Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
It was a huge honor for me. I feel humbled.
Photo credit: Society of Voice Arts and Sciences
By Rick Davis, BA’88
The work of Creighton professor Littleton Alston, MFA, recently took center stage at an awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, California, alongside legendary actors Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, with the inaugural presentation of the James Earl Jones Prize.
Alston was excited to watch Bassett, the winner of an Emmy and two Golden Globes, present the award he created – a sculpted bust of the late James Earl Jones – to Fishburne, the winner of three primetime Emmys and a Tony Award.
“It was a huge honor for me,” says Alston, who had a chance to pose for pictures with Fishburne both before and after the ceremony. “I feel humbled.”
Alston’s bronze sculpture of Jones sat on stage as Fishburne delivered his acceptance speech.
The award was presented at the 12th Annual Voice Arts Awards, hosted by the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS) on Jan. 18, and honors a voice actor “whose mastery and influence have captivated fans, elevated industry standards and left an enduring impact on global culture.”
SOVAS renamed its Voice Arts Icon Award, which Jones was the inaugural recipient of in 2014, to the James Earl Jones Prize following the iconic actor’s death in 2024.
The association then reached out to Alston directly to work on the award sculpture.
Alston was deeply honored, if not a bit surprised, to receive the call. And quickly agreed and set to work on the project. While exciting, it was also daunting.
How do you capture an American actor who is larger than life? This is the voice of Darth Vader! This is the voice of Mufasa!
– Littleton Alston, MFA
“How do you capture an American actor who is larger than life?” Alston says. “This is the voice of Darth Vader! This is the voice of Mufasa!
“How do I portray this man who had such a generosity of spirit?
“Then, I thought to myself, ‘Listen to the voice; watch the voice.’”
Alston worked with Rudy Gaskins, television producer, director and co-founder and CEO of SOVAS, who connected with Jones’ family and provided photos. He also started watching every movie Jones had been in – an impressive list that includes Stars Wars, The Lion King, Field of Dreams, The Sandlot and The Great White Hope, among others.
“I looked at a lot of film,” Alston says.
Alston is a big fan of Field of Dreams, but he was also struck by Jones’ performance in the 1974 romantic comedy Claudine, in which Jones plays a trash collector (“Roop” Marshall) who falls in love with a single mother of six children living in Harlem (played by Diahann Carroll).
“It was really a tremendous movie,” Alston says.
Creating the roughly foot-high bronze bust had its challenges. While small in scale, it had to match Jones’ big personality.
“It’s like a well-crafted poem,” Alston says. “You can’t put a novel into it.”
While it was important to capture Jones’ likeness, it was equally important to capture his presence. One important element was Jones’ smile. The award-winning actor’s famously radiant smile would not translate well in bronze.
“So, I tried to capture that moment where he’s starting to smile, but you’re waiting for it to explode into that huge smile or laugh,” Alston says.
Alston says it was a thrill to walk the red carpet with his wife, Anne; meet with Jones’ son, actor Flynn Earl Jones and his wife, actress and artist Lorena Monagas; and to rub shoulders with other celebrities, including Fishburne.
“I had to pinch myself,” says Alston with a laugh. “That’s Morpheus (referring to Fishburne’s role in The Matrix).”
Alston says he’s thankful to continue to grow as an artist and to have these opportunities.
His work appears across Creighton’s Omaha campus and throughout the city of Omaha and elsewhere. And, in 2023, he became the first African American to have a sculpture placed in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, with the unveiling of his 7-foot bronze depiction of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather.
Alston is quick to credit Creighton – where he’s been on the fine arts faculty since 1990 – for his success.
“Creighton is my wings,” Alston says. “I really mean that. Creighton has allowed me to grow and be who I am.”
And he loves to give that back through his classroom work.
“Teaching is a critical part of my life and who I am,” Alston says. “As we are all created, we are all creative. And Christ is not absent in my classroom. We pay attention to the individual. They are all God’s creation, and I will try to teach them everything I know.”
Alston says success comes from hard work, dedication, a love for what you’re doing, and being true to yourself.
It’s a passion fueled by an inner voice – immortalized by Jones’ baritone line from The Lion King – that whispers, “Remember who you are.”
