# Did you ever write a letter to your favorite celebrity? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901 "2012-06-02T23:40:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Sniveling_Mess)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/1 "2012-06-02T23:40:13Z")
I just recently started a thread about celebrity encounters,so I thought now I’d tackle a slightly similar subject.The question I’m asking all of you is,did you ever have the courage to actually contact the person you most admired?(Grandmas don’t count.:D)If so,please tell us about it.Also please tell us about whether or not you got a reply.Anyone counts,so long as they’re pretty well-known.Despite the wording of this thread’s title,yes,e-mails count too. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/2 "2012-06-02T23:41:01Z")
I emailed Judy Blume. She totally emailed back. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/3 "2012-06-02T23:57:30Z")
I wrote Rod Serling. It was returned unopened. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/4 "2012-06-02T23:58:10Z")
I sent a letter to Haruki Murakami’s translator. He sent me a postcard back. (sad I know) Oh - wait: I bought a book with Dominic Dunne’s signature in it. I wrote him care of Vanity Fair and asked if it was his. He wrote back confirming it likely might be. The signature was exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Sniveling_Mess)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/5 "2012-06-02T23:58:44Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I wrote Rod Serling. It was returned unopened. I’m very sorry for that.How rude some celebrities are.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Sniveling_Mess)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/6 "2012-06-03T00:03:22Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I sent a letter to Haruki Murakami’s translator. > > He sent me a postcard back. (sad I know) > > Oh - wait: I bought a book with Dominic Dunne’s signature in it. I wrote him care of Vanity Fair and asked if it was his. He wrote back confirming it likely might be. The signature was exactly the same. Hey,that’s pretty good;signature confirmation and a letter too.Congratulations!Sorry about the thing with Murakami,by the way. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/7 "2012-06-03T00:10:20Z")
> [@JRyan35](#): > > I’m very sorry for that.How rude some celebrities are.:mad: How do you know that it was his fault? I don’t know about Serling but most celebrities get way too much correspondence to be able to answer. A friend of a friend of mine had a company that answered celebrity letters. My friend contracted for her friend and was, for a while, assigned Adam Sandler and David Hasselhof. Her job was to scan every letter and mail the people back a post card with a their picture and a signature printed on it. The ones that seems really crazy were separated and given to another employee. I read through a bunch of them and it was interesting at first and got boring quickly. There are some real oddballs out there. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/8 "2012-06-03T00:14:16Z")
My mom wrote to Andy Rooney after he talked about [this](http://www.thebestorangepeeler.com/) orange peeler on _60 Minutes_, asking him where she could buy one. She got a handwritten note back from him with information on how to order one. About three weeks later, she got a typewritten form letter from CBS stating that Mr. Rooney received far too many letters to answer each one personally. She kept Rooney’s letter for years in her jewelry box. I have no idea what happened to it. I still have the orange peeler, though. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Sniveling_Mess)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/9 "2012-06-03T00:17:13Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > How do you know that it was his fault? > > I don’t know about Serling but most celebrities get way too much correspondence to be able to answer. Yes,that definitely is true.Many celebrties do get a ridiculous amount of mail,and it certainly is unreasonable to expect a celebrity to answer all their mail,or even half of it for that matter.But still,there are some celebrities out there who act like real “jerks” to their fans,and it just seems wrong to me that they shun the very people to whom they owe their careers.After all,if no one watched,say,a certain TV show,the actors on that show would be plain old no-names.I’m rambling now.But anyway,your point is duly noted. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Sniveling_Mess)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/10 "2012-06-03T00:20:32Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > She got a handwritten note back from him with information on how to order one. About three weeks later, she got a typewritten form letter from CBS stating that Mr. Rooney received far too many letters to answer each one personally. That’s kind of strange.I wonder why they sent out that typewritten letter after your mother had already gotten a letter from him? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/11 "2012-06-03T00:21:13Z")
> [@JRyan35](#): > > Hey,that’s pretty good;signature confirmation and a letter too.Congratulations!Sorry about the thing with Murakami,by the way. I meant sad because I was so giddy I wrote the translator and not the actual writer and was still geeked about it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/12 "2012-06-03T00:23:04Z")
> [@JRyan35](#): > > That’s kind of strange.I wonder why they sent out that typewritten letter after your mother had already gotten a letter from him? Dude, space after punctuation, please. He probably had his staff forward him the more interesting ones, some of which he would answer. Meanwhile, everyone got the form letter. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Sniveling_Mess)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/13 "2012-06-03T00:33:02Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Dude, space after punctuation, please. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/14 "2012-06-03T00:35:50Z")
I used to do that all the time. A few under a pen name (fashioned after Don Novello’s classic _The Lazlo Letters_, but the more serious ones under my own name. For instance, I wrote to Robert Bloch in the early 90s, and asked about his relationship with Lovecraft. He wrote a very nice card back, handwritten, and answered my questions. I’d asked for a picture, and he said they were out of date. He died a year or two later. I wrote to Steve Allen after reading his book _Dumbth_, and he sent an autographed picture. I even wrote to Ronald Reagan complimenting him on some policy or something, and received a more or less personalized letter from a secretary. I was no fan of Reagan, but I’d decided that writing something critical wouldn’t get a response–or worse, if I threatened him, I’d get the wrong type of response. The same for Jimmy Carter–I wrote to him, and I think he was in the Himalayas at the time, and got a photo of him with a fake autograph from his office. Still, it was an acknowledgement. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Sniveling_Mess)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/15 "2012-06-03T00:39:40Z")
> [@JRyan35](#): > > 😕 Never mind, I see what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/16 "2012-06-03T01:08:42Z")
Write letters? No. I do send the actors/actresses and authors I follow tweets, and most of them respond back occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/17 "2012-06-03T01:20:14Z")
One time there was doubt on the source of what a christian was saying while running away from the burning of ancient Rome in _The Cartoon History of the Universe_ by Larry Gonick; it was irking me a lot that I could not find a source so I send an email to him, he was kind to reply with an answer! ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/18 "2012-06-03T01:23:18Z")
When I was in junior high, I wrote a letter to Peter Davison who was Dr. Who at the time. I received a signed picture and a note from his agent or manager; I don’t remember which. I was thrilled. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@A\_Sniveling\_Mess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Sniveling_Mess)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/19 "2012-06-03T01:23:53Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Write letters? No. I do send the actors/actresses and authors I follow tweets, and most of them respond back occasionally. Well, that’s good enough.If I may ask, who are some of those people you’re talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901/20 "2012-06-03T01:25:22Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > How do you know that it was his fault? > > I don’t know about Serling but most celebrities get way too much correspondence to be able to answer. A friend of a friend of mine had a company that answered celebrity letters. My friend contracted for her friend and was, for a while, assigned Adam Sandler and David Hasselhof. [Peace and love, peace and love! (YouTube link)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAU0l7325w0) Joe [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-write-a-letter-to-your-favorite-celebrity/623901.md?page=2)