I don't mean my autograph; it's worthless, especially if it's on a check. But, how about an autograph from your favorite star, or Athlete, or any public figure you admire?

Anthony Hopkins is one of my favorites and after quite a bit of hunting around I finally obtained his address, which was in England. I sent him a letter explaining that I admired his work, both comedic and serious, and requested an autograph.

As you can see from the photo above he graciously complied and included this card:



Opening the envelope and pulling out his autographed photo was quite a thrill for me. This was about as close as I could hope to get to Mr. Hopkins.

I'd love to meet him and discuss his work, but then so would all his fans. But now I had something that he had actually handled and seen fit to give to me. I also had a feeling of gratification from knowing that Mr. Hopkins had read my letter and responded to it.

Of course you can try to obtain an autograph in person from the people you admire, but how successful will you be? Not very, unless you have time and money to burn chasing after celebrities at the venues where they perform or public places they frequent.

Then you have to fight your way through throngs of people only to be warded off by bodyguards and be accused of stalking.

Ever try to get an autograph at a ballpark or stadium? Good luck, hundreds of other fans want one too, and only a lucky few might get one.

Why travel long distances and wait in the street for hours only to find out that Beyonce or Britney Spears, or Keanu Reeves left through a different exit, or wasn't even there?

So how do you get an autographed photo of Tom Hanks or Jim Carrey, or Penelope Cruz without being friends with their agents or publicists?

The answer is simple; let the Post Office do the walking for you, get your autographs by mail, for free no less.

Now you can do what I used to do, send autograph requests to the movie studios, or theatrical agencies that your favorite actors are affiliated with, and hope that someone who's having a bad day doesn't just put your letter in the circular file.

Or, you can do the smart thing and join


Movie Eye!and let their experts provide you with the stars' actual home addresses.

That's what I and my collector friends did, and now we get the autographs we want delivered straight to our mail boxes without any hassles.

Having the correct address is the key to autograph collecting.

Celebrities move quite often and the staff at "Movie Eye" tracks them down for you.

Trust me, you'll waste plenty of time, and money for postage sending letters to wrong addresses before you hit on a current one. So why not insure sucess by sending your request to the correct address the first time?

Of course you can always go to a professionally organized "autograph signing" event. You'll have to pay for gas and tolls, pay for parking, pay for admission, and then pay a stiff fee of probably $25.00 or more, per autograph, and then wait on line for hours to have your 10 seconds with William Shatner or some other retired actor or athlete.

Forget about getting an autograph from Mira Sorvino or Tom Cruise, or Kirsten Dunst that way. They don't do autograph shows.

You can send your own items for autographs too, photos, magazines, trading cards, whatever.

A few years before he died I sent legendary Chicago Cubs sportscaster Harry Karay a magazine with his picture on the cover and about a week later I got it back boldly autographed by him with his famous words, "Holy Cow," inscribed on it.

That meant a lot to me because I always found him to be incredibly entertaining and now that he's gone it means even more.

Don't be like me and wait too long to get an autograph of someone you admire.

Ironically, as I write this, one of my favorite movies, "The Freshman," is playing on my TV and I'm reminded that I never did send for an autograph of Marlon Brando, someone I always enjoyed watching perform.

Too late now, he's gone, and the only way I can get his autograph is to pay a dealer an exorbitant price.

Want a movie poster? You can send that to an actor and have him or her autograph it.

How cool is that?