(Page 2 of 2)

Today's celebrities are quick to shred anything in fear that Dumpster divers are lurking in their dustbins. It's no wonder why Michael Jackson once installed a landfill at his Neverland Ranch.

"It's a bad practice to just throw things away if you really want privacy," says celebrity bodyguard Don Crutchfield, who has watched over Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando, among others.

When Crutchfield was working for Roseanne several years ago, he recalls seeing two guys in a Lincoln Town Car, drove down her street. They pulled over just beyond the house, and Crutchfield thought they were burglars. But before he could break out his bully club, they started dumping trash into the trunk.

"They didn't even have the right trash," Crutchfield said. "They got the address wrong."

Tori Spelling's Report Card, Barbra Steisand's Soup Spoon

If one man ever proved there was a fortune in celebrity filth it was Ward Hall, the granddaddy of Hollywood "garbotologists."

Harrison, who describes himself as a "septuagenarian antique dealer," is actually America's most celebrated dumpster diver. While he's now retired, his exploits are legendary.

Over the years, he sifted through Hollywood's most famous dustbins and pulled out such treasures as Tori Spelling's report card, Milton Berle's empty prescription vials and Jimmy Stewart's Hertz rental car receipt.

"It was a way of life," Harrison said. "Garbage is a window into the soul and it is one of the few ways we can really get to know celebrities."

Harrison has gotten his greasy paws on such gems as Barbra Streisand's cooking utensils, love notes from Joanne Woodward to Paul Newman, Ann Miller's dancing shoes; and Peter Lawford's FBI file.

It all started in 1973, when Harrison came across Cher's trash. "Makeup, birth control, financial records," he said. "It was like I had her whole world in my hands."

Soon, he began shuttling from his Utica, Ind., home to Beverly Hills. In those early days, there was no money in it. It was just an obsession, a way to get close to the stars, some of whom didn't mind his obsession with their garbage. He even married actor Wendell Corey's daughter. The couple met while he was going through her dad's trash, looking for memorabilia from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

But the world has grown more garbage-savvy, and less friendly. "These days shredders eat all the fun," Harrison said.

Harrison was honored this year when Louisville's Higgins Maxwell Gallery held a retrospective of his most celebrated trash. While he's sold off part of his collection, the rest is now part of Harvard University's Theater Collection. No word yet on what items the put on display, but it's sure to be a trashy production.

Buck Wolf is ABCNews.com's entertainment producer. The Wolf Files is published on Tuesdays.