Fred Willard

While the name 'Fred Willard' might not immediately ring a bell, take one look at the photo and you'll know who he is. This man has had an extensive career in the entertainment industry and is nothing short of a comedic genius. I first started following his career after first seeing his performance as Michelle Flaherty's father in American Wedding (I was probably a tad young to watch the unrated edition when I did, but hello, the stripper scene was HILARIOUS), and have followed his every move to Anchorman, Everybody Loves Raymond, Back to You, The Closer, Raising Hope and Modern Family...surely those of you reading this have seen at least ONE -- but probably more than one -- of his performances in any of the aforementioned programs, and you'll understand why I had to add him to the collection. It only took a little over one week for the photos to find their way back to me, but not personalized as requested, sadly. Anywho, two more to the autograph book!

Alan Rickman

Received a nice success from one of my all-time favorite actors, the incredibly talented Alan Rickman. Thanks to his flawless and quite emotional performance as Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II (not to mention his performances in the other seven films), I selected Alan as my 2011 Person of the Year on my Facebook-based talkshow, Point of View. While my nomination may seem trivial, I strongly believe he should have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but alas, the elite members of "the Academy" decided otherwise...he was the series' best hope for ever winning an Oscar.

Alan is currently appearing in the Broadway production of Seminar alongside Jerry O'Connell (remember my post??), and has been absolutely wonderful at replying to fanmail. I sent a 5x7" photo of him from Seminar in mid-January, and although he kept my photo, he sent me a different 5x7" photo of him in the same pose and a playbill from the show...both signed and dedicated to me. Now, here's the kicker...it was raining when this came and one drop of precipitation -- ONE drop -- hit the envelope and managed to seep through ever-so-slightly. I've allowed for it to dry and for the wrinkles to flatten (I'm quite anal), and now it really doesn't look half-bad in my autograph book. I am in no way complaining, as Mr. Rickman is a semi-tough autograph to obtain, but curses to the rain!