View Full Version : Brushes with fame?
My dd just went to Sundance film festival. I actually don't think they saw any of the films, but did eat at Robert Redford's restaurant. And as luck would have it, sat at the table right next to him. They took pictures with their cell phones (without flash) to prove it. When he left he "winked" at them. Their server asked how they liked sitting next to "Bob"?
Years ago when I was going to school in Hawaii, a group of us went out to the Kahala Hilton. It was very exclusive at the time. Dolphins in the pools on the grounds. My friend accidently tripped Helen Reddy in gift shop. We all got a good chuckle out of that.
While I don't think much of the Hollywood celebrity thing...(we all put our pants on one leg at a time). It is fun to see them "out and about"!
Who have you brushed into? :cool:
I met Martha Stewart.........but I later became bothered by her self-centeredness, so my excitement of meeting her waned.
My DH and DS met Al Yankovic and Ken Burns. (not together...hahaha) Even got pictures taken with them. It is pretty cool to see in person, someone you just admired from afar.
My two most exciting:
--Walking past Paul McCartney in London. It was during my Junior Year Abroad, and as it happened, my apartment was on Abbey Road! I was a HUGE Beatlemaniac from the time I was 12 years old, so this was BIG. I never approached him--I was just so star-struck I froze in my tracks and simply watched him until he turned the corner.
--My son was in a Steven Soderbergh movie (so I guess you could say Steven Soderbergh was a famous person I brushed elbows with--he was awesome by the way. SO nice and down to earth and wonderful with my son, who was only 7 at the time. The movie was King of the Hill, probably his least known film but it was critically acclaimed at the time). BUT at the movie premiere, who is standing in the aisle but Paul Newman--so I told my son to go up and introduce himself and before he had the chance, Paul Newman said to him: "I know who YOU are! You were in the movie and you were great!" OMG... talk about a surreal moment, Paul Newman complimenting my son!
I'm a little embarrassed about the name dropping here, but Greg, you asked!
"I'm a little embarrassed about the name dropping here, but Greg, you asked!"
Hey this is great! It will be fun to hear other's stories!
I was "close to" Steve McQueen at a motorcycle race, where he was very busy doing motorcycle things.
Talked with Edd Byrnes ("Kookie" from "77 Sunset Strip", TV show). Had a tremendous crush on him.
Passed Wilt Chamberlain very closely, eyeballs to belt buckle. No conversation. I'm not even sure he knew I was there.
--- These were all a long time ago, early '60s.
A couple of years ago Robert Fulghum did a service at our church and a small group of us had a potluck dinner with him afterwards. Even tho he really wasn't feeling well he told some good stories, we had great conversations, and he signed everything we put in front of him.
My exBIL is a music producer for movies and my sister's current BF is a director, so I've met a lot of famous people through her. She's so intensely private about that kind of thing I'm uncomfortable name-dropping in connection with her. Plus, that list is too extensive to even be interesting. I will tell you that I thought it was hilarious that when she told my nephew that she was going out with her current BF he responded with, "His last film did well at the box office. I approve of this." :)
I also met some famous people at the coffee shop I worked at in L.A. My favourite was writer/director Charlie Kauffmann, who I only knew as "Charlie" until a coworker told me that "Charlie" had been nominated for an Oscar. Oddly my BIL had worked on the film he was nominated for and also knew him. Kind of a "small world" sort of thing.
Freddy Kreuger once complimented me on my grade point average. That was a little surreal.
My nephew is one of those Hollywood kids who knows everyone and he's such a little networker. It amuses me. He went to see the Jonas Brothers last year (he's 9) and the Jonas Brothers were excited to meet him because he knew people they were having a hard time getting to talk to.
My favourite nephew+celeb story, though is that he mistook Orlando Bloom for my DH at a party once. He saw him and called him "Uncle" before taking a closer look and realizing who it was. :)
I'm so bad at names. And in both cases it was years ago. Anyway, I once went up an elevator with a famous golfer. He always wore those puffy pants that the Scots wear for golf. He was known for sliding his putter into an imaginary holster. And once I was kissed on the cheek by a Grammy Award winner.
Gingerella72
1-26-11, 3:46pm
When the movie "Election" with Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon was being filmed in Omaha, NE, they were filming one day at the apartment complex I lived in. When I came home from work that day the film crew semi's and trailers were all over the place, and I pulled into the last space available in the lot, right next to Matthew Broderick's trailer. Didn't get to see him though. :(
My only other "brush" with fame isn't really a brush, but just a vicarious acquaintance. One of my parents' good friends is Ken Wannberg who worked as a music editor with composer John Williams on most of the Spielberg films and quite a few other big time ones. I always get a thrill seeing his name in the film credits, though he's retired now. Dad was stationed with Ken at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL in the early 50's. My parents met at a party at Ken's house. :)
treehugger
1-26-11, 4:04pm
My dad told me he is "kissing friends" with Kamala Harris (CA's new Attorney General). What he meant is that he knows her well enough to give her a kiss on the cheek when they greet each other. Neither my mom nor I had heard that expression before, and now we tease him at bout kissing Kamala a lot. :)
I'm working as a server at a big gala benefit this Saturday in downtown Oakland. I hope there will be some California political power players there.
IshbelRobertson
1-26-11, 5:12pm
An aunt of mine was a teenage friend of Sean Connery (actually Tommy, but he felt that wouldn't look good in lights!) I knew his brother, Neil quite well. He often turned up at pubs wearing suits which he assured us 'Tommy' wore in various Bond films!
I met the Beatles a few times when I was a teenager - it was John Lennon who was kind to a teenage fan - the others? Nope, out of it, when I met them!
I have met quite a lot of Scottish 'famous people'... but I won't publish their names on here!
Actress Tess Harper has been to our studio, we've sold to several in hollywood (over the phone thru their agent) and 2 years ago a little gallery we sell to in Vegas called with a special order for an entire backetball team but she couldn't tell me which team it was she could only tell me that they were playing really good ball that year and their star player wanted to give each team member a gift. Thats really all I know of.
While chatting with a man at a party, I mentioned my occupation and he replied "Oh, my wife works in electronics, too. You should talk to her." Whereupon I thought to myself "I can't imagine anything duller..." and thus missed a chance for a nice long conversation with Jean Auel, who was then working for a local test gear manufacturer. I did have occasion to talk with her a couple of years later, after she had published her first book. Nothing dull about her, really.
I once had dinner with Beau Bridges sort of. His father Lloyd had a home at Bear Valley which is near us. He liked to ski and enjoy the great High Sierras in California. They had a fund raiser for the junior skiing program at the ski area it was a spaghetti feed in the big dinning hall. I set down across the table from him this was a number of years ago. I thought he looked familiar and after I left the table someone said did you know who you were setting with, than it hit me.
His father Lloyd was a very nice person when you would meet him while walking in the village he would always smile and greet you. Robert Conrad also had a home there during this time period and he was just the opposite of Lloyd Bridges. Never smiled and looked away if you greeted him.
loosechickens
1-26-11, 11:04pm
I think I got enough of an exposure fairly early in life to firmly get the "put their pants on one leg at a time" aspect, so tend to judge more by whether they were nice people as opposed to "how famous".
I grew up in a neighborhood (Chevy Chase MD) where the parents of friends were often Congressmen, even a Senator, and then when very young worked for a very prominent Washington hostess very visible in the Republican Party, which means that I got pressed into service to pour at teas for Senator Barry Goldwater when he was running for President, etc. and rubbed elbows with most of the famous ones, at least the Republican ones. My very favorite I only knew in her extreme old age, but Alice Roosevelt Longworth was a treat to spend time with, and I still remember her very fondly, although she was crotchety in the extreme sometimes.
My ex-husband became a very well known horse trainer and judge, so we had clients and connections with everyone from NFL football players, extremely wealthy old money folks and movie stars. I had a close up and personal view of lots of these people, including the up and downsides of fame, enough to know that I would hate being a well known person.
Some were really nice people, some were true jerks, most were somewhere in between. Some had stable family lives, others lived lives that were constant trainwrecks of drugs and alcohol. Some were phonies, and some were very genuine.
All in all, they were mostly not all that different from ordinary people, although some did have quite the entitled air and were difficult to deal with because of it. Others couldn't have been nicer. You couldn't generalize.
As a rule of thumb, the ones who had been wealthy for several generations were generally far more comfortable with their wealth and had less of a need to flaunt it. Those who had become famous through genuine talent seemed to be more centered than those who became celebrities by being celebrities.
I don't really have contact with celebrities or famous people these days in this present life, and can't say that I miss having those experiences. But it was fun at the time, and a few experiences really stand out in my mind and are fun to remember.
iris lily
1-26-11, 11:39pm
wow. that book was huge. HUGE!!!!!!
I chastised Tom Brocaw at the National Women's conference, in Houston in 1976, for being a male reporter at this important event. Told him a woman should have been there. I had press credentials from my college, so I got to interview Billie Jean King, Maya Angelou, and several other authors and feminist leaders. I was all of 21 at the time!
My ex is the cousin of the drummer for Jethro Tull (Doane Perry), and we saw some pretty wild concerts back in the day... and being in Seattle, we get to see Bill Gates a lot, as well as his father, with whom I shared a ****tail at a fundraising event. I used to work for one of Paul Allen's brainchildren - Experience Music Project. He didn't show up very much.
jennipurrr
1-28-11, 9:47am
I think we had a similar post on the old incarnation of these boards bc I remember writing this, haha...
I stood in a breakfast buffet line with Joe Namath a couple years ago. He was very nice but it just blew my mind that people considered him a sex symbol back in the day! First of all he is really short, second is he has been wrecked physically from football (and the partying probably too). I've met other football folks too, but I don't follow pro at all and college only cause I'm inundated, so I just don't get excited. DH was like a kid in a candy store though when we scored a room on priceline that happened to be where all the media, coaches and former SEC players were staying for the championship game.
The same weekend...a friend's husband was room mates in college with a now former star NFL player and we all saw him at a restaurant, said hi, all that stuff. DH starstruck but on his best behavior. My sister and some girlfriends showed up and went crazy, wanting to get pics and all that while he was trying to eat. He was very nice and obliged. Eventually though other people realized who he was and it got so bad he had to go hide in the bathroom. Poor guy! He called up my friend's DH later and was sure he had set up the whole thing...talk about embarrassing!
Once I passed Iggy Pop on the street in Miami, but he totally ignored me and my BF. BF was a fan, so he was really disappointed.
Hey, I thought of another one, but it requires hiding the name to protect confidentiality.
I was at a Family Program at a rehab for addiction in Pennsylvania. As you expect, this was a 5 day residential program designed to help people deal with as well help their addicted family members, who were undergoing the 28-day program.
While I was there, a famous financial guy/tycoon was also there because his son had been admitted with a problem. Boy, thanks to the skill of the counselors, it could have been hard opening up your soul in front of a famous person, but it wasn't--it was probably harder for him!
There was an exercise that they sent us out on--it was like a scavenger hunt out in the woods to find stuff that represented how we feel (or something along those lines). They paired us up--and guess who I was paired with! Yikes, walking through the woods talking about our feelings--me and this Famous Financial Guy!
At the end of the 5 days, he said he would mail me a copy of his book, which he actually did, and signed it with his name and, "Glad our paths crossed." I couldn't believe he took the time to do that.
I recently had a second interview for a job with a famous person in the tech field who shall remain nameless. I did not realize when I applied for the job that he would be my boss as I was not told that until the first interview. We talked for about thirty minutes but I was quite nervous because of his notoriety. Though I was one of three candidates, I didn't get the job but maybe for the best as truthfully he seemed kind of arrogant and full of himself.
As a teen in late 50's early 60's, I babysat for a family in Hyannisport MA in the summers...we always saw members of the Kennedy family riding their bikes to the post office...Robert, in particular and swam at a club right next to the Kennedy compound.
In 2006 I shook hands with then Senator Barack Obama at the Texas Book Festival....something I will treasure forever.
http://iliketomakethings.blogspot.com
fidgiegirl
1-29-11, 1:19am
Once we saw Paul Giamatti in an airport bookstore.
We also saw Ron Jeremy, of, ahem, adult film fame in the MSP airport. My 20 year old brother was the first to spot him and started texting so fast I'm surprised his thumbs didn't start on fire. My DH discreetly pointed him out. My mother, who has difficulty realizing just how loud she's actually talking, noticed all this and asked "WHAT ARE YOU ALL BEING SO SECRET ABOUT?!" Thanks, Mom.
My DH saw Dave Matthews in Charlottesville, VA. We were eating on a patio of a pizza place (owned by Dave Matthews? I don't really remember . . . ) I didn't spot him. Since I STILL wouldn't know Dave Matthews unless he came up and introduced himself, I just kept asking if every man coming out of the pizza place was Dave Matthews. :)
And yet, you recognized an adult film star. Fidgiegirl, you're a scandal! :)
Wildflower
1-29-11, 2:27am
My DD and her friend won a local radio station contest a few years back and the prize was getting to meet Bret Michaels and having their picture taken with him with his arms around them. They were so excited!! And they said he was a very nice guy.
Back in the early 70's I found myself standing next to Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter, at the Missouri State Fair. They came across as very nice people.
crunchycon
1-29-11, 7:41am
DH and I spent a long weekend in Asheville, NC for our honeymoon. They were shooting a movie at Biltmore at the time. One day, we stopped in the CVS to pick up something (I forget what). I was browsing somewhere when DH came careening around the corner and whispered "I think Michael Caine is over on the other side! Go and see!" There he was, browsing through the paperback rack. I did not want to disturb him, so I didn't say anything, but I was surprised at how tall he was. Stood right next to him, I did.
I also got blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury when I was a little kid (he happened to be walking past when my family and I were visiting). My DB and I were at the post-toddler cute age and were close enough in age and coloring to look like twins, so I sure he was charmed. Not quite as exciting as Michael Caine, but my mother would tell you we needed it.:D
Jonathan Franzen (author of The Corrections and Freedom) who was on the cover of Time last summer was a good friend of mine in high school. He blew me off when we were juniors and I never knew why until he published his memoir The Discomfort Zone.
Oh, I thought of another, funnier one.
My first husband is a journalist and had just taken a job at the Washington Post, didn't even have a phone at his apartment yet.
This was about the time that Oliver North and Fawn Hall were in the news a lot. My ex had just been sent out of town to cover the Gary (? darn, name escapes me--Colorado senator caught on a boat in FL with a bimbo). Anyway, our son was in the hospital and I needed to contact his father, so I called the paper asking for my ex by name. I didn't know he was out of town. The person on the phone told me he wasn't available, could they take a message. I said, "Just tell him it's Fawn, he knows the number." I was immediately transfered to another person (I was told later by ex that it was Carl Bernstein, but I don't know if that's true) who asked what I wanted. I repeated that I wanted to speak with ex, that my business was with him.
I don't think my ex ever told them that it was not Fawn Hall that had called him. :laff:
Jonathan Franzen (author of The Corrections and Freedom) who was on the cover of Time last summer was a good friend of mine in high school. He blew me off when we were juniors and I never knew why until he published his memoir The Discomfort Zone.
I haven't read the book. Why did he blow you off?
fidgiegirl
1-29-11, 10:17am
And yet, you recognized an adult film star. Fidgiegirl, you're a scandal! :)
Well, my traveling companions did (I guess not my mom, though ;) ). I needed a little education!
I've met any number of singers, actors, politicians, authors, and other well-known folks. I remember a couple of encounters better than others for various reasons but prefer not to name drop here.
I draw pause when I see a thread like this here. While I admire the work acting / singing / writing, etc of these folks, a visit with a person who is just back from a peace corps project or something similar is often more satisfying and interesting.
It seems that in simple living much focus is paid to not buying a product due to brand name or perceived status of having that item. However, folks fall prey to the same thing when it is people instead of an object -- only worse. Even seeing someone becomes an event worth mentioning for the rest of a person's lifetime. I'd suggest that this equates superhuman powers to these people instead of simply admiration for their work.
Zzz I think for me what threads like this represent is the feeling that the world is perhaps not quite as a large and separated as we sometimes feel like it is. It's like we know someone in common even though we may live thousands of miles apart and have never met ourselves. I think to some extent that's why current events and public figures are interesting to us. I would love hearing about your friends who just got back from the Peace Corp, but I don't have a mental image of what they look like, I can't call up a memory of hearing their voice or a time I connected with something they wrote or said. Saying "I met (insert famous person here) is closer to saying, "Hey, I met your friend Mary last week. She was nice." It provides a sense of commonality.
This post is for fun, I think. It is nice to have a little fun in life.
loosechickens
1-29-11, 12:58pm
Yes, I don't think that it represents so much thinking that these people are superhuman (believe me, I know they are not), but as Stella said, because they are well known, it's almost as though saying you saw or knew them to someone makes the world a smaller place.
Crunchycon, very long ago, in almost another Universe and time, I had dinner at the Biltmore estate in Asheville, with Bill Cecil, who owned it (I suppose he still does.....I think his mother was the Vanderbilt...just can't remember). At any rate, this was back in the mid sixties when I was very young.
Our employer at the time in the horse business (later my ex-husband went into business for himself, but at that time was employed by a large farm) was a good friend of the Cecils, and we were all attending a 100 mile trail ride that was being held on the lands of the Biltmore estate (at that time, something like 50,000 acres), and they laid out the course completely crisscrossing those lands.
At any rate, the Cecils invited us to dinner with our employer. Of course, my husband, as the owner's representative was always given hand tailored suits, etc., as part of his employment, so that he could present a good appearance, but I only worked part time for her and got no clothing allowance, and no one ever sent ME to the tailor for clothes, so while my ex-husband had proper clothing, I wore a dress I made myself for four bucks. There were about a dozen people invited that night for dinner, and we all sat around this beautiful, large table. The servants wore livery, which I especially remember, because while most of the places we went had servants, even often in fairly fancy uniforms, I'd never seen servants in livery, like footmen, standing behind you to serve you instantly.
They were very nice people. At that time (I don't know if they still do), they lived in part of the Biltmore estate, one wing, although even then most of the house was open to the public. At any rate, we had a lovely dinner. I still remember that it was filets wrapped in bacon, and beautiful grilled huge beefsteak tomatoes, but my most vivid memory of the evening was the profusion of silverware and wine glasses.....the plates, of course, were porcelain, but the service plates underneath appeared to be gold.
There were various wines served through the meal, and I was SO thirsty. I don't drink and I longed for just a glass of water. My mouth felt like cotton. I was only in my early twenties, but I guess I already had the same kind of personality I have today, because I thought, "oh, for God's sake.....if I was one of these people who are accustomed to eating here, I wouldn't go thirsty, I'd just ask for a glass of water", so I inclined my head to one of the guys in the livery and he jumped to my side, and I said, "may I have a glass of water, please", and within a few moments, this lovely crystal goblet of ice water was given to me. TaDa.......
On that same trip, our employer came by the stables and asked me if I'd had lunch, and I said no, so she said, "well, come on, and we'll get something to eat". She jumped in her Rolls Royce, and where did she take me for lunch? McDONALD'S. I still chuckle about that huge Rolls parking in McDonald's and us going in for our Big Macs....... she was really funny that way. One time she took me to a matinee at the National Theater in Washington D.C. to see Lauren Bacall in Cactus Flower, and took me to this really exclusive restaurant to eat. Our table was not ready, and they had this elegant little living room where they seated you and brought you drinks until you were taken into the dining room. She said, "the food here is wonderful, but they never give you anything to eat, just free drinks, so I always come prepared", and she rummaged in her purse and brought out a tin of sardines and some crackers and started passing them around to the people next to us. Of course, I was young, and it really embarassed me, but she had been richer than God practically her whole life and for several generations before that, so just did as she liked.
She was a great teacher for me in living as you are, as opposed to living by what others might think of you. She had as much fun having lunch at McDonald's as she did sitting in the dining room at the Biltmore estate with the footmen. And while she had that Rolls, her favorite car, which she drove often, had belonged to her son, and was a little VW beetle, with flames painted on its side, like a race car or something. She LOVED to drive that, and if we'd had it with us in Asheville, I'm sure she'd have gone to lunch in that instead of the Rolls. She was never one to put on any airs.....quite the opposite. Her husband liked the trappings of wealth (he wasn't born rich), but it never seemed to matter all that much to her, appearances. Not at all.
It's fun, thinking back on those days......my life is so different now, but it's fun, sometimes, looking back on those experiences.
Ron Jeremy is all over the place.
Just last week on a film forum I frequent, someone offered up his photo on the "Wicked Handsom Sexy Men" thread as a joke and asked us to guess who he was. I knesw, only because I had just watched a perfectly awful film owned by my Library where he played a comedic role. Perhaps the talented Mr. Jeremy is expanding his repetoire? HE must be tired of being typecast as the guy with the long dong. Let's see is this web site filters those words.
Oh I had forgotten...when Bobby Kennedy was making his whistle stops back in the 1960's I shook his hand - and also Jimmy and Rosen Carter and Betty Ford.
When they are in the campaign mode it seems like they are just empty people. Long days, canned speeches, just making the appearances. How they can go on for so many month is amazing.
I was at a conference on the same site where An Officer and a Gentleman was being filmed in 1981. Fort Warden State Park in Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. Half the campus was occupied by a couple hundred women who worked in the stop violence against women movement (domestic violence and rape crisis work), and the other half by actors in period military regalia. It was weird!
Several years ago, I went to my MD's office for a routine blood draw, and the phlebotomist was in his 70's. We got to talking, and he told me that his grandmother saw Lincoln on one of his Presidential campaign stops in Illinois, when she was a child. It was amazing to hear a second hand account on Lincoln's campaign from a living person I randomly ran into.
I forgot......my daughter and I got to meet Robert Bateman (a fantastic wildlife artist and environmentalist from Vancouver Island)......even got a pic taken with him! It was pretty exciting, especially since I have so much respect for him.
So I've seen my share of famous people. Bradley Cooper, Sinbad, Dr. Laura, John Cleese, Ty Pennington, Dennis Franz. My husband has seen Anne Hathaway.
But I'd say the most famous was Al Gore, when I lived in DC. My friend was a kid's basketball coach and I went to a few of her games. Albert was on her team. I remember talking about the Olympics.
I still have the outline of Chuck Norris' foot on my ribcage, from a sparring match in 1980. He was pretty fast for an old guy.
My mother backed the car over Admiral Hyman Rickover as she was rushing to the hospital to deliver me. He stopped by later to see us, so he was probably the first celebrity I ran into :-)
John Nash taught me to play Go in Fine Tower at Princeton. Michelle Robinson glared at me, as I was making too much noise teaching women's self defense classes near the tutoring rooms at the Third World Center, and her brother Craig was happy enough to crush me like a bug in intramural wrestling. I was Stephen Wolfram's valet at the Institute for Advanced Study, and his MacArthur award paid for much of my tuition :-)
I live down a ways from Bill Anders (Apollo 8), who sometimes lets me catch a lift on one of his planes, and seems to delight in mock straffing runs of my boat when he's flying his P51. I now-and-then run into Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, while grocery shopping, and William Gates Sr. (no relation) while fundraising and lobbying. I drive past Gary Larson's house a few times a week, and brought him some cheese once.
And so on.
crunchycon
1-29-11, 6:50pm
What a great story, loosechickens!
I don't think I've met anyone "famous".
But to address the comment about the the brushes with fame: I think it's a matter of wondering whether and/or how having celebrity changes the way you live; whether or not it's another world.
If there is a circle which you cannot enter - for whatever reason - then human nature is to be curious. Since I'm not particularly talented, beautiful, ambitious or intelligent, my chances of being famous are pretty much non-existent. Thus I am curious.
I felt the same way about the Hutterite communities in my state as I do about those with fame. These communities are like Amish but with electricity. They keep very much apart in language, culture, and dress. I was intensely curious about them mainly to see how their lives were different. In November I was able to spend several weeks in their communities and now my curiosity is mostly satisfied.
Gary Larson - as in the FAR SIDE? Whooa now he is one of my all time favorites! Some of his cartoon books I can hardly look at - as I start laughing so hard. He has a wonderfully worped (?) sense of humor!
I haven't read the book. Why did he blow you off?
Well, apparently his parents thought we were messing around (we weren't) and forbid him to see me again.
But he didn't have the courage to tell me that himself. I asked him directly when we were in college, and again when he drove up here to see me in the late 1990's. I still wouldn't know it if he had not had the publisher send me a copy of the book.:~)
I lived in NYC for several years for grad school -- in 2000 in Midtown, Woody Allen shoved me out of the way and took my cab. (Though given that I was in NYC for 5 years, I've had very few celebrity sightings.)
gimmethesimplelife
2-1-11, 1:14am
Anybody out there remember the name Evan Mecham? He was a governor in Arizona in the 80's who was impeached in 1988. I was walking around downtown Phoenix one of the days of his trial in 1988, and walked right by him (maybe 15 feet away) and I head him say to a local newscaster - my problems are all the result of the prior administration. True story,he really said that. I still can't believe it. I also walked by the mayor of Portand, OR once when I was living there in the 90's and also the the state governor - she was making a phone call on a payphone at my HMO one day and I walked right by her, too. As far as celebrities go, I almost waited on Loni Anderson when I worked at the El Tovar (someone else got the table) and I saw Ozzy Osborne from a distance when I worked at the El Tovar. Back in my El Tovar days too I saw Air Force One - it's huge - landing at the Grand Canyon Airpot. Did not see the Obamas though, but sure ran across TONS of security it seems like. Rob (They came to visit the Canyon back in 2009)
treehugger
2-1-11, 12:23pm
I served [ex-San Francisco Mayor] Willie Brown on Saturday at a charity auction/dinner. And yes, he was wearing his trademark fedora. He was very polite and drank chamomile tea after dinner.
We saw then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his entourage bicycling in Venice Beach a few years ago. DH says he may be the only celebrity who is actually more recognizable with sunglasses than without.
I use to work for a water district in South Orange County and had to do inspections of alot of upscale places there (like the Ritz Carlton hotel) and areas along the coast so often saw celebrates or their family members (like the OJ Simpson kids). I've seen Harrison Ford (dining in Laguna Beach, Ca with his Mom), the Freddy Krueger Guy (Robert something) and Bette Midler (who own houses in Laguna), OJ Simpson, who was with wife Nicole, dancing along side me at the Wind and Sea in Dana Point, CA., Oscar De La Hoya and Mike Tyson (different times) in Big Bear Lake, CA., played VB with lots of beach volleyball players who have now become olympians (Misty May, etc.. - do they count?), Steve McQueen when I was a kid (he and my Dad's wife rode motorcycles together back in the day), Yul Brenner on a tour of Universal Studios when I was a kid. Umm... some others that I can't remember now.
Oh yeah - Sis and I where on 5 week long motorcycle trip thru the southwest and stopped at a bathroom outside of Vegas. Ann Margaret (who was still stunning) was in there and got PO'd at us because we were hogging the two stalls there to change our clothes. Guess she wasn't use to waiting :-)!
And Georgie Bush the first (and Barbara and the little un's AKA Georgie Two). Back when I was in the Coast Guard our cutter had the "fun" duty of patrolling the Kennebunkport home of GW (along with the Secret Service) whenever he was there. He went fishing everyday and one or two of us would go onboard to act as secruity. He rarely said anything and I don't think he liked a woman with guns on his fancy little cigerette boat! We stayed there 24/7 just crusining around until he left. We did this for 2 years when we where in home port (Portland, Me) and between regular patrols. So I saw him alot and I don't think he ever said much more than 2 words to anyone. Barbara once sent the SS out with cookies for us on Fourth of July. Our "secret" code name given by the Secret Service was "White Knight". Ha! Like no one could figure out who we were in our big white boat and what we were doing!
And "The Donald". He had sailed a big Yacht into New Orleans when I was stationed there and we "had" to do an inspection while he was there. He was very nice - he seemed to like a woman with a gun :-)!
And once I was picking my Mom up from a flight at LAX and she was complaining about the loud guys with big hair up in first class section. She pointed them out to me at the luggage pick up and it was (yummy) Brett Micheals and the band (poison?)
When I worked in a shop in the posh end of the city, I used to serve Robert Carlyle every so often as well as the frontman from a local band called Idlewild and his wife who is the bassist in another Scottish band.
I was also an extra in a film directed by that Canadian guy who did Air Bud, haha. I was in a scene with Robert Carlyle and Billy Boyd (who is pretty short and had to stand on a box when he was next to the other main actor - no wonder he got cast as a Hobbit in Lord of the Rings!).
I'm a regular schmoozer, ha.
I was once part of a women's rights march with Olympia Dukakis and Gloria Stienem (sp?) They actually were in the row right behind me. Nice ladies.
I used to hang with Cristina Ricci's brother Raf back when she still lived in a simple house in NJ. The closest I ever got to her was when we were "disappearing" as her limo showed up one evening. The rule was if she was home we stayed away.
The best brush with fame I've ever had was one I didn't even know was taking place. There was a political commentator that was quite famous from 1960-2000-did alot with the Iran Contra hearing. Jim W. I can't for the life of me think of his last name. He had worked for a couple of the NY papers and had met several presidents. He and his wife came to my restuarant every friday evening for dinner. To me he was just some nice old guy who was very into keeping up with politics. Anyways when he passed away last winter his daughter approached us about doing a memorial dinner for about 40 close family and friends. They brought several pictures of Jim from over the years. Pictures with JFK and Teddy, Jackie O and others. I had no idea who he was although I wish I had just because he was such an interesting man. His wife still comes every friday with whomever decides to join her from week to week.
I used to work in an office on 56th street right behind carnegie hall in NYC. That neighborhood was bursting at the seams with famous people. Adam Sandler lived in the building (offices on the lower floors, apartments higher up) so we would sometimes see him leaving for the day if we went down to get breakfast at the deli at 9 or 9:30. Johnny Cochran lived in the building across the street. I only saw him once while standing outside in the morning with my boss while he took a smoke break, but apparently my boss saw him everyday, dressed to the nine's, waiting for his car at exactly 9:30 every day. (boss spent so much time standing in front of the building that the ongonig joke in the office was that we should install a phone out there for him so he could keep working while smoking) Beyond that I had several random sightings. Mostly people who were going to be performing at Carnegie Hall who were there for rehearsals or sound checks during the day of their performances. Waiting in line to buy lunch behind Diana Ross at the deli was probably the most famous.
Back in the late 90s I was in DC for work and went to dinner. Sitting at the table next to me was John Sununu. Not exactly famous I suppose. And at the time (and probably now still) not famous enough as a politician for anyone but a fairly hardcore political junky to even know him enough to recognize him...
My last experience with someone well known was a few years ago when I met Barney Frank at a gay bar in Maine. His boyfriend seemed like a very nice guy. We actually talked to him for quite a while. Barney stood to the side and didn't seem like he wanted to be there. That's not too surprising to me since I'd imagine that most conversations with strangers in that situation go in one of two directions: 1) you're so great. blah blah blah blah. and 2) Why did you do blah blah blah? I suppose politicians have to get used to that, but nonetheless, if it were me it'd make going out for fun stop being fun.
I went to the same college as Gary Larson of The Far Side; Washington State University. I lived in a coed dorm. Gary was at WSU for a book signing, and apparently had lived in the dorm room next to mine when he was a student. So a bunch of us took the door from his old room off the hinges and took it to the book store and stood in line and he signed it, LOL.
A while back, for several years I used to volunteer at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation annual gala and auction in downtown Seattle. There were a lot of local celebrities that most of you wouldn't know. Anyways, I was standing near the top of an escalator and saw a man running up it. I thought "Wow, far out it's Marty Feldman". Then I thought "No, that can't be because Marty Feldman is dead." Then I looked closer. It was Dale Chihuly. They could have been twins with the eye patch and dark curly hair.
My paternal grandfather was a boxing promoter and also managed fighters. Once when I was 11, we went to a dive Italian restaurant somewhere in Seattle and had dinner with Angelo Dundee, who was Muhammad Ali's manager. I didn't know that it was him. But my sisters and I each received personalized autographed pictures from Muhammad Ali. I thought it was really sweet he took the time to do that for some little girls he had never met.
Oh, and once Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston came to the town I live by to look at a piece of real estate that was for sale. I saw them downtown. They went to the one nice restaurant in town and paid to have the place all to themselves while they were there.
Josie Bissett, the Melrose Place actress lives not too far from me. I saw her at the store once.
And lastly, Jay Buhner who used to play ball for the Seattle Mariners, has a daughter that played softball at our local high school, so I saw him at several games.
Just got our contract for the Weems artfest in Albuquerque for next Nov and we'll get to meet John Corbett who is the guest of honor (Sex and the City, Big Fat Greek Wedding, etc...). I'd forgotten about meeting Jane Seymour there a few years ago.
I hate to name drop, but...
Back in the days when I lived closer to NYC and had money to spare, I saw a lot of Broadway shows. If you hang around at the stage door afterwards, you can usually catch the actors as they leave. I've met Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Alan Rickman, Roger Rees, Michael Ball (photos and autographs too!), Bernadette Peters, Tom Wopat, too many to remember. I've sat in the same theater audience as Liza Minnelli and sat 2 seats away from Butterfly McQueen. Saw Rex Harrison in a show a few days before he died. At the Broadway Cares charity auction, I met or mingled with Chita Rivera, Tony Randall, Petula Clark, Shaun Cassidy, Mariette Hartley, Valerie Harper, Sarah Jessica Parker and had my foot stepped on by Nathan Lane.
Best of all, in a show called Indiscretions, I saw a then not-so-famous Jude Law totally naked on stage. Shoulda had my binoculars that day.
My most recent brush was when a friend and I were killing time before seeing Simply Red in concert. We were walking along and I saw a guy and thought "Gee, he looks British and a bit familiar". I gasped when I realized he and the guy he was with were musicians in Simply Red. He saw the look on my face and smiled at me. My favorite band is the Hothouse Flowers (from Ireland) and they often mingle with their fans before or after a show.
My friend, who is a theater fanatic, has met biggies including Hugh Jackman and Antonio Banderes (who pops a mint before meeting fans). She goes to a lot of concerts that celebrities attend and she hangs out in the bathroom before the show---famous people pee too.
Nope, uh uh, nadda, niento. Man, I haven't ever met anybody remotely famous. And it's not like I haven't traveled. I've been to London, L.A., Boston, Houston, Venice, Florence, beaches here, resorts there, cruise ships. Even Sundance in Utah. Robert Redford wasn't sitting next to me in the restaurant! And believe me I looked all over the place for him there! Well, shoot!
Hmm... a girlfriend and I were in Washington D.C. one day and saw a crowd. Walked along the street behind them and ended up standing on a sort of ledge of a building. Turns out we were standing behind all the extras while they were filming a street scene from In The Line Of Fire (is that the title???) Didn't see Clint Eastwood, but saw Rene Russo!!!
Another time my three housemates and I decided our Christmas gift to each other was a trip to NYC to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas show. Our tickets were front row. At the end, we turned and walked up the aisle past Margot Kidder (Superman).
And yet another time was at Universal Studios and saw Robert Conrad... stuck-up, snotty little guy! Turned his back and put several body guards between himself and us.
I stood behind O.J. Simpson in the security line at L.A. International Airport the year before he allegedly killed his wife.
We lived in Aspen, CO for 20 years (until that much winter just became unbearable). If you pay attention a day won't pass without a celebrity sighting there. I think the celebs like going there partly because everyone gets jaded and just doesn't care any more.
Ooh! I forgot another one, a brush with royalty, literally!
Several years ago my mom and I went to the World Pairs Driving Championship at the US Equestrian team hdqtrs. in NJ. It's a 3 day event for carriage driving and we were there for the cross country event, where you basically roam around the countryside, find an obstacle, hang out for awhile and watch the horses negotiate it, then go to another one. We knew that Prince Philip would be there, as he was head of the International Equestrian Federation, so we planned to keep an eye out for him. Just as we were walking through the entrance, an older man walked towards me, brushed against my arm (pretty hard). It was him! I turned around to tell my mom, who was just a few steps behind me, and he practically knocked her over. He had 'people' with him who didn't look like bodyguards or anything. I've been to London many times and I run into British royalty in NJ. Go figure.
We attended the next day as well, and Prince Philip was wearing the same clothes as the day before. You'd think he would bring a change of clothes.
I only knew 2 allegedly famous people and they are a little obscure.
I knew Amanda Tapping................. (who?? Look up Stargate SG-1)........... when she was in high school, although my wife knew her better.
I was sort -of friends with Peter Thompson in high school (who?? Look up Canada's wealthiest family) super nice guy.
But yes, this thread is a bit of shameless name -dropping, isn't it? ;)
When I went to grad school I lived in a dorm and once was alone, on a Saturday night, in the lobby with the governor of Iowa. His daughter lived in the same dorm and I knew that but never expected to see him. He had no entourage, but life in Iowa is pretty simple.
My Scottish aunt-by-marriage had a tiny cashmere factory in an outbuilding in her garden and Carolyn, Princess of Monaco came to her house to be measured for a cashmere sweater. Carolyn was staying on the isle of Arran with the local gentry who was apparnetly a relative, Lady Jean someone.
Ishbel the last time I was in Edinburgh the tourist guide felt it necessary to point out the section of town where Sean Connery worked as a, was it, milk delivery man? Don't know if I have that right.
IshbelRobertson
2-14-11, 4:46am
He was a milkman, a french polisher in a coffin manufacturers and a bouncer at the local Palais de dance! He was the same age group as some of my family, so that's how I know... I'm not a stalker!
I forgot about meeting Timothy Leary at a college lecture. Plus I met the GooGoo Dolls at the Stone Pony one night when they were performing. Before all the fame of course. In all honesty, I wasn't impressed with either meeting. It was way cooler just being at the Stone Pony.
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