A selfie with Harry Potter star Rupert Grint cost one fan more than £1,200 after a New York stage performance.

The 26-year-old Essex-born actor, best known for his role as Ron Weasley in the blockbuster films, is currently making his Broadway debut in It’s Only A Play at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in the city.

Rupert Grint at the Postman Pat premiere
Rupert Grint at the Postman Pat premiere (PA)

After the curtain call at last night’s performance, Rupert’s co-stars Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane hosted an on-stage auction to benefit the fundraising organisation Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.

The hosts promised the winning bidder an opportunity to take a photograph with the entire seven-strong cast including Grint, Stockard Channing, Megan Mullally, Oscar winner F Murray Abraham and newcomer Micah Stock.

One man in the mezzanine seating began the bidding with an offer of 500 US dollars, but a woman in the front stalls could not contain her excitement and immediately offered 2,000 US dollars (£1,278) in response.

Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick (PA)

Bidding ground to a halt and Lane remarked: “Well that’s one way to kill an auction.”

Two t-shirts designed by Rupert, who plays a wunderkind British director called Frank Finger in the stage production, are being sold after each performance for 100 US dollars apiece to benefit BC/EFA.

It’s Only A Play was first staged in 1982 and goes behind the scenes of the opening night of a new Broadway drama entitled The Golden Egg.

Playwright Terrence McNally has updated the script to include timely jokes at the expense of Daniel Radcliffe, Lady Gaga, Shia LaBeouf, James Franco and the Kardashians among others.