Some autographs in my collection
philographer
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I collected autographs and manuscripts beginning in 1980 when I was 12. Mostly I would write to famous people and ask for a signed photograph or a response to a question. I also bought an old collection of sports and movie star autographs from the early 1930's in about 1983 at an antique shop in Michigan . Here are a few to share:
Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds
Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera
George Lucas, director of Star Wars
George Burns, actor
Art Scholl, stunt pilot, died during filming of Top Gun 
John Huston, Director, Maltese Falcon, The African Queen
Ellison Onizuka, Astronaut, Space Shuttle Challenger
Gilda Radner, Comedienne, original cast of Saturday Night Live
Paul "Bear" Bryant, U of Alabama football coach
Johnny Marks, Composer, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Max Schmeling, Boxer
Luciano Pavarotti, Opera Singer
Mickey Cochrane, Baseball Hall of Fame (from my antique store find). Also has a Detroit Baseball Co. envelope.
George Simenon, French mystery writer
Pappy Boyington, WWII Ace, Flying Tigers, Commander Baa Baa Black Sheep
Betty Davis, actress
Linus Pauling, winner of two Nobel Prizes--Chemistry and Peace
Lawrence Olivier, Actor (facsimile signed photo from the antique shop. I mailed to him for an authentic signature)
Dean Rusk, Secretary of State under President Kennedy
Jack Nicklaus, golfer
Edward Teller, inventor of the hydrogen bomb
Mother Teresa, saint (what else can I say? 
Chuck Yeager, pilot
Jimmy stewart, actor
Robert Ripley, Believe it or Not (from my antique store find). 
Hank Ketcham, cartoonist, Dennis the Menace
Walter Kent, composer, "I'll Be Home for Christmas"
Prince Ranier of Monaco, Prince of Monaco, husband of Grace Kelly
James Leavelle, Dallas Police detective handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when shot by Jack Ruby
Muhammad Ali, boxer
Charles Addams, cartoonist, The New Yorker, Addams Family
Mel Blanc, voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck
John Denver, county music singer
Jimmy Connors, tennis champion
Walter Cronkite, journalist, newscaster
Marlene Dietrich, actress
Rock Hudson, actor
Sam Ervin, U.S. Senator from NC, lead in Watergate hearings
Philip Johnson, architect
Walter Lantz, cartoonist, Woody Woodpecker
Glad to post more if there is interest!
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Comments
Those are fantastic! There are some extremely desirable ones in there.
I was also collecting back then and we have some of the same people, but you have many I never wrote to.
A few more...
Jim Henson, Muppets
Neil Armstrong
Dave Brubeck, jazz composer
Bill Dana, X-15 pilot
Hoagy Carmichael
George and Barbara Bush, as Vice President
George Bush, note as Vice President
Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director, regarded as one of the most influential directors in cinema
He who knows he has enough is rich.
The Soviet Union shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007 over Sakhalin Island in 1983, a significant event in the Cold War. Charles Lichenstein, deputy US representative to the United Nations Security Council delivered a stern speech, excerpts of which were carried on the evening news. I wrote him and asked for a signed copy of his speech...
In collecting autographs, what I’d learned even as a 15 year-old was that interesting content was what mattered.
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Wish I had thought to or had interest in autographs in the late 70s/early 80s when I was a kid. That was the time to do it, it seems.
Interesting story, at least to me. My family took a Disney Med cruise a couple years back and one of the stops was Monaco. We were enjoying the sites and there was a crowd forming to view the changing of the guards. We were standing off to the right of the residence when I spied who I believed to be the Prince walking away from the residence . He was walking alone past the crowd, dressed in a suit, but very "under the radar". He walked right by me, I looked over at some staff who were close by directing traffic and did the "is that him"" look/gesture and although I go no reply, I got the reply I needed. By the time I directed my family to look, he had disappeared into the crowd.
He really was kind of nondescript, especially how he easily slipped by all the tourists who were there for him.
Walter Peyton, Football player
Red Adair, oil well firefighter
Dr. Christiaan Barnard, performed first heart transplant
Milton Friedman, Nobel, Economics
Valentina Tereshkova, cosmonaut, first woman in space
Thurgood Marshall, Jurist
General JH "Jimmy" Doolittle,. aviation pioneer
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Dallas Police Sergeant Robert E. Dugger, TLS
[1983 was the 20th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. Life Magazine (yes, it was still around at the time) devoted an issue to recollections of the event, including interviews with many of the police and secret service agents involved. I researched and found a few addresses, and wrote a letter to Sergeant Dugger, who was kind enough to write back.]
Feb. 16, 1984
Dear Eddie,
I was pleased to receive your letter.
On the day of Kennedy’s visit to Dallas, I was assigned an outside security position at the World Trade Center. I was stationed at the side entrance where the President and his party were to enter the building. We were monitoring the police radio during President Kennedy’s motorcade through Dallas. We were informed by the dispatcher that shots were fired near the Elm Street underpass and that the president was wounded. The President’s car came past our position enroute to Parkland Hospital. The Chief of the Secret Service was inside the Mart. (Over page 2)
He was informed of the incident by someone inside the bldg..
He came outside and asked me to furnish him transportation to Parkland Hospital. I drove him and two other agents to the hospital. We went to Trauma One, where President Kennedy was being treated. I remained with Mrs. Kennedy during this very sad time until he was pronounced dead. The body was placed in a very beautiful wooden casket and we escorted the party to the hearse that carried the body and Mrs. Kennedy to Air Force One, at which time they were returned to Washington.
I hope you are able to read my writing.
Sincerely,
Robert Dugger
He who knows he has enough is rich.
More great stuff.
Great that that you got Neil Armstrong. I also got him, at the end of his responding days
I got more than my share of George Bush and Jimmy Doolittle.
Back in the day I focused more on letters than photos. They were toughed to get, especially when I wrote to people and essentially asked them to send me a letter with good content.
The one standout reply I got was from Edward Teller. He discussed his role in developing the first nuclear bomb, the role of nuclear weapons in war, and nuclear energy.
I did have an idea to write to the US Embassy in Afghanistan after the Soviets invaded, and per my request they sent me one of the official photos of President Carter that had been displayed at the embassy. Some years later I had it autographed by President Carter.
It sure has gotten tougher to get these types of replies in the modern era.
Nice story @JBK , and yes, content is king.
Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize for Peace
Abe Spitzer, radio operator on Nagasaki atomic bomb mission
Glenn Seaborg, Nobel laureate for Chemistry
Bob Woodward, journalist, Watergate
David Hubel, Nobel laureate, Medicine
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Those are great.
I got a few letters from Begin. Two are especially important to me.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 there was great joy that it signalled the potential collapse of communism in Europe, but it also caused some unspoken anxiety at the prospect that the two Germanies might one day be reunited.
I wrote to Begin for his opinion, and he was unequivocal that the post-WWII boundaries must be respected, as many countries in Europe still had great concerns over Germany. I recall one line from his letter: "Thank you for putting to me the difficult question."
The West German government had initially assured everyone that there was no intention of ever reuniting West Germany with East Germany, but when East Germany officially ended communist rule the momentum was for reunification. When the US and other Allied powers signalled that they would accept it, it was full steam ahead.
So, several months after my first reply from Begin, I wrote again and he replied and recognized the inevitability of reunification but said the world would need to remain vigilant about Germany's intentions.
Today most people think the wall came down and reunification followed, but thanks to my pair of Menachem Begin letters I know there was quite a bit of drama and uncertainty in between.
I see that your Begin letter is on the same sort of cheesy stationary as most of mine. Not special paper or fancy printing for the letterhead. Almost the look of a photocopy.
I wondered if he dictated his replies remotely and they got faxed or emailed to him and he printed them out.