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Jim Bartley is an acclaimed Irish actor, best known for his role as respected patriarch Bela Doyle in the Irish television soap opera Fair City. He first came to public attention thanks to a starring role in another soap opera, Tolka Row, which ran from 1964 to 1968 and was Ireland's first TV soap opera. Other film and TV works he appeared in included a small role in The Pink Panther Strikes Again and a co-star role in Taffin alongside Pierce Brosnan.

Sent 1 LOR/SASE and 2 photos on 21/04/2012.
On 11/05/2015, I received my photos signed with an explanation by Mr. Bartley about the lateness of the reply, which was nice.
I originally wrote to Mr. Bartley as part of my "50 Years Of Irish Television" fanmail project. I didn't mind how long the reply would take, because I was busy working on other fanmail attempts at the time. I decided to treat one of the two signed photos as part of the aforementioned project and the other as part of the "25 Years Of Fair City" project.

Address used was:
Jim Bartley
c/o Fair City Office
RTÉ
Donnybrook
Dublin 4
Ireland

Sorry no scanner.

HISTORICAL NOTE:

Upon receiving the Jim Bartley reply, it is worth knowing that Bartley's appearance on Tolka Row led to the introduction of fanmail and philography culture to Ireland with the first signed photos from Irish stars.

Bartley was one of the first actors in Ireland to respond to fanmail letters and send signed photos, a practice that was already in progress in the UK for almost a decade and had been active in the USA since the late 1930s.

I recently listened to a story about my own family's relationship with someone connected to Bartley and how many Tolka Row fans cherished his role on the show.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first "truly Irish signed photo". Now 50 years later, there have been developments in fanmail culture - including some pioneering ones by myself as a collector. (including the world's first autographed screenshot.)

In light of this, as of June 1st, I will be working on a new fanmail project called "50 Years Of Irish Fanmail", which will include stars from RTE, TV3, the GAA and other sports and also TG4. I hope to complete this project by the end of this year.

"Sorry no scanner."
You do not have a camera on your phone?
I think it's fake success.

Hi stigduke

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