Introduction

Why collect autographs?

A good question. In short, I love movies and collecting autographs is a good way of getting a bit of "moviedom" for yourself. It's a great feeling to get a personalised autograph from someone you really admire.

Recently I've taken to concentrating my efforts on two areas I especially enjoy: the tv series Deadwood and the movies of the Coen Brothers. I've had a dig around to find contact details for as many cast members as I can. Everyone has a part to play and each person makes up the whole. It's a shame that it is the leading stars who usually get the credit but look harder and you'll see that the smaller parts are often just as well played. I believe the supporting cast deserve a lot of credit too and I think they appreciate the gesture.

Autograph collecting

There are plenty of sites on the web that provide a listing of celebrity addresses for people to write to with fan mail, autograph requests, underwear etc. However, not all respond. Some refuse to fulfill requests for autographs, such as Paul Newman, although to be fair I heard that this is only because once one autograph hunter approached him with his book while Newman was having a wee! He is now believed to use a secretary to sign through the mail (TTM).

But anyway, what I want to do here is provide a list of those celebs I have written to and got a response.

Recently it has become increasingly popular to contact celebs via email. Some even have their own websites from where you can drop them an email, such as Rutger Hauer (see listing). I have included my successful email addresses in the address listing but surf around and you will find more. You could even look yourself by using search engines for the official sites.

What to write

I generally use a standard letter that I simply adapt according to who I'm writing to. This letter has a simple format in which I basically pick up on an aspect of their career that I particularly enjoyed. For example, with the late Jack Lemmon I mentioned how excellent I thought Glengarry Glen Ross was, and his performance in particular. Alternatively I may mention a selection of movies and emphasise a couple of them. The choice is yours. I've found myself writing loads for some people and had to edit extensively!

So far I haven't written to anyone and had to lie about something just to get their autograph! I have always told the truth in my letters. I didn't tell John Travolta that I loved Phenomenon, for example, because it would have been a complete lie! Anyone who's seen it will understand that ;-)

After the "praise paragraph" I go for broke and ask if they could send me a signed photograph. It's best to ask as nicely as possible. Remember politeness is paramount. They are very busy people and don't HAVE to reply to anyone! Usually I send something for the celeb to sign so this last paragraph would just ask them to take a moment to sign the enclosed picture.

What to send

To be honest you really ought to send a stamped SAE when writing to celebs in your own country or if writing abroad, say from UK to USA, send 2 International Reply Coupons. It is the polite thing to do. Never expect celebs to pay for postage. Better still, if you're writing abroad try and get hold of some stamps for that country. For the USA you can buy stamps online from www.usps.com. You can do the same for Canadian postage too. This way you can save the celeb (or their secretary!) from messing about with IRCs and they can just put a photo in your (stamped) envelope. This can only increase your chances of a reply. There are also generous souls in the Autograph newsgroup/mailing lists that are prepared to trade stamps.

These days I would always recommend you send something for the celeb to sign. To provide everyone with photos would cost them a small fortune (yes I know many can afford it!) but it's best not to presume. Also you can be sure you'll get a signature on a picture you like. Enclosing something to sign generally increases your chances of a response, especially if you are writing to a movie set or production office. Many websites have downloadable photos of printable quality. Try www.movieweb.com or www.allmoviephotos.com for starters. I also get screengrabs from my DVDs. For the lesser known actors, it is very hard to find a photo to print out so I get a screen grab of them and print that instead.

Some celebs still send autographs even if you don't send postage. In fact, Roger Moore returned my stamp! What a generous guy. My advice though, is to enclose postage. IRCs will often do but stamps are the best option.