Oh, did I mention that Pete’s letter was on his personal embossed stationary? 
I think you can still send mail to him care of Eel Pie Studios.
When I was about ten I wrote a letter to The Fonze. I remember saying how much I “enjoyed the nostalgic way he pokes fun at the 50s” :smack: Jeez, what a pretentious git. My brother razzed me about that bit of crap for many weeks.
Years later, when I was in the throes of depression and drug addiction, I attended (one of many) Oingo Boingo concerts. They played the yet unreleased *Out of Control *(sort of an anti-suicide song) and I wrote them a letter thanking them for essentially saving my life. I had actually met the band on a few occasions, as I worked with the drummer’s wife a couple of years prior, and after I sent it I cringed, hoping they wouldn’t recognize my name. I’m sure they didn’t and oddly, gratefully, I received no reply.
I’ve written a few on Twitter. The only ones who have written back have been NASCAR drivers Greg Biffle and Kyle Petty (son of Richard), and former WWF wrestler Shawn Michaels.
I got replies back from two emails I sent to Roger Ebert at different times
I wrote letters to Jane Badler and June Chadwick at the height of ‘V’, and received autographed photos and short notes from both.
This thread reminds me of one of my favorites sites, Letters of Note. Lots of great stuff there, but the letter that drew me was this one by a young David Bowie.
Formally? No. Twitter, yes.
One pro golfer was having trouble getting rid of the hiccups. I told her my homemade cure (beat on chest, count to ten in French) and she wrote me back told me it worked and offered to “comped” some tickets to an LPGA tournament for me.
No LPGA tournaments are near me.
Never. I had thought about it on a few occasions, but not ever seriously.
I emailed Nell Dunn, the author of “Up The Junction”, “Poor Cow” and “Steaming”, bemoaning the fact it was (at that time…about ten years ago) impossible to see Junction and Cow anywhere. She wrote back very nicely saying she felt the same way. When I finally was able to view both, I wrote her and again and received another nice email.
I also exchanged FB messages (does that count?) with Zoltan and Miklos (Mickey Jr) Hargitay after I wrote an article for the local Patch on Jayne Mansfield’s childhood home in NJ (it was for sale and the realtor and owners gave me a tour). They are both very polite men who obviously adore their mother.
UT
When I was in 3rd grade, everyone in the class had to write a letter to a famous person. Everyone else wrote to movie stars, heads of state, scientists, etc. But I wrote to the mayor of our little 'burb. Most of the kids never got a reply, or got a form letter with a stamped photo. I, on the other hand, got to meet the mayor, written up in the paper, complete with a photo of our meeting. My 15 minutes of fame.
I have met many actual celebrities over the years, but not as a result of writing to them.
As Brisco County, Jr. was up for renewal (and looked like it wouldn’t get it) I organized a letter writing campaign to Fox about it. I wrote to Bruce Campbell and the show’s producers about it and Bruce called my apartment and left me a very nice voice mail message. I later saw him at E3 (as I was covering it) and mentioned it to him. He said he remembered.
Andre Dawson, at the time with the Cubs, wrote me back thanking me for donating to the Sickle Cell Anemia foundation. He used to request a $1 contribution to the foundation for an autograph and I sent off $10 and wrote to him. Nice guy.
I was reading our own The Bad Astronomer (Phil Plait) and his review of the godawful movie ‘Meteor’ in which he mentioned that an astronomer couldn’t see a meteor screaming across the sky in a telescope. I emailed him about the ‘meteor watch’ in Heinlein’s Space Cadet where it’s clear that they COULD see it but only if it was coming directly at them. He replied almost right away that he remembered the scene in the book and that I was right.
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1965, I wrote a teenage fan letter to George Harrison’s mother, got a handwritten reply. Found out years later she was well-known and liked for interacting with Beatle fans.
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2002, Van Dyke Parks. Asked him a simple question about his music, got a gracious reply almost instantly.
to what end?
Yeah, I’ve sent him a few emails over the years and usually got replies. In fact, I submitted two suggestions for his ‘Ebert’s Little Movie Glossary’, a collection of film clichés, and he not only included both in his published book but has referenced one of them in three different movie reviews!
IIRC he had a website that if you mooched around you’d find his email address, I emailed him and he replied!
That’s the closest I ever got to writing to a celeb
I’ve written a few to authors after a very succesful first attempt. I’ve always had an immediate reply and they write personally and are dead chuffed to get praise.
Deleted.
Never mind…not important.
My daughter has signed letters/pictures from David Tennant and Billie Piper.
I wrote to Dan Simmons, told him of a whopping plot mistake he made in the Hyperion/Endymion books. Dan never wrote back… I can’t imagine why? 
I once was personally responsible from driving Alec Baldwin out of the Georgia Square Mall (I’m pretty sure that’s what it was called) in Athens, GA back in the mid 1990’s. Didn’t get a letter back from that encounter, either…
When I was a kid, I wrote several letters to players for the Green Bay Packers; never got a reply.
A few years back, I wrote an e-mail to British author / blogger Mil Millington, with a question about a scene in his first novel. Several months later, I actually got a very funny note back in reply.
I’ve corresponded with several authors over the years, including the aforementioned Spider Robinson. The last ones I’ve emailed are Brooke McEldowney and Wil Wheaton. Both responded quite nicely and promptly.
I’ve corresponded briefly by email with James Lileks and with Ivan Stang. Stang, in private communication, is a lot less of a douche bag than the Sub-Genius stuff on line might lead one to believe.