I was in two musicals in college with Erland van Lidthe de Jeude. He’s the Big Bald Geek in Philip Kaufman’s “The Wanderers” and in the Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor comedy “Stir Crazy” (in which he wore his MIT “Brass Rat” class ring). They wanted him to play the Big Bald Geek in the Bo Derek “Tarzan”, but he was getting tired of playing BigBald Geeks by then – Erland was neither bald nor a geek. The voice that sings in “Stir Crazy” is NOT his – I know Erland’s voice well. He finally did get to sing (if you can hear it over the explosions) in “The Running Man”, but Erland unfortunately died before that movie was released.
Interesting guy, Erland. He had no hair on his body, except for his head. When he was undressed (as I saw him in the dressing room) he loooked like The World’s Biggest Baby. But he had a brown belt in Judo (WHY? I always wondered)and was unbeatable when he was on the MIT wrestling team. But he loved singing (you could hear him on the third floor of MIT’s building 10 when he sang on the first floor), and was in at least three MIT THeater Guild productions. They had to talk him out of retiement for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, but it was worth it – he was the perfect Miles Gloriosus.
I used to play in a band in NJ with Lou Bongiovi. His cousin in the next town over changed the spelling of his name from John Bongiovi to Jon Bon Jovi. I never met him, though.
Used to work at a radio station, so I met a lot of rock stars. But shaking hands doesn’t really count as knowing someone, so that’s out. However, I have shook hands with: Art Alexakis of Everclear (well, the whole band, but Art was the one I was excited about), the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Elliot Smith, Soul Coughing, Guster (tee hee), Orbit, and others that I am too lazy to pull my scrap book out for.
I’ve met Skippy from Family Ties.
Kennedy, ex-MTV VJ shouted that I and my male friend were a “sassy looking couple,” out of a car through a bull horn. Ben and I agreed that no matter what else happened, KENNEDY HAD CALLED US SASSY, and therefore, that was the highlight.
My sister has a bunch of industry friends from the LA days, Adam Corolla and the cast of Mad TV came out of her comedy troupe, I met a bunch of (working!) comedy writers. She lived with Noah Wyle’s cousin, so I have scrubs signed by him, and was friends with Jennifer Aniston’s assistant, so I have a shirt signed by her. w00h00.
I don’t know any celebrities, really, but if you’re talking slightly tenuous connection to a really famous person, my grandfather was a reasonably eminent mathematician, so there’s a photo of my grandmother playing a in a string quartet with…
I “partied” with Silent Bob’s sidekick Jay and Vinnie from Doogie Howser “fame” at a indie film premier party in Cali.
When I worked for a fish store. I set up a 600 gal. shark tank for Christian Laettner of the NBA, not sure what team he’s on now, but he was with the Hawks then. We ordered a 4 foot shark for him that arrived DOA from air freight. He was crushed.
My family is good friends with Fielder Cook, who directed “The Homecoming,” the movie on which “The Waltons” was based.
There’s a picture of them lunching with Peter Ustinov in their photo albums.
My cousin Tanya was first assistant editor on “JFK,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Jackie Brown.”
My cousin Eden was the chick in “American Pie” who got vomited on. She was also on Broadway in “Les Miserables” (as Young Cosette, if anyone cares) and in “The Will Rogers Follies.”
My uncle Quentin has been seen on CNN as a “government source” for, I think, the EPA a couple of times.
One of my professors at school (Dr. Noonan) has a pediatric heart condition named after her (Noonan Syndrome).
I am the official Merchandise God for a local volunteer concert series, and some of the regulars know me by name now–Riders in the Sky, Bruce Hornsby, BR5-49, maybe some others.
I also had a really bizarre ten minutes or so during which I was standing in a small bathroom arguing with Leon Redbone about sales tax being taken out of the total in addition to our 20%. The strangest thing is that he really does talk like that.
My dad was one of the MPs who served as makeshift bodyguard while Elvis was in the Army. My parents saw him at a show in Vegas (he was watching, not performing) and he actually remembered my dad, even his full name. He invited my parents to sit at his table and they sat and talked about old Army days instead of watching the show. They said he was a nice guy.
A good friend of mine is the step-son of Melvin Dumar of the “Melvin and Howard” movie about Howard Hughes and the Mormon will. My friend is featured in the movie (or I should say a child actor playing his part) in the scenes following his mother’s marriage to Melvin.
This same friend was also featured on the old TV show “911”. They did a feature about how he almost died when he drove his sandrail off a cliff and rescue that saved his life.
I have worked in the same building as Senator Orrin Hatch (one of his Utah Offices) for almost 13 years. We have a pass-in-the-hall-say-hello type of relationship.
I went to school with a Brit Something (I forgot her last name). She played on the soap opera Loving for a number of years.
Geez…I’ve read this thread twice and I completely forgot about getting drunk with Ron Flockhart from Philadelphia (sp?) Flyers fame. (Flocky Hockey) I hang out with him at local games in our new MultiPlex here in town.
My kids are extreme hockey fans…so it’s kinda neat that Dad hangs with a former NHLer
I went to college with Brendan Fraser – yes, he of The Mummy, Blast from the Past, George of the Jungle, and so on. He was kind of a likeable guy, but a little strange. He never owned a car; he was always bumming rides off people. I ferried him around more than once. (For any Seattleites who care, he used to live in that brick apartment building on Eastlake & Roanoke.)
As soon as he started getting famous, he turned into a total asshole and cut off contact with everyone he used to know. A mutual friend ran into him in L.A.; Brendan looked him right in the eye and pretended not to recognize him. Putz.
Yes, I know, when you reach a certain level of celebrity, you have to protect yourself, so all your former just-barely acquaintances don’t come out of the woodwork and try to ride your coattails. But there’s a difference between that and being an asshole about it.
I know The Ramones. Marky Ramone (Marc Bell) and DeeDee most of all. Used to work with them, still do sometimes. Occasionally hang out with Marky and DeeDee.
Evan Sienfeld from BioHazard, and an actor on the HBO show OZ, also a friend.
The Misfits, same deal as with The Ramones.
And a couple of Independent Film actresses I dated.