# Are you related to or have you met anyone famous **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2022, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544 "2022-03-06T01:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 19
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/19 "2022-03-06T05:33:00Z")
No famous relations, but here is an expanded list from a [previous similar thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-youve-met/197972/62) in 2003: **When I was a child:** Captain Kangaroo David McCallum (Ilya Kuryakin on “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”). For 12 years I worked in the IMAX theater at the National Air and Space Museum. This gave me lots of opportunities to meet celebrities. **Aviation/Space:** Chuck Yeager (a conceited jerk, he spoke at NASM every year on the anniversary of his breaking the sound barrier) Jeana Yeager (no relation) and Dick Rutan, who flew around the world non-stop, unrefueled in Voyager. Scott Crossfield, first man to fly twice the speed of sound. Patty Wagstaff, aerobatic champion Kathryn Sullivan, Shuttle astronaut Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 astronaut Judy Resnik, Shuttle astronaut (died in Challenger) **Authors:** Milbourne Christopher, magician, Houdini biographer Isaac Asimov (book signing) Milton Glaser, graphic designer James Randi Mark Okrand, creator of the Klingon language Murray Gell-Mann, physicist Phil Plait (Bad Astronomer) Christopher Hitchens Kurt Vonnegut Carl Sagan and wife Ann Druyan Philip Morrison, nuclear physicist Eugene Wigner, nuclear physicist Richard Rhodes (The Making of the Atomic Bomb) Thor Heyerdahl Leonard Maltin Garrison Keillor (book signing) John Allan Paulos (Innumeracy) Dava Sobel (Galileo’s Daughter, Longtitude) Al Gore (weeks before being nominated for VP. I gave him a little tour of the museum after he gave a a talk about his book. Nice guy, and not nearly as stiff as he later seemed.) **Racecar drivers:** Mario Andretti Al Unser, Jr. Bobby Rahal Roberto Moreno Gregg Moore Parker Johnstone Jan Beekhuis Chris Economaki, sportcaster **Entertainment:** Steve Goodman, musician Alex Trebek (when I was on Jeopardy! – really!) Pete Seeger (to my dismay, I annoyed him by taking too many pictures during a rehearsal) Penn and Teller (book signing) James Doohan (Scotty on Star Trek Ron Silver, actor Jerry Mathers (Leave it to Beaver) Kristin Chenoweth, Tony-winning Broadway performer Larry King (I gave him a tour of the museum) John Denver (was standing in line for tickets to the IMAX theater) Walter Cronkite (I was walking across the lobby, and he was standing there all by himself. I introduced myself and asked if he was meeting a museum representative. He said no, and asked if I’d show him the Enola Gay exhibit, which I did. Very nice man.) The directors of virtually every IMAX film ever made (including To Fly! and Everest–same guy), but you probably wouldn’t recognize their names. David Breashears, 5-time Everest summitter Jack Nicholson John Travolta Mythbusters Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman, and Kari Byron Steve Oedekerk, writer, director (Ace Ventura, Patch Adams) Brett Leonard, director (Lawnmower Man, Virtuosity) Ang Lee (director of Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain) Douglas Trumbull (special effects wizard: 2001, A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner) Ben Burtt, Oscar-winning sound designer (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.) Frank Marshall, producer (Indiana Jones, E.T., etc.) Roy Disney Don Hahn, producer (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) James Cameron Harrison Ford (I was present at the recording session for a film he narrated) --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544)._