Have you ever met a celebrity? Here's a spot to tell us what you said, what you wish you'd said, etc.

Several.

My wife (literally) ran into Henry Winkler at SJC (San Jose airport). She was pushing a stroller, too... She didn't really say anything.

I've met Alex Trebek (thought he was an arrogant SOB).

I've met Ben Stein (a hell of a nice guy). We swapped UC Santa Cruz stories for about 15 minutes.

I met Marge Schott once when I was working as a security guard in college. She was a really nasty old battle-axe. Definately had that I am better than you attitude going.

I once met Carol Burnett at the Lambs Farm in Libertyville, Ill. She was with some handicapped people doing some charity work.

Gwen Stefani of No Doubt came to see a movie at the theatre I worked at back in 2000. Sadly, this was just minutes before I clocked out for the night and while I was inclined to stick around and catch an autograph or maybe a hand-shake, I was so frikkin' tired I could barely remember my own name so I just split.

I've bumped into Prince Charles (the Prince of Wales) and Prince Philip (the Duke of Edinburgh, a.k.a. Mr. Queen ) a couple of times, mostly at official Royal functions involving the playing of our home orchestra (well, I'm hardly going to bump into them on the street, am I?). I last met Prince Philip back in 1997 when I was accepting my Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. He didn't want to speak to me.

I was also on the same flight (Singapore Airlines, btw) from Singapore to London Heathrow as Billy Connolly, presumably returning to the UK from Australia. He was in the business class, I was further back in the plane. But I did get a glimpse of him in the departure lounge.

Billy Connolly rocks! If you haven't seen it already, check out The Boondock Saints... he's in it, playing a really bad-ass hitman.

I've met (for about two seconds) Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi on ST:TNG for the non-Trekkies here) at a convention. She's gorgeous but not very talkative after signing autographs for two hours. I've also seen Brent Spiner at a convention but he didn't sign autographs.

I've also met Stacy Valentine... if you don't know who she is, don't ask!

I had once the pleasure to attend a lecture held by Prof. Manfred von Ardenne, the inventor of modern day television and many other things.

TV was invented by (take your choice) Philo T. Farnsworth or Vladimir Zworykin.

Met Dr. Dot Richardson (USA Softball, USA Olympic Softball team 1996, 2000) at LAX in 1996 (right after she won her gold medal).

She's a hell of a nice lady. She showed TrekGrrl her gold medal, and talked to us for a few minutes. Turns out we were on the same flight, because after we got off the plane in Orlando, Mrs. ScottN and the girls ran into her in the ladies room, and she remembered them, and said hi to the girls.

I once prepared a Subway® sandwich for Steve Young. Not being a football fan, I didn't recognize him, though he did look familiar. After he paid and walked out, some guy identified him, and so I ran out to catch him up and got him to sign a Subway napkin for me. How exciting! An autograph from a guy I didn't recognize who plays a sport I don't follow. True story, though. (And my manger once got Kiefer Sutherland's John Hancock on a Subway napkin. Where was I that day?)

Ah... reminds me... when I took my car in about 6-7 months ago, there was a tall skinny dude (and I mean extreeeemely tall and extreeemely skinny) bringing in his car. The service guys told me it was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I didn't talk to him, though... Figured he probably liked his privacy, and it wasn't a B-Ball related thing.

Oh yeah... On our honeymoon, we were seated 2 rows behind Michael Landon ("Bonanza", "Little House", "Highway to Heaven") on the plane. I wanted to leave him along (same thoughts as above), but my wife got his autograph.

I was introduced to David Gerrold at the Sci Fi WorldCon. I didn't really know what to say. (Why do we lose our brains? They're just people.) The talk turned to single people adopting children. I'm single and in favor of it, but I understand why the courts want to be cautious. I can't remember what I said, and I keep hoping I didn't hurt his feelings, because I found out later he had adopted a teenage boy.

What's really annoying - and I keep kicking myself over it - is that I did have something special to tell him. When I was in art school, a story idea of his prompted a picture that I did. A picture that I really like. So why couldn't I remember that at the time?

I also went to see a soap star at one of the malls once. (I was young and stu-pid; so sue me.) The women were so freaked out that they had to put him behind a counter so they wouldn't crush him. At one point he got hot, so he took off his jacket. Not sexy or anything, but the women went wild. And I thought, this is so stu-pid. He was cute, but he's just a guy. A couple of women shook his hand, but it's not like he'll ever remember them - two women in a crowd of however many.
In fact, that's the last time I went to a 'personal appearance'. I've gotten to talk to a couple of authors - at conventions - and I like that better, because I got to interact as a person. I doubt they'll ever really remember me - they do meet a lot of people - but at least I have a better chance. I'm not just a face in the crowd.

Lets see. I met David Hasselhoff at a car show during the early years of Knight Rider (it was/is a fun show IMO). A few years later I met Catherine Bach.

A few years before he died, I met Mark Lenard (Sarek of Star Trek for the non-Trekies).

I also met comic artist Mike Grell and Lurene Haines. Both signed Green Arrow Longbow Hunters #1 and #3. And Grell personally inscribed #3 for me and even included a caricature of himself. I finally found a copy of #2 around a year later and had Grell sign it at a different convention. For whatever reason #2 was hard to find around here at the time.

I've also met several race car drivers icluding Richard Petty.

I feel like I forgot a few. Arrrggh! I hate it when this happens! If I think of them I'll add them later.

My sister met Joan Jett at a coworker's wedding. The groom does security for her.

I met Spike Lee at a Brooklyn Cyclones game last summer. He posed for a picture too, which surprised me. I thought he'd say no.

I attended a reading of Ursula K. LeGuinn's "Always Coming Home". I was able to personally thank her for writing the book, "The Beginning Place", which I'd wanted to do since I'd read it as a teen. what a moment! and her response; "I liked that one, too".
there are others, but this is my personal favorite.

I once saw Johnny Whitaker of "Family Affair" at a Hollywood Collectables Convention here in Illinois

I met sf author Timothy Zahn a few years ago in Wisconsin almost by accident. I was at a booth for West End Games perusing their (now defunct) Star Wars line of gaming books, and commented about Zahn's "Thrawn Trilogy" to the attendant. He said, "Well, Mr. Zahn's right over there if you'd like to tell him yourself." I looked five feet to my right (!) and there was Timothy Zahn, just wrapping up a conversation with someone. I waited until he was finished, introduced myself and congratulated him on his contribution to the Star Wars universe. We chatted for a few minutes about characterization in his novels and a few other things before he announced he had just been getting ready to leave for lunch! I apologized for cutting in on his break, which I had no idea he was about to go on, but he was very nice about it and even asked me if I wanted him to sign something before he left. "Sure," I replied, "but I don't have anything."
He had a small West End Games print of an illustration from one of his short stories for the game line, which he signed for me.
Not once did he seem rushed or unwilling to talk... nice man!

I met Billy Campbell at the New York City Enough premiere, and told him how much I would miss his series, Once And Again. See the Enough page in the "Movies" section for the rest of the gory details.
I met Sidney Poitier on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in 1996. He had just bought a newspaper and (I assume) was walking back home. I debated whether or not to approach him. I'm glad I did, as he shook my hand and was very polite. Mr. Poitier has real class, something that is sorely missing from today's brood of half-baked "celebrities." (Not Billy Campbell, though.)
I was with a date in 1981, and met Nipsey Russell as he was strolling through midtown Manhattan. My date got his autograph.
I was at the October 2001 Chiller Theatre show at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Marta Kristen was there, but I did not have the nerve to approach her. (If my friend Pete hadn't just left, he would have given me the kick in the butt I needed.) I've had a crush on her since the first season of Lost In Space in 1965.

I met David Morse (St. Elsewhere, The Green Mile) on a New Jersey transit train, and got his autograph.
I saw and spoke to (extremely) briefly former New Jersey governor Jim Florio, as he was waiting for a train in Newark.
At church one Sunday, my son and I saw future New Jersey governor James McGreevey, just as he was beginning his formal campaign. He was waiting on line for Holy Communion, and winked at my son.
I met Walter Koenig, Harlan Ellison, and had my picture taken with Jimmy Doohan, at a NYC Trek convention in the mid-70's. (Of course, I've since lost the photo of me with Mr. Doohan.)

I met Sheryl Crow at J&R in NYC on May, 2002, just before her concert that night at Battery Park. I got her autograph on the booklets for her CD's Tuesday Night Music Club and C'mon, C'mon, and thanked her for one of my favorite songs of hers, No One Said It Would Be Easy. She was very gracious and polite to me, and I'm a Sheryl Crow fan for life as a result. (Plus, she really kicked major butt at the concert.)
I was driving on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood in 1985. I was stopped at a red light at about 1 a.m. Driving the car stopped next to me was Ric Ocasek of The Cars.
When I was a kid, I was with my dad and sister at the NYC studios of WPIX (Channel 11.) We met and got autographs of then Mayor John Lindsay.
I saw Jonathan Harris at the same Chiller Theatre show I noted above. I didn't approach him, and will always regret it. He was scheduled to appear at the October, 2002 show, but was unable to make it. He died a week or so later.
I saw a taping of the Tonight show in November, 1985. Johnny Carson was hosting; one of his guests was a then unknown comic (not the guy from The Gong Show with the bag over his head) named Roseanne Barr.

Being from Adelaide, Australia, my encounters with celebs are very rare- especially international ones. But I did meet Shania Twain and the group Deep Purple. They had just come off a flight from Perth, late at night, probably all dog tired, but they chatted and signed stuff for a while for the group of us who waited for them. Also met KISS- the '95 incarnation of Simmons, Stanley, Kulick and Singer (the BEST incarnation in my opinion).
Probably my highlight was meeting Brian May from Queen. the guy was all class and happily posed for photos and such.
The other one I met was Hattie Hayridge from Red Dwarf- very funny gal, once again, very happy to chat and talk and pose for photos. Gotta love those Brits- show the yanks a thing or two!

When I was in college, I was walking through the student union one evening when I noticed a friend of mine who was on the university's activities program board carrying the bags of an elderly woman who was going to be a guest speaker at a symposium the next day. Being the gallant gentleman that I am, I offered to my friend to carry the woman's bags for her up to the suite for guest speakers. I had no idea who she was at the time. My friend gratefully accepted, and I carried the woman's bags up to the suite for her. She thanked me and we exchanged a few pleasantries. I later found out that the woman was none other than Coretta Scott King.

My best friend from college's dad is the attorney for the southern rock band Alabama. Whenever they were playing in the area, we would all hang out with gutiarist Jeff Cook (who had gone to high school with my friend's mom) for the day.

Hmmmmm...not many encounters myself, but a couple highly entertaining secondhand stories:

Away back when Wayne Gretzky was but a rookie gleam in the NHL's eye, he and that year's Miss Canada opened a mall near where we lived. I was in school, but my sisters decided to check out the festivities...
Periodically, at family gatherings, we still break out the story of how the two of them passed up meeting 'some boring hockey player' in favour of getting the beauty queen's autograph! (They say she was very nice, though.)

The bookstore where I worked wasn't really big into celebrity signings. We did however have Anne Rice come in once, and she was very gracious - right up until she went to leave by the receiving bay to avoid the crush of fans. As it turned out one of the receivers had smuggled his whole family in there to meet her as she left!
Then there was the David Carradine debacle. Before my time, but apparently the celebrated Zen pacifist showed up thoroughly schnockered and (so the story goes) proved it by scrawling 'F--- you' in one copy of his autobio. Hence, the management's subsequent lack of interest in celebrity signings...

Personally, I've seen Canuck figure skating champion Elvis Stojko around the self-help section (he's very short - also intense-looking, so I decided to let him be) and had Burton Cummings of the Guess Who (very tall!) come in to pick up some books he'd ordered. He was a little brusque, but pleasant enough.
Damon Stoudamire (then of the NBA Raptors, now with the Portland Trail Blazers) once made a personal appearance, too. Very nice guy, but seemed sorta shy and embarrassed - like he wanted to get the whole thing over with quickly.

My favourite moment, however, has to be the time I got to meet Max Haines, the legendary (well, in Canada anyhow) true crime writer: A co-worker standing nearby was surprised that I read his books; when I quickly replied that I never missed his column in the paper, Haines - a big bluff man - broke out into a laugh. 'Of course, of course! That's the spirit!' Whereupon he grabbed a felt-tip marker and signed the book I was holding with a flourish.

Duh! Thank's kerriem, I knew I'd forgotten one...

Emeril did a book signing at the local B&N. He was really nice to the girls (TrekGrrl and her sis).

I met Mickey Mouse last week in DisneyWorld, does that count?

Definitey live in wrong part of the country for celebrity bumping into!

I finally met Marta Kristen today. She was at the Spring 2003 Chiller Expo. I had two pictures taken with her. She was so gracious and polite. I also spoke with Leo Rossi about his three-episode arc on Hill Street Blues in the early '80's.

I will probably go to a book signing of Ty Pennington! *squee*

He's the Trading Spaces carpenter (for you Brits, it's the American Changing Rooms).


I'm incredibly attracted to Vern Yip, one of the designers, but Ty is cute.

I met Pat Benatar and her husband, Neil Giraldo, this afternoon at an autograph session at J&R. She was promoting her new CD, "Go." She still looks fabulous.

I met Marc Singer at the most recent "Chiller Theater" show, on Nov. 2. Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea were also there, but I didn't approach them. (I'm embarassed to admit that I didn't recognize Mr. Lockwood right away.)

Well, not to outdo anyone here but when I lived in South Lake Tahoe and worked at one of the casinos there I met lots of celebs. Here are the ones I can remember right offhand:

Peter, Paul and Mary. Mary Travers I met first when I came out of a service elevator. I was so surprised that I blurted out, "You're Mary Travers!" Later met Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookie in the casino's underground passageway. I've always liked their music. They were all very nice people.

In the Denny's-like restaurant MacKenzie Phillips ran past me.

My brother, his then girlfriend and I went inside the foyer of Ceasar's in Tahoe and David Copperfield ran past us into the casino. Guess he had a gig to get ready for. How long ago was this? Well, I'll put it this way: He still wore his hair long and Claudia Schiffer was still jailbait.

Once held the door of another service elevator open for Andy Williams as I emerged from it. I never knew he was so darn short!

Once rode that same elevator with Waylon Jennings, his wife Jessie Colter and some of their entourage. I so wanted to ask him what Buddy Holly was like cuz he'd played with them before, but I never did cuz we weren't allowed to speak first to celebs other than to say hi, which I did say.

Caught the final couple minutes of Bill Cosby's routine before I helped the showroom set up for his dinner set.

Once saw the Everly Brothers in concert on that same on a date with a cute blonde coworker.

Said hi to Sammy Davis, Jr. when he rode the underground passageways in his golfcart. He'd injured himself in a botched sixgun stunt by shooting himself.

Said hi to Don Rickles in the same part of that passageway, where I also saw Crystal Gayle. She's even tinier than Andy Williams is! I also once met her sister, Lorretta Lynn, and got an autographed pic of her, which I still have.

Saw who I thought might've been Shirley Jones in that passageway but wasn't sure. She still said hi to me, though.

Took a Diet Coke to Tammy Wynette backstage. She was very nice.

In the hallway outside those dressing rooms I was talking with the woman who attended to the celebs and met Englebert Humperdinck there, adjusting his tie.

In a service elevator outside those dressing rooms I rode with Jerry Van Dyke, who's seen these days in those annoying Big Lots! ads.

Met Tai Babylonia in her room when she and Randy Gardner were there to perform iceskating routines. She was very cute, petite and nice.

Met the Beach Boys in one of the rooms they were staying in when I delivered a fruit basket to them.

Also met James Earl Jones when I took a fruitbasket to his room. I didn't recognize him at first (names weren't on the cards, just room numbers) and said "You look like James Earl Jones," and he laughed and said, "I am." He had a bit of a cold and was very nice.

Almost met Gene Siskel and Cheryl Ladd (whom he was interviewing) when I took a fruitbasket to his room but it had a Do Not Disturb sign on it. When I returned to Room Service one of the operators took a call and said that he called back and wanted a fruitbasket but one of the other busboys took it up himself, that bastard. He told us who was in the room.

Met Wayne Newton but he was the biggest....well, let's just say all the adjectives I'd like to use would be censored here.

Across the street at another casino, I met Ed Begley, Jr. and blurted out, "You're Ed Begley, Jr!" just like with Mary Travers, but using his name instead, of course.

In that same casino, and after hosting a marathon in the streets of SL Tahoe, I met Linda Blair, and she's the only celeb I've ever had pix taken with. A friend or associate with her party took the pix of us but I found out later that she shook the cam cuz both pix are blurry, one a bit less so. Linda was very nice and hella beautiful!

Here in town I was at Fred Meyer's once (it's since been torn down and replaced by a Lowe's) and saw Richard Crenna but never approached him or said hi.

Within the last year or so world famous astronaut and The First Man To Break The Sound Barrier, Chuck Yeager came to my lane at Target. I didn't really pay any attention to him at first cuz I was busy ringing up his stuff but when I looked at his credit card and saw the name Charles Yeager on it I was very surprised and said how great it was to meet him and shook his hand. Surprisingly, it was very limp. Then I was a bit disappointed, expecting a stronger handshake.

Wow, a whole parade of semi-celebrities! Cool, tho, Mark. :-)

Re: Yeager. All I have to say, is if I were the first man to dare try breaking the sound barrier and succeed, I'd have a limp handshake the rest of my life.

Nit. Chuck Yeager is not an astronaut. He is a test pilot, but I don't believe he ever got his astronaut's wings.

However, some of the X-15 pilots, including Scott Crossfield, did receive astronaut wings.

I've always heard he was an astronaut as well as a test pilot, but oh, well.

I also forgot to mention that my dad once met Liz Taylor and Richard Burton about 30 years ago when Burton was filming "The Klansman" in the white trash hellhole town nearby. Dad worked for the phone company (back when there was still just THE phone company) and he put in one or two phones for the couple in the bungalow they stayed in, which is located here in the town I live in (it's still there). Burton was drunk off his ass and cussing up a storm and Taylor was very apologetic.

On a rather terrifyingly prescient sidenote, another star of that gawdawful film was a certain former pro football player with the initials OJS, and my then teenaged blonde sister got a picture taken with him. If she knew then what she knew 20+ years later....

Saw Lynda Carter aka Wonder Woman in Carmel ca, she was so ..., wish I had time to say hello..

I bagged Doris Day s grocerys a few times, the second time I said paper or plastic, she recognized me instantly!

and I met Xena Lucy Lawless in full costume (or lack therof a costume..)at Universal, but that with a 100 other fans..... does that count?

and saw L. Nimoy with out his pointed ears in Pacific grove, Ca he was at the opening of a housing development back in 1981, had the jitters then

Also I saw Robert Lansing at the Spanish Bay in Carmel Ca... he was driving a blue Toyota..not a Rolls!

Markn, Oj Oj who? incriminated himself by planting the bloody socks inside his bedroom not MarkF...

I saw (but didn't meet) John Walsh at the Borders' in the WTC, back when he was promoting his second book. He is quite short for a guy; no taller than 5' 6" or 7".

Many people in La saw Oj s Ford Bronco chase!

Adam, side note, we saw the WTC, June 2000, but my fam was too chicken to go up to the top,too foggy that day so we ll go there next time

they had the Pizzaria there and the Borders down there

My brother went to Ithica college with and was a friend of a cast member of the new "Mad TV", Andrew Daly.

Daly is currently on some new Comedy Central news debate parody show called "Crossballs".

I met Kevin Kline last night at the IFC Center at 6th & W3rd at the As You Like It screening we did for HBO Films. We had collected all the last of the questionnaires from the audience and I was just outside the auditorium door as the after-screening focus group was going on. I was getting something from my bag when Kline walked out, and I looked right at him, and I asked about the focus group, “How’s it going in there?” He said in a whisper, somewhat facetiously, “They’re focusing!”

Director Kenneth Branagh was there too, and since I had been in charge of the guest list before the screening started, I had to cross them off when they each came in, but while he passed me by, I didn’t speak to him.

Met Chelsea Clinton tonight. I was at the Sunshine Theater in SoHo recruiting for a screening we're doing there Tuesday for a new Weinstein Co. flick with Jim Caviezel called Unknown, when I saw this girl with curly blonde hair with her back to me. As I approached and she turned when I got her attention, I thought she looked like Chelsea Clinton, and after she politely declined the free movie invitation, I said, “Pardon me for asking a stupid question, but are you Chelsea Clinton?” She said she was, and I told her I was surprised that she wasn’t surrounded by Secret service men, because I thought that that was how life was for former First Family members. She said that it was not, and I thanked her, telling her I voted for her Dad twice, and she said thank you. Surreal moment.

Did you ask her what in the world she sees in Wesley Crusher? ;-)

Huh?

Never mind, semi-private joke amongst some NitCers. :-D

In certain terrible ST:TNG fanfics which are regularly MiSTed, Chelsea Clinton, through some horribly contrived time travel nonsense, is in a relationship with Wesley Crusher. It's as bad as it sounds.

Luigi, count yourself lucky that you didn't read about the terrible dark Princess with a dozen titles written by a certain infamous student at a Virgina university...

But MARISSA is the One True Way!

Luigi,

if you do want to catch up (but don't complain afterwards we didn't warn you!), you can find the Mistings here and the unspoiled beauty of the great original work here (okay, that was a tiny bit sarcastic.)

Personally, I think only the misted version bearable. To learn more about Chelsea Clinton and her relationship with Wesley, read Time Speeder (both versions) and Only Constant. (and weep afterwards... )

There's also a topic (3 boards by now) in the Star Trek sink devoted entirely to Stephen's work.

Luigi wrote above - I told her I was surprised that she wasn’t surrounded by Secret Service men...
Corrrect me if I'm wrong, but I believe that only former Presidents and their spouses are entitled to lifetime Secret Service protection. And, President Clinton will be the last, as W signed a law entitling former Presidents to protection for just 10 years after they leave office. Children of former Presidents lose protection when they reach 21. If Clinton dies, Hillary keeps her Secret Service detachment (Lady Bird Johnson [yes, she's still alive] and Nancy Reagan still have theirs), but I think if she divorces Clinton, she will lose it. Vice-Presidents lose protection when they leave office, but in one of President Clinton's last acts, he signed legislation continuing protection for Al Gore for six months beyond 1/20/01.

Immediate Thoughts on Ratliff's new web page, in order:

"Aaigh! Is that supposed to be Stephen?"

"He's now THIRTY and writing about teenagers and their love lives?"

"I seriously doubt a techie is that built. At least in his chest and arms."

"'Good Hands'?" *snort*

"Marissa looks like a space baby."

I, too, couldn't believe that Stephen looks like that. But it certainly tells a lot about him that he chooses that kind of avatar.

Good hands = obvioulsy a charity = Stephen couldn't hold a job in the real world. (Yes, that's mean. But I always wondered how somebody with his ideas managed to finish college with a degree. Or how he would function at a workplace. Can you imagine how his reports to superiors must look like, going by his fiction writings?)

Ah, his links page explains it. He works for Allstate, an insurance company (their slogan is "You're in good hands with Allstate"). I don't know his work skills, but I'll bet he's pretty strange in person.

Merv, he was driving with his car, the license plate said MERV and he was lost, in Carmel Ca

Saw Del Monroe (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), in Monterey Ca, in the 70s.I was only a kid then and recognized him instantly from that show/movie!

( for- Luigi. This is where I stomped.I went to L.A for college and Sf state to finish it.)

I once shared a beer with Gary Hart when he visited the WVU campus in the fall of 1987. The fact that I was still underage at the time may have been the REAL reason that his '88 presidential campaign was sabotaged. Hey, serves the guy right for dropping my surname from his name!

Well, he knew he might have to suffer through a Presidential term with his detractors calling him "Hot Pants," as he was labeled as a kid.

Met Morgan Spurlock Monday night.

While I was in front of the Regal Union Square on Sunday recruiting for a Tuesday screening there for Wristcutters, a couple of people were handing out these little square invitations for a free screening of a new documentary, produced by an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, about the commercialization of Christmas. It was at the Disney Screening Room at the corner of 59th and Park, a small screening room of about 60 or 70 people. The movie’s tentative title is What Would Jesus Buy?, which sounds appropriate. I was one of the first couple of people in the room, and after I sat down, I walked into the lobby,for a drink, and a guy walks out into the lobby, and it’s Morgan Spurlock! I said, “Hey, it’s Morgan Spurlock!” We shake hands, and I ask him if he directed the movie, and he said that no, he produced it.

My review of it is here.

I saw Adrian Brody last night.

I was recruiting in front of the Clearview Chelsea theather for a screening we had there tonight for Bobby, and I noticed that there was another screening going on there tonight for Hollywoodland. A dark car pulled up and a guy in casual attire got out, with the driver holding an umbrella over him (it rained badly last night in NYC). As he entered the theater, I realized it was Brody, who's in that movie.

The market research company I work for had a screening tonight in New York at Kips Bay for a movie, and after we had processed everyone and got them into the auditorium, I was going downstairs to the auditorium, and as I passed the little mini-tables in front of the lobby cafe, I saw that the guy in the blue shirt with the beard stubble that was leaning on one of them was Tobey Maguire! Cool! I didn't say anything, not because I'm not a fan of the Spider-Man films, but after having met a number of celebs through my job, and having been taught not to speak to our clients by the higher-ups at my company, I've learned a bit of restraint. Mind you, Tobey wasn't a guest at our screening (the movie has nothing to do with him), nor was he a part of the Amazing Grace screening going on upstairs on the upper level, but I still decided to say nothing. I mean, what are you going to say, "How ya doin'"?

I went to Memphis this past weekend for my vacation. Saturday I went to Coyote Ugly. But because they had some local radio station doing a live broadcast there, they were carding people. Becasue my driver's license's expired, they wouldn't let me in. (Despite the fact I have quite a bit of grey in my beard.) So I went to another bar - Wet Willie's - and ordered a Call-A-Cab. (A wicked, alcohol-filled smoothie.) I took my drink and walked up and down Beale, stopping to watch a blues band called Big Jerry play. After that, I finished my Call-A-Cab and went to Club 152, where I had no problem getting in.

At Club 152, I bought a Budweiser and a huge plastic syringe filled with a Jello shot of Everclear. In the club was an Elvis impersonator. I got as close to the stage as I could. Next to me was some old fart.

At one point, the Elvis impersonator asked the audience if we knew the name of Elvis' first movie? The old fart said, "Love Me Tender". Not too loud, mind you. Loud enough I heard it. "Elvis" then, after no one in the audience called out an answer, told us, Elvis' first movie was Love Me Tender. The old fart proudly exclaimed, "I know my Elvis!" I told him he should've said something. Old fart said nothing. Some time after that, he left to go another part of the club.

"Elvis" then started talking about ZZ Top. I thought, "What does Elvis have to do with ZZ?" "Elvis" then pointed to the Old Fart and said, "I'd like to introduce my good friend, Mr. Dusty Hill of ZZ Top." My jaw hit the floor.

I went up to him and said, "Dusty! Dude! I had no idea! I was just standing there next to you!" And he said, "Yeah, you were just talking to me." I got his autograph and then shortly thereafter had a waitress snap that picture of me and him.

Since the Elvis impersonator was finished, Dusty left. Then I left. I saw Dusty head towards B.B. King's bar. I went the opposite way to Rum Boogie Cafe. I was drinking a beer there went Dusty showed up there. I walked up to him and said hi again. I then asked if he wanted something to drink. He said, "Yeah, Killian Red Irish." So I bought us both a drink. A little after that, he and I got to talking. About ten minutes later, Dusty left and I never saw him again that night.

Still, that's gotta to be the highlight of my vacation. I mean, who'd've thought I'd meet the bass player for one of favorite bands in a bar on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee?

If you want to see the photo of Dusty and me, just go to my MySpace profile page.

bagged Sally Fields' (the Flying Nun) groceries in my supermarket in Carmel Valley,Ca .she forgot to pick them up!(back in December something).

Okay, so Sunday, I'm in front of the AMC/Loews Theater at Kips Bay in Manhattan, and I'm recruiting for three films that my company is screening this coming week. One is a crime thriller called Killshot that stars Mickey Rourke as a hitman going after Diane Lane and Thomas Jane, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Yeah, the kid from Third Rock from the Sun and Ten Things I Hate About You) as his partner, or henchman. Out comes this skinny guy in a purple shirt. His hair is short, and he walks out and up the block, but I'm wondering:

Was that Joseph Gordon-Levitt?

Mind you, I'm usually more certain of these things, because I'm pretty good with recognizing faces, especially of celebrities, since I do portraits and caricatures, and collect photographs of celebrities.
But this guy looked really skinny and small-framed, smaller than I he looked in the film’s trailer, and even though I know everything looks bigger in the movies, I'm wondering if I'm imagining things. He walks away too fast for me to be sure, so I pay it no mind.

But then he comes back, and walks back into the theater lobby. I hear people nearby murmuring, and I figure they saw him too. I ask them, "Was that Joseph Gordon-Levitt?" They indicate to me that they saw Jimmy Fallon from Saturday Night Live in the lobby. Now I've seen Jimmy Fallon before, a few years ago, walking into the E-Walk Theater on West 42nd ST., but if he was around now, I didn't seem him.

Some time later, the guy in the purple shirt walks back out, and he's standing on the curb with a few friends. I've long made an effort not to approach the celebrities I meet when I'm out recruiting, but I need to know if this guy is Levitt, and it's not every day that I run into someone in one of the movies whose screening I'm recruiting for. (In fact, it's only happened one time before, in May 2002, when I was in Tower Records Lincoln Square recruiting for that Chris Rock/Anthony Hopkins action thriller, Bad Company, and Chris Rock was in the store with his wife! I even tried to recruit him, as a joke, and he good-naturedly asked, “Uh, wow, is it any good?” After he walked away, an employee friend of mine and i cracked up at the surrealness of it all.)

So without looking at the guys he's standing with, I say, "Excuse me, are you Joseph Gordon-Levitt?", and he turns and says yeah, and shakes my hand. He asks me my name, and stuff, and I tell him that I'm recruiting for his movie, and he mentions some stuff about some of the cuts that have been made (which I will not repeat here, since our clients wouldn't want such stuff made public), etc.

After he and his friends walked away, a tried recruiting few guys standing near the theater entrance, and they mentioned that one of the guys standing with Joseph was indeed Jimmy Fallon. I never looked at his friends, but they told me that Jimmy was cracking up because I was talking to Joseph instead of him.

Weird.

I met Sarah Jessica Parker early this afternoon. She was at Macy's Herald Square promoting her new perfume line "Covet", and signing the bottle of perfume. Being that my girlfriend is a big Sex And The City fan, I thought I might surprise her this weekend with the autographed bottle. I had to buy $128 worth of stuff in order to get to meet Ms. Parker, and get her autograph. But, considering what my girlfriend has done for me over the past 30 or so months I've known her, it's a drop in the bucket. And, Ms. Parker looked better in person than she did in any Sex episode.

Someone once wrote that Sarah Jessica Parker is the perfect example of a woman that WOMEN think is beautiful, but that men are merely ambiguous over. I myself find her hair kind of gangly and her voice doesn't quite match her figure. But I'm shallow.

There were actually very few men on line to meet her; I was one of maybe two or three. The rest were all women. Many many women. Including one wearing an "I Heart Sex And The City" t-shirt. Ms. Parker's hair was straight and tied back, totally un-Carrie Bradshaw-like.

Being that my girlfriend is a big "Sex And The City" fan, I thought I might surprise her this weekend with the autographed bottle.
Here's pics of Ms. parker at the Macy's signing.
The autographed bottle was a BIG success, by the way.

In the late '80s, I was hostessing at a restaurant on the "494 strip" (Bloomington, MN, south of Minneapolis) when Dick Wilson (Mr.Whipple from the "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" commercials) came in with some friends. While working there, I often met/saw other minor celebrities, including a lot of Minnesota Vikings, such as then-quarterback Tommy Kramer.

I've also run across a few other Minnesota Vikings in the area. One time "Benchwarmer Bob" Lurtsema (don't know if he's known outside of the Twin Cities area, or not) waved to me as we were both driving down the highway. Also in the late '80s, I nodded at Joey Browner, popular Viking at the time, as I passed him on the grounds of the Minnesota State Fair.

Speaking of the MN State Fair, about 6-8 years ago, while my husband and I were on our way to the Fair, we were listening to Garrison Keillor , of Prairie Home Companion radio show (and movie) fame, broadcasting from the Fair Grounds. Later while at the Fair, I had just bought a corndog or something and ran into Keillor. I told him that we had just been listening to him and that he was very funny. We chit-chatted for another minute or two, then parted ways.

I caught up to my husband, and told him I was just talking to Garrison Keillor. "You were not!", my husband retorted. Just then Keillor strolled by. Turning to him, I said, "My husband doesn't think I was really talking to you." Keillor gave some dry witty response (can't remember what it was) and we all chuckled. Yah, okay, not the most exciting encounter but something out of ordinary in my life.

MarkN wrote: Within the last year or so world famous astronaut and The First Man To Break The Sound Barrier, Chuck Yeager came to my lane at Target.

This doesn't really count as "meeting" a celebrity, but since my husband, Jamie, is kinda known on the web for his aviation 3-D graphic illustrations, he was asked a few years ago (by a third party that he has worked with before) to create the aircraft images for the front page of Chuck Yeager's official website.*

Jamie was mostling communicating with Yeager's assistant, when one e-mail that she sent to him said that "The General likes your work." As an aviation enthusiast, my husband has always been a fan of Chuck Yeager, so when I saw the e-mail before Jamie got home, I really felt proud that "THE General" liked my husband's artwork.

* I know there used to be a link from the Yeager site to my husband's ME262 website, but don't see it now. I didn't want to seem like a troll posting it, but anyone can sure e-mail me if they are curious.

last year I met Leon Pennetta (sp), he recognized me instantly from the Carmel Valley safeway. I said You look like him! I am! he asked how's your wife? and so on .

When a family friend was attending college in the 60's,she worked summers in Texas,her home state,with a theatre company doing behind the scenes stuff.Robert Vaughn was doing a play there at the time & asked her out for dinner.She said he had a bodyguard with him & she found him arrogant.

My sister dated Beau Bridges once or twice in the early 1980's; he was doing a series titled United States with Helen Shaver that turned out to be very short lived. A few years later, I answered a phone call at the house that I'm positive was from Mr. Bridges; he was calling for my sister. But...she had gotten married in the interim, and I assume she was no longer available.

Beau was in 12 0 clock high as a 15 year old gunner!

I remember back around 1982, I got through via phone to Don Imus. He was broadcasting from WNBC in New York, and doing some goofball skit called "nuking." You'd call in, describe why you wanted someone "nuked," and Imus would play your call, and insert a recording of a blast afterward. I did it to some poor soul named Larry, who worked with me briefly. Larry was actually a nice guy, who got fired not long afterward. The supervisor who engineered his firing had the nerve (or shamelessness) to show up at a small soda and chips party we gave for him on his last day.

I went to a screening of Dressed To Kill a week before its release, in April 1980. Sitting in the back of the theater, not far from where me and my then-girlfriend were sitting, was the film's star, Nancy Allen. She was married to the film's director, Brian De Palma, at the time. I would have looked for him as well, but I had no clue what he looked like.

I seem to have been remiss in posting to this board a celebrity encounter I had almost a decade ago. It was kind of a depressing one. When I was in Mytle Beach SC in the summer of 1999 for Heepvention '99, I was prowling the boardwalk one afternoon and wound up entering a celebrity memorabilia store. Sitting at a table was an white-haired man who appeared to be in his late fifties. It turned out to be none other than Jay North, who as television's "Dennis the Menace" was once the icon of carefree youth. North was selling autographed pictures of himself as the young Dennis with his slingshot to try to make a living. He was telling everyone who would listen about how he never got a proper education as a child actor, and once "Dennis" was canceled he was stereotyped and was never able to get a substantial acting job again. One of the onlookers at this point asked him "But did they let you keep the slingshot?" North gave him a cold stare for about ten seconds and then said "Yeah, I got to keep the slingshot."

I met (albeit briefly) William Shatner last night, at an autograph signing for his latest book Up Till Now. I'll refer you to the "William Shatner" page on the "Classic Trek" board for more info.

Well, I’m officially an actor now.

Well, a background extra.

Back in February, while I was in Paramus recruiting for a movie screening, I met a guy named Ali, and we struck up a conversation. He was casting director for Central Casting, and we talked about background extra work, something my boss at the time had done with her family. He gave me his card, and I registered with Central Casting a couple of weeks later. Since I quit my market research job on June 20th, I’ve basically been pestering the temp agency I’m signed up with, and Central Casting. I haven’t gotten anything yet with the former, so when I learned of this July 30 shoot for this TV show called Cupid, I told them I was available. I researched it online. There was no Wikipedia article for it, but there was an imdb page for a 2009 TV series by that name, which indicates that it’s a remake of a TV show of the same name by Rob Thomas, the same creator that was on TV ten years ago.

I got to Silvercup Studios in Queens at 11:30am, and outside the building, I saw catering tables and a catering truck where people were getting free food. That’s cool, I thought. It’s kinda deserted around here, but I wonder how they police this in more populated areas so that people on the street can’t just walk up to the truck and get free stuff.

“Um, yeah, can I get a bagel and cream cheese, and a coffee regular?”
“You don’t work here.”
“Yeah I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you look like a homeless person.”
“Um……I’m playing a homeless person. I just came down from wardrobe.”
“You were already at wardrobe and they let you come back down here?”
“I told ‘em I was hungry, and that I’d be right back! You want me to be late?”
“Okay. What are you filming?”
“An episode of a TV show.”
“Which one?”
“Um……Star Trek?”

I already ate, so I went up to the fourth floor Holding room. I was given a voucher to fill out, and then lined up to see the Wardrobe woman, who was checking all the extras, or as they called them, “Background”. A girl named Melana got on line behind me. Her hair was in an archaic style that seemed appropriate if she wanted to portray a 50’s housewife.

The Wardrobe woman looked at me. We were told to wear one outfit, and bring another, one more casual than the other. I was wearing my jeans, along with my black dress shoes and blue dress shirt. I had my dress slacks and blazer in my bag, which were part of the suit I bought for a wedding last December, but had them in the bag because I hate getting dressed up. Naturally she had me change into the suit. I don’t know why I never noticed this before, like when I first bought or used the suit, but I now looked like someone who just ordered somebody to be “whacked”.

The extras were all brought down to the first floor, where the studios were. Our scene was on Stage A. We were brought to a room down the hallway from the studio to “Crafties”, the room where the craft services table was. It was a nice spread, and I was surprised they kept this big table stocked up all day. A bit of a snack at one point during the day made sense, but all this food for free? I had no idea that production studios were so generous. The room was actually where a lot of the lighting and air conditioning equipment were kept, and even though the ceiling was really tall, I could see, through these doors that went up to the ceiling, another room with a ceiling twice as tall, was apparently the woodworking shop where they built the set pieces.

We were then brought to the set. The scene we were filming was set in a Mexican restaurant/karaoke bar. The camera was the near bar, filming the stage. We were told that we’d be given drinks on the set to play bar patrons, and that each time we left the set to go back to the Crafties, we’d put our drink on the table near the set’s exit door, on which was a chart with each of our ID numbers. We would put each of our drinks on the number corresponding to our ID number for the day, and then pick it up when we came back in the next time, so that we each had the same drink in each shot. I ended up being paired off with Melana, and we were instructed to sit at a table to the right of the karaoke stage, on which stood a Mariachi band, which would play a Mexicanized version of Pat Benatar’s “We Are Young” for the stars in the scene to sing. We were instructed to pantomime talking amongst ourselves, occasionally looking at the stars singing on stage, and applauding at the end of each number. I didn’t recognize the first couple, a pretty-looking Latina or Italian girl, and a white guy with black hair that came down his forehead in a Superman-like curl. The next couple consisted of a girl singing by herself, wondering where he partner was, and calling out to him with the microphone in between lyrics. A bearded guy then bounded onto the stage to join her. I didn’t recognize either of them, but someone who later tell me that the bearded guy was the lead in Meet the Spartans, which I never saw.

When this shot ended, we left the stage, and when we came back, Melana and I were now at the bar during the same shot, except the cameras are not filming the stage from the bar, but are filming close-ups and background shots from the karaoke stage itself. As I spoke to Melana, she seemed to not get some things that I was saying. For example, I tried to tell her a joke I had read recently:

---A guy goes to the doctor, who tells him that he has advanced pancreatic cancer, and Alzheimer’s Disease.
---The guy says, “Well, at least I don’t have cancer.”

Melana, confused, asks me if he didn’t really have cancer. I just stare at her, and try to explain the joke, thus deflating it of all its humor. I later learn that she is part of the Mennonite Church (which I understand to be similar to the Amish), and wonder if this has something to do with this. Either that, or the joke isn’t as funny as it was to me when I first read it.

At one point, I was instructed to cross down to the left side of the stage by the Exit door, and then to cross the restaurant from left to right. There would be a number of “crossers” during the day, portraying restaurant patrons walking around the place, but this was the only time I was asked to do this. A few times we’re filmed applauding the end of the first couple’s number, and during one of the takes, I just raise my glass and salute them. I wonder if this means that I’m going to be seen in both shots, in which case I’ll be seen both at the stage and at the bar. Is this how nits occur? Am I inside a nit now?

It was during this shot that I recognize, sitting out of camera range, the one actor I recognized, Bobby Cannavale from Will & Grace, Third Watch, and The Night Listener, who, like me, coincidentally, is a native of Union City, NJ. As if often the case with meeting actors in person, he looks a lot slimmer than he does onscreen.

After the current shot was done, they then filmed a bar scene, with the cameras at the bar, featuring Bobby as the bartender talking to a woman who showed up there. I was not used in this shot, and was essentially done working for the day. I sat at a restaurant booth with other extras. I couldn’t see Bobby and the woman clearly, but they had so many takes that I can remember most of the exchange:

Cannavale: “Well look who’s here. I knew you’d be back.”
Actress: “Well I just wanted to confirm your employment situation.” (This was the one line I couldn’t make out clearly.)
Cannavale: “A likely story. So what can I get you? Sex on the Beach?”
Actress: “No.”
Cannavale: “A Screaming Orgasm?”
Actress: “Um……”
Cannavale: “An After-Hours Grope on a Lunatic’s Futon?”
Other Patron: “Two martinis, please.”
Cannavale: “Think about it.”

Bobby would then hand off a martini shaker from one hand to another behind his head, which resulted a number of times in him dropping it, much to the laughter of the assembled, at least the first one or two times it happened. Somehow, it doesn’t seem as big a deal if Dick Clark and Ed McMahon aren’t there to offer commentary, or Sergio Aragones’ cartoon janitors aren’t there for a visual segue.

During these shoots, I tried to keep from being bored and from nodding off. I had no idea before today how it would be on a TV production set, so I didn’t bring my camera, and left my book in my bag upstairs in Holding. But I now saw that everything is really casual. If you’re not being used in a shot, as long as you’re quiet, you can do whatever you want. People worked their PDAs, exchanged business cards, took snapshots of themselves with their cameras, etc. One girl who pulled a couple of supermarket tabloids out of her bag was nice enough to lend one to me. So instead of being bored, I’d end up just lowering my IQ.

At 6pm, “lunch” was announced. I thought it meant that we could go where we wanted, but no, there was a free buffet upstairs in Holding for all the actors, though the SAG actors got preference over the non-SAG actors, who had to wait in line like Oliver Twist, or something. The buffet was nice, and the Mariachi band even did an impromptu number for us for free. I spoke a bit with the other extras. They talked about the waiver system. (For those of you who don’t know, desirable acting jobs, like the kind with a speaking role, and which pay better, are given preferentially to members of the Screen Actors Guild, or SAG. For background extras, if they like you enough to want to give you such a role, and you’re not SAG, they’ll give you a “waiver” that permits you to have the role. If you accumulate three waivers, you can qualify to be in SAG.) One guy named Alan has been doing this for a year, but I neglected to ask him how many waivers, if any, he had. Another guy’s been doing this for four months, and already had one, which sounds okay. At that rate, you’re SAG in a year, and he has only eight months to go if he keeps it up like that.

After about 40 minutes, we returned downstairs, and after about another hour, we were brought back up to Holding, where we told at 8:20 that we were done for the day, but that we should put 8:45pm as the end time on our vouchers, and 8.8 hours as the number of hours worked. The pay for non-SAG background may be peanuts ($80 for up to ten hours), but it was an interesting experience.

Luigi, i thougbt you were a homeless Man!

Shermy aka the 74s tm or the teribel splr

ps. You sound like a Cheers extra!



--------------------------------

seriously good luck.

The exchange was a hypothetical one. It wasn't intended to be me. The scene I was that of a patron in a Mexican restaurant bar.

---

quote:

Luigi: Well, I’m officially an actor now. Well, a background extra.

---

I live in Bangor, Maine, and I've met and talked to Stephen King a few times, once when he went to the movie theatre, where I was too!

I saw Andre Agassi at Heathrow Airport, but I didn't actually meet him.

And I've seen many local (Maine) celebrities doing their thing around town. The last one I met and talked to was basketball player turned coach Cindy Blodgett, who played in the WNBA after winning championships for the University of Maine.

Other then them, I haven't really met any other really famous people. But my dad met Bruce Willis back in 1996 when he was filming "12 Monkeys" in Philadelphia!

I was in the waiting area of a local restaurant in the city I live in along with my mom,nephew,& his wife.As I was standing there,actor Robert Wolders quickly walked by me.He portrayed the part of Eric Hunter in my favorite TV western,LAREDO(1965-'67)& later was a companion of Audrey Hepburn. I immediately recognized him but it startled me & he was walking rapidly.My impression was that he was hoping not to be noticed & that he picked up on the fact that I knew who he was.I was hoping that when we finally got a table that we'd be seated nearby his,but no such luck.

I Went to the Epic Mickey launch party today, where I met and photographed actors Jennifer Grey, Kyle Massey, and Clark Gregg, game designer Warren Spector, who designed the game, and writer Peter David, who wrote two of the game's graphic novel adaptation, and the prequel digicomic, Disney’s Epic Mickey: Tales of Wasteland.

The pics are in a category page at Wikimedia Commons, as well as in the Wikipedia articles for the game and the aforementioned people.

Met, and had my picture taken with, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz at the Robert Osborne tribute at the 2017 TCM Film Festival. Too bad my son wasn't there; he blew that part of the festival off.
Met, and shook hands with, Ali Velshi of MSNBC while waiting in line to see Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham at the Beacon Theater on August 10, 2017. I don't know if Velshi went to the show. He missed a good one if he didn't.

Of course, Ben is the nephew of original TREK writer Don Mankiewicz.

Back around 2011, I met Steve Garvey several times, as he was doing ALS fundraisers. Also Mike Scioscia.

I thought I had mentioned this before, but I don't see it. I met race car driver Ken Schrader a few years ago. The company I work for sponsors his race truck or used to anyway. He was nice. Made sure to shake hands with everyone before he left.

I encountered Jeopardy host Ken Jennings during the 50th anniversary screening of That's Entertainment at the 2024 TCM Film Festival. He took a seat right in front of mine. He was a rude prick when I joked to him that he looked familiar. After that, he gave me a half-hearted hand wave. I was so disappointed with his behavior I may never watch Jeopardy ever again. At least as long as he's host. His nice guy act as host is just that-an act. I still say that Buzzy Cohen did the best job during the on-air auditions.

Geez, that's horrible.

In my opinion, Jennings is a great example of someone letting success get to his/her head. He was a regular guy who hit it big, first as the top Jeopardy winner, and then as its host. Now, he's turned into a real douchebag. Who wants little to do with the population who made him a success in the fist place.
There's a saying out there that goes something like "Don't mess with people on your way up; you'll encounter the same
people on your way down". So, watch yourself, Ken.

Agreed.