Celebrities that surprise you by being nice people

In My Humble Opinion
1

A little change of pace from celebrity bashing:

I saw Prince on Leno and was really surprised at how down to earth he is. Kinda thought he was on the same level as Michael Jackson.
Also saw Dwayne Johnson(The Rock) on one of the late night shows and he is very articulate. I don’t watch wrestling, but he doesn’t fit the image I had of him.
And I saw part of the press conference the Knicks gave after the Raptors beat them and was pleasantly surprised by Latrell Spreewell. He seems to have matured immensely since his infamous incident with P J Carlisimo.
Anybody else?

2

Yet another Nolan Ryan post by me. I need a life.

One statement before I begin: I have a huge collection of Nolan Ryan memorabillia. Bats, jerseys, balls, cards, etc. It is one of the largest personal collections in the country.

In the summer of 98, I met Mr. Ryan at his bank in Alvin, Texas (just south of Houston) when I was dropping off the two bats (to the mini-museum in the bank) he used to hit his only two homeruns with. I told him what I was doing there, and he wanted to repay me for the loan. I was shocked and suprised. He handed me a buisness card and told me to call him the next week.

I was dumbfounded. Here was my hero asking me to call him. Wow… So the week droned by and the next Tuesday I gave him a call (sounds so weird to even say that). I explained to him who I was and he quickly remembered and laughed. It was a short conversation, but it led to him wanting to take me out to dinner. WHAT!?! Dinner? Sure. I am avalible on Friday night. 8? Not a problem. Toscas? Sure, great food. See you then!

I was hyperventalating at this point. I called everyone I could think of. One resounding thing went through my mind. I am going to dinner with Nolan Ryan.

Friday night came and I went to the resturant a bit early and beat him there. A few minutes later him and his wife showed up and we had dinner. Suprisingly enough baseball was not the main topic of conversation, politics was. I asked him about the rumors of him running for Governor of Texas, and he quickly quashed them as just that, rumors.

We had a lovely meal, and some lively conversation. I quickly forgot who he was and just enjoyed the time with this great conversationalist.

After dinner was done and paid for (by him, although I forced him to let me pay the tip) we went to the parking garage. I wanted to ask something, but had no idea how to. He saw that I was torn, and asked what was the matter. I smiled and pulled out a glove, catchers mitt, and a ball. He threw one pitch to me, cold, and I can still feel the sting as it hit my hand. He laughed, signed my ball, and we said our goodbyes.

I drove off to go home, and couldn’t wipe that grin off my face. Nolan Ryan threw me a pitch, and was one of the nicest people I have ever met. I still have that ball, and his business card.

3

You mean he didn’t take you to Dairy Queen?!?!

4

that is fantastic robgrover!

a friend of mine is a hunter, his dad is the head of some sort of group for this. as you can see i really paid attention to this part of the story. the group decided to have steven segal talk at their convention in new jersey. my friend’s dad was in charge of this and made sure things were just dandy for mr. segal. about 9 months later his mum and dad went to las vegas. as they were walking to a restaurant for dinner, a soft voice in an insistant wisper calls out, hey! new jersey! they turn around and it is mr.segal, “come here!” they walk over. it turns out he didn’t remember their names but he knew he saw them in new jersey. they had a drink together, then they went their seperate ways. when the check didn’t arrive for their dinner they were told mr. segal took care of it.

5

When country star Clay Walker preformed at the Tulare County Fair, he was told the ushers were volunteers for the VFW and he asked to meet us before the concert to thank us for our support of America’s vets. He signed as many autographs as we wanted and was as natural as can be. None us had a clue he was ill, suffering from MS. A lot of artists are gracious to their fans, but he was warm and friendly to us behind the scenes and we appreciated it.

6

Congratulations, robgruver. You’re livin’ the dream!

7

Hmmm, the only ones I can think of aren’t too surprising.

My Mom met Sidney Poitier…twice. The 2nd time she met him (it was a few years later) he actually remembered her name and asked about her kids.
Oliver Platt was a pretty nice guy too, and he and mom exchanged stories about their children.

8

Penn Jillette, who has adopted the stage persona of a loud, aggressive, outspoken jerk, is a damn nice guy in person. He maintains the loud, aggressive, and outspoken parts, so he takes some getting used to, but jerk he is not.

Teller’s a damn nice guy, too, but it’s easier to guess that.

9

I don’t know…I think Teller has the creepier stage presence. Absolutely silent, mildly Peter Lorre-like…

jayjay

10

I saw the late Barbara Stanwyck once in a restaurant. I asked for her autograph and she very graciously gave me one. Then I punched her in the ribs and stole her car. Filthy whore.

11

I had the honor of meeting Kurt Cobain after the last show Nirvana played in Chicago.

He was articulate,intelligent and so gracious-I was a babbling fool when we got face to face. He put a hand on my shoulder and said with a smile “Don’t hyperventilate over me. Just look at me. I’m a scruffy litle bastard.”

Still have the pick I caught at the show that he autographed.:slight_smile:

I’ve also met some WWF wrestlers-not Jeff Hardy yet alas-and they’ve all been so nice despite their in ring personas.Scary and huge but sweethearts.

12

There was an older lady at the church I attended who always went to Bon Jovi concerts whenever they were in town. She didn’t even like the music, and she never stayed for the whole thing. She went because once, while they were in town(Chattanooga, TN) for a concert she was out walking, slipped and fell, and they stopped in the limo and took her to the hospital, then stayed with her and took her back home.

Me personally? I have no such stories. No brushes with fame, no nice celebrity stories. sigh

13

A friend of mine is a friend of Penn’s, so I can provide confirmation that he is, indeed, a nice guy.

JFK Jr seemed to be a nice guy. I approached him once NOT KNOWING who he was, but wanting to get an autograph from Daryl Hannah, whom he was with. He was remarkably considerate about refusing my request. What a laugh, I didn’t even know to whom I was speaking.

Jeff Daniels lives around here, and a few years ago he was out to eat at a really nice restaurant and noticed three young women dressed to the nines, out with each other. Curious, he asked about the occasion and they indicated that none of them had been asked to their prom so they’d resolved to take each other rather than miss out. They did their hair, shopped for dresses, and were even doing the fancy dinner before going to the dance. He thought that was great, then asked for the honor of being their date for the evening. He excused himself from his own dinner guests and took them to their prom. I guess in some ways it was hubris “Oh lucky them, they’ll get ME for the evening,” but apparently it went over huge at their small school. They were the hit of the prom, and he refused requests for autographs, stating he was just there as their date, not as a celebrity. It wasn’t supposed to be a publicity stunt, but the story was too good not to get passed on to a reporter so it was written about after the fact.

14

I had the honor and privelege of meeting Alan Hale, Jr. when I was a kid, and he was a very nice and funny guy.

For those who don’t know… that “The Skipper.”

OK, so it’s not exactly a surprise that he was nice.

15

So very odd this thread should show up today. My husband met Charles Barkley at the grocery store earlier in the afternoon. He was right behind him in line!

While they were standing there, my husband said he kept gawking and staring, trying to figure out if it was really him, when all of a sudden, Sir Charles turned around and said:

“Yes, I am Charles Barkley.”

My husband about dropped dead, being a huge fan. Then proceeded to attempt small talk, the first sentence being:

“WOW!! I never expected to see Charles Barkley at Food World!” (he is SO smooth…is he not?..my husband, not CB)

Charles said:

“Where the hell else am I supposed to get my groceries?”

Guffaws and ribbing all around in the grocery line, I’m sure.

Anyway, CB had been to my son’s school last week, and my husband mentioned the fact, and CB actually remembered my son. ("Oh yeah, shawt heavyset little blond white kid!)

They talked for a while, since the cashier was blessedly slow, and my husband asked him about his running for Governor. He said nobody’d vote for him, but my beloved, star-struck husband assured him they WOULD…so possibly, we might have Sir Charles one day as our esteemed Governor.

He can’t be any worse that what we already have.

Regardless, I was told he was really great in person and just a regular guy. After all, his mom DOES live about two miles from us…and that’s just about as regular as you can get.

Mr. Silky’s still shell-shocked…he can’t decide if he needs to wash his hand or not after shaking it with the great Charles Barkley.

16

Back in 1981, I had the good fortune to attend the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. One of the best attractions, beyond Larry King doing his show live from a trailer in the parking lot and Bob Hope being the luncheon entertainment and the panel discussions with the Names in the business was the series of hospitality suites in the adjacent Las Vegas Hilton.

At one of those I had my picture taken with Dick Clark. (Hey, up close that famous face has lots of tiny lines). But the best time I had at another suite when I got to chat with Gary Owens. If you’re not a radio person, you might only remember him from “Laugh In” as the radio announcer with his hand cupping his ear, referring to “Morgul, the friendly drelb” and other nonsense. Or as the cartoon voice of Space Ghost.

To radio people he is one of the biggest names in the business, having worked for legendary radio stations in big markets across the country and recorded a huge number of national commercials and cartoon voices.

Not surprisingly, he was gracious to me and another small town disc jockey, sharing drinks with us and conversation as if we were his equals, because we were both in the same business. A class act in every way.

Thanks, Gary!

17

Torgo, that was funny as hell. :smiley:

18

I’ve waited on Roger Ebert a few times as well as Alan King.

My anecdote is not about either of them…

Whenever Robert Plant came to Colorado for a show, he’d eat lunch at the Diner that I managed. However hard I tried, I was never able to time it right for one of his visits - but it seemed every single other employee did.

The cooks always got back the ticket - with an autograph. Even better - several of the wait staff had photo booth strip pictures with him - one of the longer term waiters had several strips spanning a few years worth of visits. He’d just climb into the photo booth and mug it up with them! I mean really silly pictures - eyes rolled up in the head, fingers stretching the mouth kind of pictures. Crazy.

How cool is that? I was always disappointed to find I’d missed him, again.

19

I should add - that while Ebert wasn’t at all rude, he was very quiet - and I’m not the type to gush at someone trying to quietly eat their dinner.

Alan King was extremely friendly and chatty, however, although he looked familiar, I didn’t realize he was a celeb until he handed me his credit card.

20

Torgo’s been licking his fingers & sticking them in the electric socket again.
I thought we weren’t going to let him do that anymore. Not since the incident with the Roller-disco club, Mother Teresa & the live chickens anyway…