Hello to all who were curious enough to venture here! Although I have thought of writing something like the following paragraphs for several years, I never seemed to get around to it. Probably because I have so many thoughts about what I'd like to say but they just keep tumbling around and never sort themselves out! But, for some reason I picked today to give this a try. Maybe it's because today was my 49th birthday, and somehow that seems like some sort of milestone.
As those who follow my occasional posts and notes in the Guest Book will know, I've had this site online for about 10 years now (give or take.. I never thought to keep track of things like that.) Over those years, I've been asked quite a few times why I did it, and I just thought I'd try to write out those reasons although if I know me (and I should...) I will warn you in advance - my ability to put thoughts into words leaves a lot to be desired! But, here goes...
Oh. One last point before jumping off. The biggest reason for this site has been the Meg Tilly Homage Page (a silly play on the term "home page") and I have never tried to disguise the fact that I do not know Meg Tilly, I have never heard from her regarding the web site (although when I had her business manager's address, I mentioned it frequently in my letters), and to be quite honest... I have no idea if she's ever even visited the site! However, my admiration for her is undiminished even though she has (probably wisely) chosen to leave the spotlight of an acting career for a more private existence. However, there has always been one particular hope of mine that I just can't let go. As remote as the possibility may be, I have always wanted to meet Meg in person. No, no.. nothing "romantic." In fact, the way this plays in my head is that I would walk up to her, shake her hand and introduce myself. Then we spend about 30 minutes chatting and I finally learn some answers to those Frequently Asked Questions! Then it's over - hopefully I could get a picture of me with her - then I leave and that's that! If nothing else, I like to think I'm a realist and someone like me is never going to be friends with someone like Meg Tilly. But, I would like to meet her.
So... Meg, if you ever happen to read this, please consider accepting my request for a short but sweet in-person meeting. If you are reading this, then you know how to contact me (email links are all over.) I don't wish to sound skeptical, but given the history of some visitors to this site, I expect a lot of pranksters. So, in order to "verify" things - maybe you can provide a little info that only you (and a select few others) might know... such as - what martial art class you attended, where it was (the town), and maybe the business name.
Okay - where was I? Oh, yeah - the history of this site. To be honest, my whole interest in the Internet actually IS based on my admiration for Meg Tilly! It's a silly story, but here goes. One evening back in 1990 or so (as I said, I never thought to keep track of these details), I couldn't sleep and turned on my TV to watch some boring infomercial or something to put me to sleep. It just so happened that the channel was on a cable movie channel, and a movie called "The Girl in a Swing" was just starting. I saw Meg's name in the opening credits and decided to watch for a while. I have always liked Meg & her acting - and this was a movie I hadn't heard of. Well, it also so happens that we (my family & I) had just returned from an assignment in Germany, so seeing Meg portray a German girl was interesting to me. I realize she may not care much for this movie (in fact, it *was* a little slow in typical British style, but the storyline was good) and I also realize she's been criticized for her character's accent. But! (uneducated heathen that I am...) I was intrigued and thought she did an excellent job of it, especially with all the little German "nuances" she included.
So, I decided I'd like to write to her and tell her how impressed I was. I also wrote to her co-star (Rupert Frazer) and received a very nice letter back in reply. But with Meg, I had terrible luck finding a reliable address. Hence my interest in the Internet. The Internet then sure wasn't like it is now! I signed up with the Juno service and found my way to a few of the autograph collecting groups. After several misleads and expired addresses, a guy told me she had moved to a "new" agency and shared that address. For the first time, my letter was NOT returned!
Jumping to a different (but related) subject - visitors to my site will also have noticed that the other major subject is autograph collecting. This all came about because of my search for Meg's address. Over the months (then years) of searching, I ended up with quite a few celebrity address lists. I wasn't really interested in autographs - the thought never crossed my mind, in fact. But, I did believe in putting it on paper when I felt someone did an exceptional job. And, while those address lists may not have provided me any info on Meg Tilly, they DID have addresses for some other celebrities that I admired. So, while continuing my Tilly search, I started sending letters to other celebrities. Simple letters telling them that I appreciated their work and admired this or that. Still no thought of autographs until one day I received this big yellow envelope. Inside was a signed picture from James Earl Jones - one of the very first I had written to. Suddenly it hit me that while I may never expect to recieve any sort of personal letter in reply to my letters... an autographed picture was the ideal "reply" and was a token I could display as some sort of proof that my letter had reached that celeb.
So, the autograph collecting started. As I mentioned earlier, I had found an address for Meg that at least didn't result in a "Return To Sender" failure, and I wrote again every couple of months. In the meantime, I was receiving quite a few other autographed pictures, and proudly framed and hung them on my wall. One day, I guess I was desperate for something that may be a little different to put in my letters to Meg. I was already worried I would be considered some sort of whacko "fanatic", when in fact I was just being stubborn! Anyway, I put an empty frame up with my other celeb photos... and inside I put a piece of paper with the words "Reserved for Meg Tilly" in big letters. Then I had my wife take a picture of me standing next to that framed paper, and sent that picture to her. Now, I really don't know if she ever got that letter & picture, and if so if it made any difference - but, about 3 weeks later I finally received an autographed picture from Meg!
Let me fast forward a few years. I "retired" from the Air Force, moved to Utah, and started a new career. By now, the Internet as we now know it was taking off, and of course I signed up soon as I could. My ISP graciously provided 10 MB of space for us to make our web pages... and I couldn't pass up the deal! But, what to put on it? The only things I could think of that may be of any interest were autograph collecting and... Meg Tilly. There wasn't (and still isn't) much out there about her, and I just knew there were other fans looking for information, so I put together the things I had collected and started the site.
To my surprise, I had LOTS of email right away regarding the site. I couldn't believe how many "Meg Fans" there were (and still are!) So, I began my quest for more information, and more pictures. This all evolved into what you see on the site today. I've been accused of being a stalker, a "pervert", and several other similar nasties but everything I have on the site was obtained through purely public avenues. And, remember a few paragraphs back when I said I sent regular letters to her? In each of those letters, I was open about the web site and made it very clear that if ANYTHING I have on the site was "offensive" - to include the ENTIRE Meg Tilly site - all that she had to do was let me know somehow and I would remove it immediately. I may be a fan and admire her, but I also respect her.
I admit to liking the "popularity" the site affords me, and since I am a "Meg Fan" myself, I never considered it a problem to seek out and find that information. I enjoy answering questions when I can, and especially enjoy introducing someone to Meg's work. I also like hearing from so many people in other countries - I was quite surprised to see how widespread Meg's popularity actually is!
Hang in there, I'm going to start wrapping this up now. I really do enjoy maintaining the Meg Tilly site (as well as my autograph pages), but as you all know by now, Meg has retired from acting and there simply isn't much new information to be had. I keep looking, and keep hoping anyone with news might share with me, but things are really slow.
It's been one Helluva ride so far, and I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon. So many things have happened in my life because of this site.. actually, because of Meg Tilly but not necessarily related to her. I've met a lot of people because of my online existence... some of whom are still friends, others have sadly passed into oblivion. In my personal life as well as with the web site(s), I can't please everyone. But, I will continue to TRY!
Best wishes and highest regards to all who've managed to finish this.
Your host,
Wayne "Doc" Watson
Meg's Page
Doc's Page