In 1930 a signature machine called an ‘autopen’ was invented. This device can reproduce signatures automatically, and while intentionally designed for government (so an official could quickly ‘sign’ many copies of the same document) in time it became used by celebrities. Famously Queen Elizabeth started using autopens exclusively from 1959 which makes any of her signatures since then reproductions.
Autopens are often used to ‘sign’ collectible items – such as books – and very rarely is their use disclosed. It’s possible that some of the books or cards I’ve shown already have autopen signatures on them, so there’s an element of faith involved in buying a signed item. To avoid this, autograph collectors tend to prefer personalized or inscribed items since they show the signature is authentic.
Today I will show our autographs of actors, many of which are personalized and most of which were obtained from the signer in-person. There’s some famous autographs here today!
Lots of Doctor Who to start: Here’s two separate signed photos from Peter Davison (the 5th Doctor), both personalized. I got the one on the left myself at NYCC, and Adam got us the one on the right.
And here’s the 8th Doctor, Colin Baker. He was friendly and gracious when we met him also at NYCC, and I recall he was just sitting there mostly ignored by the crowd. This was years before the Who revival and I imagine he was nearly unknown to the average American convention-goer.
Here’s the 8th Doctor, Paul McGann. Adam got this for us as well, and it’s my favourite Who autograph. I hope the rumours of him getting his own series on Disney+ are true!
Even more Who, and once again thanks to Adam for all of them. I can only imagine how many Who autographs he has in his own collection!
This last Who item is a bit different; it’s the autograph of Nicholas Briggs, who has worn many hats in the history of the series but I’m calling him an actor today since he’s done most of the Dalek voices since the revival. I got this myself from him when he was at NYCC.
Moving on from Dr Who, the above is the autograph of none other than Warwick Davis! He’s been a lot of characters in a lot of shows (not to mention played himself in several), but he’s perhaps best known for playing Wicket the Ewok in The Empire Strikes Back. He’s a very well-known actor, and this is another contender for the most famous autograph we own.
And keeping with Star Wars, we’ll end today with the autograph of none other than George Lucas’s son Jett. I got this in 2017 one from a $60 (yes sixty dollar) pack of Star Wars cards. Every pack had an autograph but only a few of the signers were famous people. As you can see, mine wasn’t 🙂
As an addendum, let me once again recall the day I met Q (to get an autograph), which was still a surreal experience even all these years later.
Only one more day of autographs to go. What will the category be? Will there be anyone very famous? Wait and see…
You are correct – I have numerous “Who” actor autographs. Also a bunch from “Buffy”/”Angel”. One from the “Harry Potter” series. One from the Narnia fillums. One from the new “V” TV show. And so on. But my favouritest actor sigs are those of Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, on a stylish B&W photo of them promoting 1992 movie “Peter’s Friends”. I like to say it’s a shot of my godparents 🙂
Trust you to have an autograph from the *new* V TV show that I didn’t even know existed! 🙂
And I’ve seen your Fry/Watson dual autograph. It’s a thing of beauty.
I have John Levene, aka Sergeant Benton. I might have Peter Davison.
I have an autographed photo of a Playboy girl. Can’t remember who, but it’s personalized to me.