In the days before selfies, signed photographs of actors were a prized possession and fans enthusiastically collected them.
Liam Bluett collected his first autograph in 1964 while working as a schoolboy in Shannon Airport.
He got the autograph of the actor Dan O’Herlihy who was home on holidays from Hollywood. Since then Mr Bluett has accumulated signed photographs for everybody who is anybody in the world of Irish stage and screen.
They include such marquee names as Maureen O’Hara, Maureen O’Sullivan, Liam Neeson, Pearse Brosnan, Saoirse Ronan, and Colin Farrell, but also many better known as character actors.
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Arthur Shields, who was as famous for having participated in the Easter Rising as he was for his acting career, was one that took a lot of time to get, he says.
Two left-field signed photographs are those of Wilfred Bramble who played Steptoe in the 1960s and 1970s BBC series Steptoe and Son and who was born in Dublin. Another is that of Valerie Hobson, the wife of the British Defence Minister John Profumo who was brought down by a famous scandal in the 1960s.
Mr Bluett used his friend, the actress Angela Lansbury who came to settle in Cork, to get him autographed pictures from Hollywood. He also bought autographed photographs online.
“My journey has led me to become acquainted with fascinating characters from all walks of Irish life and learn incredible backstories, which form an important fabric of our history and celebrate our theatrical culture,” he said.
“Now, as I proudly hand the collection over to the National Library of Ireland, I hope it will become an important repository to be treasured by generations to come. I also hope that the work of these actors can be recognised and celebrated in their home places.”
The Bluett Irish Actor Autographed Photography Collection contains 519 autographed photographs dating from the 1960s to the 2020s.
Siobhán McSweeney who plays Sr Michael in Derry Girls; Killian Scott from the recent production of Martin McDonagh’s The Hangmen; and David Caves of BBC’s Silent Witness are more recent additions to the collection.
Sabina Coyne, wife of President Michael D Higgins and also an actress, is another of those included. President Higgins, in the foreword, described it as a “most impressive collection, bringing together several generations of talented Irish actors, who have made such a deep and lasting impact on the world of theatre and television.
“It is also a valuable reminder of the debt of gratitude we owe to these actors, who have enriched our cultural space, and in doing so have made an immeasurable contribution to our society.”
