I had a drink with Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville) once, and had George Wendt acknowledge me when we made eye contact.
That’s it
Johnny Cash
The Oakridge Boys
Statler Brothers
Barry Manilow
The Moody Blues
(My ex was a DJ. We met a lot of people but the ones above were the memorable ones)
William Ragsdale (went to school with him)
Claudia Christian
Jerry Doyle
Alexandra Tidings
Roddy MacDowell
John Delancy
Nichelle Nichols
George Takai
Mercedes Lackey (when she was in the SCA)
Anne Rice
Colm Meaney
Harlan Ellison
Erick Wujick
Hmmm…it seem to me that meeting someone at whatever they do (SF people at a con, musicians backstage) isn’t quite the same as Ich Bin’s had-a-beer-with meetings.
I met John Elway when my band played his golf benefit dinner. We were doing a Blues Brothers show which he, in his 9 beers state of mind, thought was the BEST. He wanted to meet everyone in the band. I’m not small (6’2"/190) but he’s big–especially his hands. My hand disappeared when he shook it.
I met Larry Graham (Sly’s bass player and also in Graham Central Station) during a gig I was playing at the Disneyland Hotel in CA. He came in with another GCS player and their girlfriends. I just sat down to say “Hi” and we ended up talking the whole break about music and instruments and albums and stuff. His girl was a little miffed that I wasn’t all gosh-golly about him being famous, but I think he kind of liked it.
Hmmm…9 Beers State of Mind…Band Name!
Steve Garvey in the bathroom at a movie theater in San Diego, right after he initially signed with the Padres.
Dick Van Patten
Jerry Brown
Kathy Bates
Jay Leno
Shannen Dougherty
Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS
Had dinner with G. Gordon Liddy and Carl Bernstein (not at the same time, though). The former was highly articulate but vaguely scary, while the latter was an unpleasant jerk.
Spent an entertaining ten minutes chatting with an extremely intoxicated Kurt Vonnegut Jr. about the importance of proper communication skills, and had a very brief chat with (the late) Allen Ginsburg, who signed my copy of Howl, asked about what I did for a living, asked about things to do in Lincoln, Nebraska and rushed off.
Recently worked with [composer] John Adams, who is possibly one of the nicest musical types I’ve met. Speaking of which:
Also met Philip Glass, Thomas Hampson, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Andrew Davis, Bryn Terfel, Willard White, Roberto Alagna, Andrea Gheorghiu and a bunch of other opera singers and conductors you may or may not have heard of (they’re mostly a surprisingly uninteresting bunch in the flesh, except for White and Terfel, who are both quite affable, and Alagna and Gheorghiu who were egotistical bastards). Oh, and John Tavener almost knocked me over in Victoria Station a few months back. He’s very tall, and just sweeps through a room at high speed.
Actor-wise, I’ve rubbed elbows (literally) with Amanda Barrie (a crowded wine bar) and Ramon Tikaram (a crowded Camberwell cafe), and held a door for Jeremy Irons (a rather dour individual).
Still, my spouse trumps the entire list by virtue of having had a two-minute conversation with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Apparently she’s very nice and “has great skin”, in case you were wondering.
Some people I have worked with:
Debra Winger and her husband Arliss Howard (who was the biggest ass I’ve ever worked with)
Peri Gilpin (Roz on Frasier)
Phylicia Rashad (most famously Mrs Huxtable on The Cosby Show)
Diahann Carroll (incredibly elegant lady)
Clifton Davis
John Henry Redwood (who just passed away. Nicest man I ever met.)
Carolyn Seymour
Susan Clark (Webster’s mom on the show Webster)
William Katt (The Greatest American Hero)
Chloé Webb (of Sid and Nancy fame)
Jerry Herman (wrote and composed such favorites as Hello Dolly, La Cage Aux Folles and Mame. Incredibly nice man)
People I’ve just met, said hello to, whatever:
Paul Newman and his wife whose name I can’t remember
David Hyde Pierce (Frasier)
and a few other sort-of stars.
My favorite story ever: When I was 17 years old (9 or 10 years ago), I had a beer with Helen Hunt. Her aunt was in a show I was working on, and Helen wanted to go out and have a drink with the crew after the show. So, we did. I actually sat next to her at the bar, in all my 6’3" of nerdiness, zits everywhere. She tried to be polite to me, but I was far to busy stammering and drooling to say anything besides “nnngnhhh.”
Robin Zander
Roger Avery (what’s with all these “R” people I meet?)
And even one of the Romanovs! 
Seeing people in concert doesn’t count, I suppose, or seeing someone eating breakfast, either, so I won’t mention them…
In the late 80’s I was assistant manager at the B Daltons in the Gallery at Harbor place. I met Geena Davis while she was in Baltimore filming “The Accidental Tourist”. I was and am still infatuated with her. She entered the store dressed in army fatigues and a sweatshirt but to me she was still stunning. She asked me for help and we engaged in small talk for awhile. She came back a couple of times and was very friendly with me each time. Really got me some cool points with my co-workers.
Whoopi Goldberg came to the store and bought the Watchmen and The Dark Knight TPBs. She asked me if I knew where any comic shops were and I directed her to a shop run by a buddy of mine. Later in my shift he called me to tell me she showed up and spent a ton of loot on comics.
While I was managing a gift shop in Penn Station I met David Letterman, Spike Lee, and LInda Hamilton. She came to the shop near the end of the day and was followed in by a young girl. “Are you Linda Hamilton?” She asked. When Ms. Hamilton replied in the affirmative, the girl turned to yell to some friends outside. Quick as a wink, Ms. Hamilton snatched the girl around the neck in a headlock, pulled her close and said. “Please don’t cause a scene.” The girl nodded, Ms. Hamilton smiled, said thank you and let her go. The girl bolted. Ms. Hamilton turned to me, gave me a “Those crazy kids” look and left.
The late great Chick Hearn, LA Lakers announcer at a blackjack table in Cesear’s Palace in Vegas (he was there announcing UNLV basketball game that weekend), shook his hand, graciously thanked him for the many years of service to the Lakers AND “Bowling For Dollars”:p, then asked him how he felt about the upcoming season and he spent 2 or 3 minutes running 1-8 on the roster (Magic & Kareem, etc.) and some schmuck from Indiana asked him about the Pacers chances of getting the championship that year, Chick spent another 2 or 3 minutes running 1-8 on then roster (Reggie and others) and then said they will make the playoffs but that’s where it will come to a grinding halt. He predicted the Lakers will win the championship over the Celtics. Good Call…
Luc Robitaille showed up his son’s hockey tournament in the LA area (just before he scored his 500th goal) and signed my kid’s hockey stick, which in turn my son used to scored three goals against his son’s team the following day! I shook his hand to thank him for taking the time to sign my kids stick. Thanks Luc!
The Good:
Walter Matthau (surprisingly nice guy- I thought he’d be a real jerk)
Nell Carter (exactly what you’d expect her to be like)
Sissy Spacek (a totally sweet and down to earth person- I’d marry her if I were straight, she were single, and we were within 4 decimal places of the same income)
Roddy McDowell (I got the distinct impression he’d be absolutely fascinating if you knew him well)
Charles Durning (tells really cool WW2 stories)
Bonnie Bartlett & William Daniels (she seemed sweet, he seems nice but not outgoing)
Sean Patrick Flannery- nice but weird; left nude photos of himself in his room
I met all of the above while working at a hotel where GRASS HARP was being filmed.
Tony Randall- another actor I’d have thought would be rude but who was a total gentleman (he was a newlywed at the time)
James Earl Jones- super nice; stutters- I was a bellman at the time and he impressed me by unpacking a picture of his wife and son as soon as he got to his room
Dwight Schulz- Murdock from the A-Team- very intelligent and funny
The Bad:
Jim Rogers (aka “the Investment Biker”)- one of the nastiest, rudest, most obnoxious and thoroughly kickable “puny assed little tit high” thrice double damned sons of a leprous $4 whore and her schizoaffective john that I ever had the distinct displeasure of meeting (just expressing my personal opinion, mind)
Edward Furlong- literally smelled bad and thoroughly meow-cracked by his then love, a much older whiney horror of a woman who later sued him for millions
Jack Lemmon- actually, he wasn’t so bad, just quiet and again “meow-CRACKED!”, but his wife was an unholy horror
Mary Steenbergen- very condescending and arrogant (I actually got to hear her and McDowell have an argument- that was cool)
The Neither Good nor Bad:
Roy Clark (came to the hotel partying, partied while he was there, left partying)
MC Hammer- actually I only caught a glimpse of him, but his 9 million person entourage was a nightmare of rudeness and self importance
Shirley Jones- didn’t say a word, but a good tipper
Andy Griffith- another totally silent type
Jim “Ernest” Varney- nice guy except for an obsession with it not being known he was at the hotel; I’d have sworn he was gay, incidentally, but according to his obits he was married several times and had a girlfriend when he died.
In quasi-social situations: Douglas Coupland, Richard Linklater, Robert Anton Wilson, Ivan Stang, and Eugene Chadborne.
In no particular order:
George W. Bush (I still get invites to the White House for stuff!)
George Takei (Mr. Sulu)
Hal Ketchum
James Earl Jones
I’ve met “Weird Al” Yankovic (and most of his band) twice after concerts three and four years ago (wow, has it been that long?) He was nice even though I made a complete fool out of myself.
I had dinner with Tamora Pierce (YA fantasy author) last October. She has a message board, www.sheroescentral.com , and another member from my area set up a meeting when Tammy was going to be around here. It was great fun, even though the other people there scared me a bit by downing sugar packets like mad. 
thinks That’s it, I think. I don’t get out much.
Ummmm…Eve Golden…Ani diFranco…I once shook hands with Gerald Ford but I can’t really say I met him…other than that every celebrity I’ve met has been either a murderer or a porno star.
I shook hands with Christopher Reeve, (back when he could walk and everything). It was after the Broadway play Fifth of July.
Met Joan Baez in a restaurant in NYC. Mr. MLS bought her & her party a round of drinks. Later in the week she called us and invited us to sit at her group’s table at the club where she was singing.
Met Peter, Paul and Mary in a diner.
Talked with Jello Biafra for a bit when I was working backstage at a gig in San Francisco. Interesting fellow.
Ex 49er player Dan Bunz used to train Karate in our garage back when I was in high school.
I’m sure there was someone else but I just can’t remember…oh well, two’s good enough.
I just remembered two more, but does talking to them on the phone on The Larry King (radio) show count?
Pete Best
Little Richard
I didn’t meet them, but I got to ask them better, more well-thought-out questions than I would have if we were face-to-face, and they both engaged me in conversation! Again, wish I had the tapes…
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.
When I was a child:
- Captain Kangaroo
- David McCallum (Ilya Kuryakin on “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”).
Aviation:
- 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
- Judy Resnik, Shuttle astronaut (died in Challenger)
- Neil Armstrong
- Buzz Aldrin
- Michael Colllins (all on the 20th anniversary of the moon landing)
Authors:
- Milbourne Christopher, magician, Houdini biographer
- Isaac Asimov (book signing)
- 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
- Garrison Keillor (book signing)
- 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.)
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
- 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
- Leonard Maltin
- Steve Oedekerk, writer, director (Ace Ventura, Patch Adams)
- Brett Leonard, director (Lawnmower Man, Virtuosity)
- 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)
I think there are more, but I can’t remember them now.
Vincent Price, Coral Browne, Rickie Lee Jones, Van Johnson, Carol Channing, Tab Hunter, Rita Moreno, John Raitt, Bob Hope, Victor Garber, Nancy Kulp, Theresa Saldana, Gloria Swanson, Alan Rudolph, Desi Arnaz Jr., Luci Arnaz, Amy Pietz, Stubby Kaye, John Kenneth Galbraith, Milton Babbitt, Richard Thompson.
Music
Lou Rawls
Buddy Guy
James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins)
Billy Bragg
Billy Corgan(Smashing Pumpkins)
Al Jurgensen(Ministry)
Sharon Shannon
The Wolfe Tones
Film/Theatre
Harold Pinter
Lee Marvin
Lara Flynn Boyle
Peter Sellars
Juliet Stevenson
Joan Plowright
Lily Tomlin
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
David Hare
Robin Tunney
Kimberley Williams
Carol Churchill
Personalities
Prince Charles
Seamus Heaney
Cesar Chavez
Noam Chomsky
Bill Curtis
William Kennedy Smith
Robert Downey