Brushes with Fame-Celebrity Encounters

In My Humble Opinion
81

I met Hugh Jackman before his one man show in Toronto last summer. Total sweetheart who took time with all of us, despite the fact that his handler(?) was trying to rush him into the theatre. Long story short, my wife & I had possession of her aunt’s new iPod (new, as in ‘with camera’) and we asked him if he would pose for a picture while holding a sign that said “Hi Terri!” He was more than happy to do so and seemed to get a kick out of the request.

Don’t know if this applies since it was brief, but I held hands with Beth Gibbons, the lead singer for Portishead. We saw them last year and were in the front row. While the band was doing their thing at the end of the show, Beth came down to shake hands with everyone. When she got to me, she took my hand and held on while interacting with the other fans around me. I was more than surprised and, when she looked at me before moving on to my wife who was standing next to me, I could only squeak out a simple ‘thank you.’

And, to my dying day, I will insist that I was not holding her hand any tighter than she was holding mine. :smiley:

82

Oh, I forgot. I played Dungeons and Dragons with Michelle Malkin. Went to school with her for six years, and played D&D in junior high.

83

I was in a jury pool with Robert Patrick, aka the T-1000 from Terminator 2. He was wearing biker boots and a big leather belt that had “Speed Demon” spelled out in rhinestones on the back. When we were all dismissed, he drove away in a BMW with a license plate that said “TheUnit”, which is the show he had a regular role on at the time.

In college I worked on an INXS video which was shot while they were in town during a tour. It was for a forgettable song used in Beverly Hills Cop 3, and the video was one of those cross promotional ones that includes shots from the movie interspersed with the band’s performance.

They were shooting in an abandoned steel mill, with an Aussie director who wore overalls with no shirt and moon boots. His vision hinged on lights bounced off mylar reflectors that were shaken by my fellow student interns. My job was to build a pool of water in the dirt floor in front of the stage, so lights would be reflected through it while I made waves. I made an L with some rods from C-stands and clamped a board to one end. When I moved the rod back and forth, the board would wiggle and make waves. Since the light had to get from my pool to the stage, there was nothing in front of me but the camera dolly.

Near the end of the shoot when they were doing closeups of the other band members, Michael Hutchence jumped down and did the board wiggling routine for me. He had spent the last 6 hours watching me do this utterly pointless thing and just had to take a turn for himself.

Also while in college I got to help out on a film shoot with William Burroughs. A local video production guy I worked for (Steve) was hired to do the lighting for an intro to a claymation adaptation of one of Burrough’s short stories, “A Junkie’s Christmas”. He basically got the book off a shelf, sat down to read it, and then the animated part would begin. It was shot in a house that he used as a studio.

Steve was kind of a country boy, and as we were leaving commented that he thought Burroughs might be gay, because one of the other books on the shelf that he had written was called “Queer”. He was shocked when I told him that everyone there who had identified themselves as working for Burroughs was gay, and in fact one or more of them was or had been his boyfriend.

84

Last March I performed with my troupe at an award ceremony for Gene Wolfe (the Fuller Award), which doubled as a fundraiser for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. While there:

Neil Gaiman came backstage after the performance and ceremony to thank us and tell us our performance was “delightful.” He shook all of our hands. After dinner we took photos together. Nicest guy ever.

After dinner, we did some photos with Gene Wolfe, as well. After we were done he asked me if I am as formidable as I appear. :smiley: (I am very tall in high heels, plus I was wearing a top hat. I was a good head-and-a-half taller than him at the time.)

I got to talk to Kyle Cassidy for a good long while about photography. He brought out his iPad and showed me some of his most recent steampunk photos. Also super nice, laid back and down to earth. I also met his wife, who he refers to as Trillian Stars even in real life. :slight_smile:

Amanda F@$king Palmer was in Australia working at the time, so I did not get to meet her.

85

Very nice list.May I ask how you got to meet Clinton?

86

Many years ago when baseball player Ken Caminiti played for the Padres and was still alive, I was at a Red Robin eating with my boss, who was also a good friend of mine. We went to the bathroom before eating. I was at the middle urinal, my boss was to my right, and Ken Caminiti was to my left. My boss was a HUGE fan of the guy and looked over at him while we were peeing. I assumed he was looking at me, so I said “What, are you going to watch me pee?” At that point I started dancing up and down like an idiot to provide a show for my boss. Afterwards, Ken Caminiti was washing his hands and laughing, where he got to hear my boss telling me “You idiot, that’s Ken Caminiti!”, to which I said “Who the hell is Ken Caminiti, and why do you want to watch him take a piss so badly?” My boss asked him for an autograph after we got out of the bathroom which he provided on a napkin. My boss also apologized that he employed total idiots like me. We still talk about that story to this day and it was almost 20 years ago…

87

She may take after her Dad but… do you know something we don’t?

88

I’m spoiler-boxing this. No names & I’m not threadsh-tting… it was just the best way I could express myself. Its a TLDR post, so feel free to skip it.

I met someone famous. And they were really nice. But I opened my big mouth & that was that.

I met someone famous once because I cut them off in traffic by accident. I’m sorry. It was my fault. No amount of yelling or bird flipping will make me feel worse than I’ve made myself feel since. I always look twice before merging now.

I waited at a red light across an intersection from someone famous once. We both smiled at the Mom pushing her daughter across the street in the stroller.

I sat across from someone famous at a restaurant once. I wanted to ask for an autograph or shake their hand, but all I managed to do was talk to the person I was eating dinner with and laugh too loudly. I wish I could do that over & better.

I met someone famous & they were really cool. But I froze up & didn’t know how to handle the moment other than a mannequin handshake. I’m not sure if I got filed under ‘Awkward’ or ‘A-hole’, but I wish it had happened differently.

I walked past someone famous once and tried to say “good job” for some work that they did. I got a well deserved “who the hell are you” stare. I still think they did a good job though…

I walked past someone famous once who took one good look at me & burst out laughing. To be fair, they had a really great laugh.

I got a phone call from someone famous and I gave that person everything they asked for. I listened to them, let them vent because they were pissed, and tried to find the best possible solution to their problem. At the end of the call I realized that they weren’t that person at all; they just sounded like that person. But I was still glad that I was able to help them.

I walked past someone famous once and they were enjoying the Boardwalk with a bodyguard. I was enjoying the Boardwalk with my little boys. It was pretty night to be by the ocean. I hope that they had as much fun as I did.

I gambled across the table from someone famous once. They were having a good time with their parents and I had the good sense not to bother them. I hope they won.

I sat in a pew in church behind someone famous once. They were dressed on clothes more for a runway or a magazine shoot and a few people stared at them. I felt bad for them; it was just church & people should have had other things to think about.

I met someone famous once and for the life of me I couldn’t think of their name. I liked them and their work, I could see their movies and almost read the credits rolling in my head… but I just stumbled. I feel really badly about that because I know that it hurt them and they were really nice. I truly regret that.

I turned around in a crowd in Las Vegas at The Pirate Ship show and I was face to face with someone in the crowd who was famous. I think I freaked them out when they saw that I recognized them. Or maybe my face just scared them. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to spoil the show.

I saw someone famous coming off of an airplane once but I don’t think they cared. I thought about it and I got it once I remembered what I’m always thinking when I get off of a plane. “Which luggage carousel am I looking for again?”

I met someone famous once while standing in line for coffee at Dunkin Donuts at 7AM. Nobody wants a conversation before they’ve had their coffee, so I hope that they’d forgive me that I didn’t say ‘hi’.

I saw some famous people who were shooting a movie once & one of them was someone my wife had a big crush on. I stood by the open door of his trailer for an hour hoping he’d sign an autograph for her, but he never did. He was working. If only I’d remembered how much I hate to be bugged when I’m working, I would have known.

There was a famous person who I walked past at Mohegan Sun once. She looked like she was waiting for someone. She was very tall & didn’t let my face bug her, which I give her credit for. I gave her the best gift I could think of: I let her be to enjoy her day.

There was a famous musician who was on the same elevator as me once in NYC. Somehow I never pictured him wearing a beret though. I didn’t bug him either; we both had things to do.

89

The first time was while I was living in Little Rock, in the early 90’s when he was running for re-election for Governor. My wife and two friends of ours from out of state were eating lunch at Little Rock’s Riverfest, at a pic-nic table. Clinton walks up to our table, wearing a red track suit and a Razorback hat. He has a plate of food introduces himself and asks if he could sit down and join us for lunch. We chit chatted for about 20 minutes while we ate, then he got up and left. After he gets up and walks away, my friend asks “who was that guy” as being from out of state, had no clue who Bill Clinton was. I say “our Governor”.

About 9 months later, Clinton announces his run for POTUS. My friend calls me and asks if that’s the same guy we had lunch with that day.

The next time I ran into him was a Saturday afternoon in a local movie theater standing in the concession line. He was there with Chelsae to see the same movie we were seeing. Uncannily, he remembered my name and said hello.

Ran into him a couple of other times where he was speaking at various events.

90

Great story.I guess our country is one of the few countries where you’re able to get to know the future president like that.Thanks for sharing the story with us.

91

I wouldn’t think that that’s too uncanny. Politicians get elected for being personable.

92

I met Larry Linville when I was in college. He was doing a speaking gig that night, and I was showing him around, making sure he was fed, that sot of thing. Very personable guy, although I thought it was really funny how he went from basic nice guy to utterly, thoroughly charming when I introduced my girlfriend. The guy could turn the charisma up to 11 at the drop of a hat.

Had drinks with actors [William Petersen](William Petersen) and Amy Morton - it was a silent auction item at a Steppenwolf Theatre benefit. Fascinating people. Petersen had only recently left “CSI” and was getting back into the Chicago theatre scene. They both had lots of cool stories about the beginnings of Steppenwolf (when they were in the same building with the original Goose Island brewpub, back when this neighborhood was pretty sketchy).

After a Steppenwolf play, ran into Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco. She was very pleasant, and didn’t mind my wife and I going on about how much we liked “Big Bang Theory.” Galecki didn’t say much and seemed like a bit of a dick. In fairness, he lit up a cigarette the instant he left the building, so he might have just been in bad need of a nicotine fix.

Had dinner at Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard’s place as a fundraiser for a downstate farm. She’s a lot of fun, a hell of a cook, and can really put away the booze. She sent us all home with a bottle of W.L. Weller Special Reserve bourbon (from her “own” barrel that she selected during a visit there).

Next month I’m going to be a “chef for a day” at Charlie Trotter’s. He’s closing the restaurant a few weeks later. I was looking forward to this to begin with, but Chicago Magazine did a piece on the restaurant recently that said that, once the closing was announced, it seems like Trotter had kind of loosened up and seems to be playing a bit more than he used to; that he actually comes out of the kitchen and jokes around with customers. I’m hoping that Charlie and I become fast friends and that he’ll be looking for someone to help him empty the wine cellar before closing

Sometime in the near future my wife is going to do a similar thing with Rick Bayless at Topolobampo. Beside getting to hang around the kitchen we get dinner at the restaurant with a few friends, as well as a tequila tasting with Bayless. Every now and again my wife says that she thinks she’ll be too nervous to do it. I assure her that she’ll be fine, but secretly I’m hoping she chickens out and gives it to me. :slight_smile:

93

I was in a magazine store in Westwood browsing when a limo pulls up outside. A huge man gets out of said limo and positions himself in the doorway. No one goes in; no one goes out.

Prince exits limo and is let in the magazine store.

The proprietor leads Prince around the store; Prince points to the mags he wants and his assistant grabs em. This goes on for a few minutes. Prince purchases maybe twenty magazines. He leaves the store. The bodyguard lets the rest of us out and life went on.

94

What do Norman Mailer, Ted Kennedy, Karen Allen, Cynthia Nixon, Aiden Quinn , Tom Seaver and Ron Kuby have in common? They’ve all chatted me up.

95

Also, I had dinner with author Robert Coover–now that I think on it, I’ve met hundreds of literary celebs.

96

Many years ago, I used to go regularly to the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theater of Louisville. There was always a press weekend that a lot of well-known actors would attend – presumably shopping for potential vehicles (i.e., the new plays) for themselves.

One afternoon, we attended an absolutely gut-wrenching play about an older couple. My parents were aging, and the subject matter just tore me up. I spent most of the play bawling. As I headed up the aisle after the show, I noticed Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy ahead of me. So there I am, all red-nosed and sniffly, and I got up the nerve to tell Mr. Cronyn that I was a great admirer of his work. He beamed at me and thanked me as though I was the first person who ever told him that. I never got up enough nerve to speak to Jessica Tandy. She was very intimidating.

Four years ago, the campus where I worked was chosen by the Hillary Clinton campaign to host a campaign rally featuring President Clinton, as well as John Glenn. As the campus PR person, a lot of the nitty-gritty work with campaign advance people fell to me. It was an absolute trip working with them and the Secret Service agents. After the event was over, my husband, son and I were all whisked back stage for a handshake and photo opp with Bill Clinton and John Glenn. It was pretty cool.

97

If I may ask,was John Glenn pretty friendly?From what I’ve read he seems like a nice guy.Thanks for the post.

98

I met (when many years younger):

-Metallica (with Jason Newsted)
-Queenscryche
-Van Halen
-Alice in Chains (before Layne Staley died)
-various Pro Wrestlers
-Darryl Dawkins

I am decent friends with Susie Moloney

99

My brother and I encountered Billy Crystal on the observation deck of the WTC. We were too shy to say anything to him but someone borrowed my brother’s pen to get his autograph. I have a picture of him signing the person’s WTC brochure, and I have the pen as well.

100

Didn’t meet them but I was in an Ohio Pizza Hut with Danny Ferry during his NBA player days and in a Florida Einstein bagel shop with Jared Fogle of Subway commercials fame. I also saw George Wendt (Cheers) and Marsha Warfield (Night Court) in person but that was at an L.A. talk show taping.