permalink Reply by Bradford on October 26, 2015 at 6:05pm

Great signatures, Tony.

Permalink Reply by Ben Jones on December 16, 2016 at 6:53am

Hi Pete,

What do you think of this Cushing. I know it's not the best auto but looks authentic to me?

Seller is Greg Miller (GMillerCollector) on RebelScum.

Thanks in advance!

Ben

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