UPDATE: Click here to view a more comprehensive list.
Remarkable collection of over 25,000 signatures assembled over the course of nearly 70 years—from the 1940s through 2000s—by pioneering in-person autograph collector Jack Kuster, who traveled the world collecting autographs from several generations of screen stars, music icons, sports heroes, and other celebrities. The diverse collection consists almost entirely of 5 x 3 cards, many with affixed images of the signer; it also includes a much lesser number of smaller signed photographs, most about postcard-sized.
Predominantly featuring entertainers, the collection is incredible in its size and scope—featuring everyone from classic cinema icons like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean to modern stars like Heath Ledger and Halle Berry. Interestingly, the modern stars are generally all youthful, legible signatures from early in their careers—for example, a 9-year-old Dakota Fanning.
A small sampling of highlights:
Hollywood: Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Bruce Lee, George Reeves, Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Audrey Hepburn, John Belushi, Marlon Brando, Clark Gable, Sharon Tate, Charlie Chaplin, Vivien Leigh, Grace Kelly, Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Heath Ledger.
Music: Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Miles Davis, Eddie Cochran, Marvin Gaye, Rick Nelson, Bobby Darin, John Williams (with musical quote from Star Wars), Maria Callas, Robert Plant, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, and Neil Young.
Other: Jackie Robinson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Robert F. Kennedy, and Truman Capote.
Some interesting groups of names (on separate cards) include: the Beach Boys (Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Johnston); the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard); the principal cast of I Love Lucy (Lucile Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley, Vivian Vance); Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy; Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel; the Monkees (David Jones, Michael Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork); Star Wars stars (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing); the Rolling Stones (Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood); the Bee Gees (Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb); Andy Griffith Show cast members (Andy Griffith, Ronny Howard, Frances Bavier); Wizard of Oz icons (Frank Morgan, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke, and Jack Haley); and animal celebrities, mostly signed with paw prints (Morris the Cat, Rin Tin Tin, Cheetah from Tarzan, Benji, and Lassie).
Other notable names include:
Hollywood/Entertainment: Bud Abbott, Amy Adams, Nick Adams, Tim Allen, Kirstie Alley, Robert Altman, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Herbert Anderson, Ann-Margret, Pier Angeli, Christina Applegate, Robert Armstrong, Jean Arthur, Fred Astaire, Gene Autry, Frankie Avalon, Dan Aykroyd, Kevin Bacon, Raymond Bailey, Josephine Baker, Alec Baldwin, Tallulah Bankhead, Christian Bale, John Banner, Lex Barker, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Jason Bateman, Kathy Bates, Stymie Beard, Warren Beatty, Hugh Beaumont, Scotty Beckett, Wallace Beery, Harry Belafonte, Jack Benny, Ingrid Bergman, Busby Berkeley, Milton Berle, Halle Berry, Valerie Bertinelli, Carl Betz, Robert Blake, Mel Blanc, Dan Blocker, Richard Boone, William Boyd, Charles Boyer, Walter Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Christie Brinkley, Charles Bronson, Yul Brynner, Sandra Bullock, Smiley Burnette, George Burns, Raymond Burr, Richard Burton, Steve Buscemi, James Caan, Sebastian Cabot, James Cagney, Louise Campbell, Claudia Cardinale, George Carlin, Johnny Carson, Helena Bonham Carter, John Carradine, Dana Carvey, John Cassavetes, Ted Cassidy, Richard Chamberlain, Jeff Chandler, Geraldine Chaplin, Dick Clark, Andrew Dice Clay, George Clooney, Ronald Coleman, Joan Collins, Jennifer Connelly, Sean Connery, Gary Cooper, David Copperfield, Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Costner, Noel Coward, Buster Crabbe, Bob Crane, Joan Crawford, Donald Crisp, Bing Crosby, Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Jon Cryer, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Curtis, John Cusack, Dorothy Dandridge, Rodney Dangerfield, Jane Darwell, Marion Davies, Bette Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Doris Day, Sandra Dee, Ellen DeGeneres, Cecil B. DeMille, Sandy Dennis, Brandon deWilde, Cameron Diaz, Marlene Dietrich, Matt Dillon, Divine, Diana Dors, Kirk Douglas, Bobby Driscoll, David Duchovny, Pete Duel, Kirsten Dunst, Robert Duvall, Wild Bill Elliott, Jimmy Fallon, Dakota Fanning, Frances Farmer, Colin Farrell, Marty Feldman, Federico Fellini, Ralph Fiennes, Peter Finch, Barry Fitzgerald, Eric Fleming, Errol Flynn, Sean Flynn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, John Ford, Bob Fosse, Jodie Foster, Michael J. Fox, Friz Freleng, Gallagher, James Gandolfini, Ava Gardner, John Garfield, Michael V. Gazzo, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Jackie Gleason, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel Goldwyn, John Goodman, Louis Gossett Jr., Gloria Grahame, Sydney Greenstreet, Hugh Griffith, Melanie Griffith, Fred Gwynne, Gene Hackman, Larry Hagman, Jackie Earle Haley, Jerry Hall, Daryl Hannah, Neil Patrick Harris, Elizabeth Hartman, Ethan Hawke, Allison Hayes, Gabby Hayes, Susan Hayward, Rita Hayworth, Tippi Hedren, Katharine Hepburn, Charlton Heston, Jon-Erik Hexum, Benny Hill, Jonah Hill, Dustin Hoffman, Judy Holliday, Darla Hood, Bob Hope, Dennis Hopper, Olin Howland, Kate Hudson, Rock Hudson, Kathy Ireland, Samuel L. Jackson, Bianca Jagger, David Janssen, Carolyn Jones, Jennifer Jones, Milla Jovovich, Andy Kaufman, Michael Keaton, DeForest Kelley, Kay Kendall, Persis Khambatta, Nicole Kidman, Percy Kilbride, Val Kilmer, Sam Kinison, Nastassja Kinski, Keira Knightley, Ernie Kovacs, Lisa Kudrow, Nancy Kulp, Akira Kurosawa, Veronica Lake, Hedy Lamarr, Dorothy Lamour, Burt Lancaster, Elsa Lanchester, Carole Landis, Michael Landon, Joi Lansing, Mario Lanza, Jude Law, Peter Lawford, David Lean, Christopher Lee, Gypsy Rose Lee, Spike Lee, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Vivien Leigh, Jack Lemmon, Al Lewis, Juliette Lewis, Richard Lewis, Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd, Heather Locklear, Gina Lollobrigida, Claudine Longet, Sophia Loren, Marion Lorne, Peter Lorre, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Rob Lowe, Sue Lyon, Harriet MacGibbon, Shirley MacLaine, Elle Macpherson, Tobey Maguire, Marjorie Main, Karl Malden, Marcel Marceau, Lee Marvin, Jerry Mathers, Matthew McConaughey, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, Roddy McDowall, Bette Midler, Sal Mineo, Thomas Mitchell, Robert Mitchum, Ricardo Montalban, Maria Montez, Clayton Moore, Demi Moore, Julianne Moore, Mary Tyler Moore, Erin Moran, Vic Morrow, Robert Morse, Zero Mostel, Paul Muni, Ona Munson, Audie Murphy, Brittany Murphy, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Liam Neeson, Pola Negri, Paul Newman, Haing S. Ngor, Jack Nicholson, Jay North, Rosie O’Donnell, Barbara O’Neil, Gary Oldman, Laurence Olivier, Ken Osmond, Maria Ouspenskaya, Al Pacino, Jack Palance, Gwyneth Paltrow, Fess Parker, Sarah Jessica Parker, Katina Paxinou, Bill Paxton, Alice Pearce, Gregory Peck, Sean Penn, George Peppard, Anthony Perkins, Luke Perry, Matthew Perry, Joe Pesci, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joaquin Phoenix, Sidney Poitier, Roman Polanski, Tyrone Power, Vincent Price, Freddie Prinze, Richard Pryor, Keshia Pulliam, Gilda Radner, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, Robert Redford, Donna Reed, Christopher Reeve, Steve Reeves, Christina Ricci, Adam Rich, Michael Richards, Don Rickles, Diana Rigg, Molly Ringwald, Joan Rivers, Paul Robeson, Edward G. Robinson, Blossom Rock, Seth Rogan, Ginger Rogers, Roy Rogers, Margaret Rutherford, Irene Ryan, Meg Ryan, Sabu, Adam Sandler, Rebecca Schaeffer, Maximilian Schell, Liev Schreiber, George C. Scott, Steven Seagal, Jean Seberg, Tom Selleck, Peter Sellers, Omar Sharif, William Shatner, Robert Shaw, Ally Sheedy, Charlie Sheen, Brooke Shields, Jay Silverheels, Red Skelton, Kevin Spacey, James Spader, Mickey Spillane, Patrick Stewart, Rod Steiger, Inger Stevens, James Stewart, Ben Stiller, Meryl Streep, Erich von Stroheim, Hillary Swank, Patrick Swayze, Quentin Tarantino, Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Temple, Ernest Thesiger, Spencer Tracy, Henry Travers, John Travolta, Verne Troyer, Miyoshi Umeki, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Frank Vincent, Robert Wagner, Mark Wahlberg, Christopher Walken, Clint Walker, Skip Ward, Denzel Washington, Carol Wayne, Jack Webb, Johnny Weissmuller, Raquel Welch, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Guy Williams, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Oprah Winfrey, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Anna May Wong, Fay Wray, William Wyler, Dick York, Gig Young, Victor Sen Yung, and Renée Zellweger.
Music: Christina Aguilera, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Clint Black, Garth Brooks, James Brown, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Freddy Cannon, Mariah Carey, Harry Chapin, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Nat King Cole, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Roger Daltrey, Neil Diamond, Dion DiMucci, Celine Dion, Snoop Dogg, Fats Domino, Duke Ellington, Mama Cass Elliot, Melissa Etheridge, Don and Phil Everly, Ella Fitzgerald, John Fogerty, Boy George, Vince Gill, Debbie Harry, Faith Hill, Chrissie Hynde, Vanilla Ice, Billy Idol, Alan Jackson, La Toya Jackson, Mahalia Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Joan Jett, Billy Joel, Norah Jones, Naomi Judd, B. B. King, Carole King, Cyndi Lauper, Tommy Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Liberace, Meat Loaf, Bill Monroe, Willie Nelson, Ric Ocasek, Yoko Ono, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, Carl Perkins, Cole Porter, Lou Reed, Little Richard, Marty Robbins, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Ross, David Lee Roth, The Searchers, Del Shannon, Rick Springfield, Sting, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Tina Turner, Shania Twain, Stephen Tyler, Gene Vincent, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mary Wells, Jackie Wilson, Barry White, Edgar Winters, and Dwight Yoakam.
Sports: Hank Aaron, Andre Agassi, Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg, James J. Braddock, Primo Carnera, Jimmy Connors, Georges Carpentier, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, Wayne Gretzky, Sandy Koufax, Joe Louis, Joe Namath, Arnold Palmer, Sugar Ray Robinson, O. J. Simpson, and Johnny Unitas.
Other: Isaac Asimov, Omar Bradley, Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton, Grace de Monaco, John F. Kennedy Jr., Patty Hearst, Douglas MacArthur, Norman Mailer, Richard Nixon, Nancy Davis [Reagan], Harry S. Truman, and Tennessee Williams.
The seller prepared detailed lists of the contents of the collection, which are available above. The subsections alone, all with dozens or hundreds of names, demonstrate the far-reaching quarters of Jack Kuster’s collecting interests—”Announcers, TV Hosts, etc.,” “Argentina,” “Australia & Africa,” “Ballet & Dance,” “Bodybuilders,” “Brazil,” “Britain,” “Canada,” “Character Actors - Male,” “Character Actors - Female,” “Comics & Vaudeville,” “Country Western Singers,” “Directors, Authors & Writers,” “Eastern Europe,” “Egypt, Iran, Israel & Middle East,” “80s Female Stars,” “80s Male Stars,” “50s & 60s Female Stars,” “50s & 60s Male Stars,” “40s Female Stars,” “40s Male Stars,” “France,” “Germany & Austria,” “Greece,” “India, Pakistan & Turkey,” “Italy,” “Japan & China,” “Korea, Philippines & Malaysia,” “Limbo,” “Low Trash,” “Music,” “90s Male Stars,” “90s and 00s Female Stars,” “Offbeat Characters," “Opera,” “Political, Animals, Artists & Designers,” “Pop Singers - Foreign,” “Pop Singers - USA,” “Puerto Rico," “Rock & Folk Singers,” “Russia,” "Scandinavia,” “70s and 80s Female Stars,” “70s Male Stars,” “Silent Screen Stars,” “Soap Stars,” “South America & Cuba,” “Spain & Portugal,” “Sports,” “Supporting Female,” “Supporting Male,” “30s Stars,” and “2000-2012 Male & Female Stars.”
These lists have not been audited for strict accuracy, but are believed to be correct. While the vast majority of the autographs in this collection were obtained in person, some may have been obtained through the mail or via trade with other collectors. Due to the overwhelming quantity, some secretarial and/or printed signatures may be included in the lot. Interested parties are encouraged to view the collection in person at our offices or call us with specific inquiries, as this collection is sold as is and no returns will be accepted.
