I grew up with Tammy Pescatelli. She was on Last Comic Standing. I believe she is about on minute 14, if you know what I mean. Nice girl.
Similarly, my mother’s father and Alger Hiss lived in the same room when they were students at Johns Hopkins University, but Hiss’s tenure at the Baltimore educational institution preceded Grandpa’s by about half a decade. Grandpa learned this fact during Hiss’s trial, when anyone who had ever lived in that room was apparently questioned by the FBI about any possible knowledge of the suspected Soviet spy’s activities.
Lily Tomlin used to have family that lived in my hometown but I’m pretty sure they’re all dead now
Check my location – 'tis true, the “home” of the former president and the junior senator from NY is a scant 1/2 mile away. I think the last time either was actually in town, however, was in, um, 2002, maybe? They haven’t been here (to our knowledge) since we’ve lived here.
I used to live next door to Charles Martin Smith who played the doomed FBI accountant in The Untouchables.
Well, the second house I lived in was in a neighborhood that had homes owned by Louis Gossett Jr. (actor), Mark Price (former Georgia Tech\NBA star) and George Busbee (former Georgia governor).
I used to see Mark Price out jogging a lot, and he once became… “visibly aroused” in his sweatpants when talking to one of my mom’s best friends.
When Mr. Busbee’s wife became state chair for the American Cancer Society, we used get a laugh out of seeing the former governor of my great home state stop at a bridge near his house and empty out his car’s ashtray. So remember kids, no matter how powerful you are, there’s still a nagging woman behind you! Just kidding - well, sort of!
Parts of the neighborhood also were used in the films Consenting Adults (although the footage from our neighborhood was cut) and Carolina Skeletons (you can see my old house when Louis Gossett visits a lawyer in “Charleston”, which is in reality a north Atlanta suburb).
In my book you win. The closest to fame from my neighborhood was one of the guys I grew up with (well he was ten years older, my sister’s age) was a NFL football player. He was mostly on special teams and spent most of his short career with the Aint’s.
So Cal is a great place for celeb sightings. Let’s see…
Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Dennis Rodman, Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon & Carl Lewis have lived in Newport Beach at various times. You see them periodically, usually in the grocery store! Nice, normal and usually not recognized (except Kobe, but not many Kobe sightings). Kelly McGillis (actress), Ted McGinley (actor) and Charlie Colin (the band Train) went to my high school, and Mark McGrath went to HS across town.
I used to see Robert Englund (A Nightmare of Elm Street fame) at the Albertsons in Laguna Beach a lot. Very normal, nice guy, but you could see Freddy in there!
There’s a bunch of others, too.
I believe Bowie bought the house very recently, around October 2004 in fact. It’s not too far from the Ashokan Reservoir, if that means anything to you. I doubt he’s there very often.
My aunt and her family used to live down the street from Melody Thomas-Something-or-Other, from “The Young and the Restless,” maybe? Some soap, anyway.
Well, I grew up literally next door (as in our yards shared a bored) to Larry McReynolds, of NASCAR fame. I saw Davey Allison walking around his backyard with him just a couple of days before he died. Nice guys.
I pretty much lived within 5-10 miles of most Nascar drivers most of my life, including Jeff Gordon, the Waltrips, Dale Earnhardt, etc. It was very common to see them all around town, gassing up, eating at a restaurant, etc. I went to school with most of their kids, including Dale Jr., but he was in HS when I was in Jr. High.
I delivered pizza to Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat many times. Anyone remember him? Nice, but not super-nice gated house on the lake (I heard he recenty tore it down and built a larger/nicer one), “gaurd-dog” style dobermans, average tipper.
I also went to school with Rick Flair’s kid, who was briefly “famous” in his own right for wrestling. I have no idea if he wrestles anymore because I don’t watch it.
I don’t watch Nascar either. I wouldn’t know any of those people’s names if I didn’t live near them.
Border.
Ah, thanks much.
That’s a beautiful area, no?
Oh, and John Wayne used to go to my dentist. I was really little, but I’ll never forget the guy, he really was larger than life!
One a travel nurse assignment (they lasted about 3 months each) to LA. I lived in the same apartment complex as Rick Springfield (I’d never heard of him 'cause I didn’t watch daytime TV and I didn’t listen to disco), Nina Simone, a jazz singer. She was a strange beast. One day she walked up to my boyfriend, and told him he would drive her to Rodeo Drive to get “some stuff” for a show. The stuff was a full length (some endangered animal) fur coat, and an ensemble of emerald and diamond jewelry, all of which were borrowed from two stores. In the jewelry store, she was hot, started to take off her jacket, and a butcher knife fell out of her sleeve. Both stores closed while she tried the stuff on. It was given without any kind of written agreement. She just said I like this, I’ll bring it back after the show. Her only payment was a few tickets to her show.
In the same complex, and actually across the hall from we lived Garrett Morris (Not ready for prime-time players, SNL circa 1975) and his wife, Freda. She was great, he was wasted all the time.
Since when is Rick Springfield in any way “disco”??
My God… I’m sticking up for Rick Springfield on an Internet message board. Talk about “never say never”!
I lived around the corner from Chicago DJ Larry Lujack for years. His stepson was a classmate of my younger sister’s. While living in that same area, one of my college classmates was Marlee Matlin.
My sister’s best friend lived next door to Mike Ditka, and almost all of the Super Bowl season Chicago Bears were regular customers at a restaurant where I worked. One of the reasons they were so loyal was that the food was pretty good, but I suspect some of it had to do with the fact that another waitress there was their offensive coach’s (Ed Hughes) daughter.
I also knew Dennis Farina many many years ago, when he was still a Chicago cop. His sister is married to my uncle (I think. It’s hard to keep enormous Italian families sorted.) My mom became good friends with a young singer/actress who lived down the street from us, named Ann Jillian. Her husband was a cop, too.
Near neighbours (that Americans might have heard of):
Simon and Yasmin Le Bon (she’s radiantly pretty - he’s eaten all the pies)
Helen Mirren - still “doable” even now.
Plus any number of footballers and British actor types - but you’d have no idea who these are (for instance I sat next to “SuperHans” from peep show on the tube this morning)
and as I live near the tennis courts in Wimbledon (which are actually in southfields), for a fortnight each summer I am the very close neighbour of any number of tennis players (they rent houses near the courts). Unfortunately for this thread I despise tennis and the whole fortnight, so I have no idea who these people are.
Not quite a neighbour but, I was at boarding school with Joss Wheedon who created Buffy, so used to share bathrooms etc with him. (he was just “joe the Yank” then though)
Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins grew up just down the street from me. Funny that he was such a skinny little kid, now a gigantic defensive lineman (well, not gigantic by lineman standards).
I live down the street from Astro’s Manager Phil Garner. It was pretty exciting this year when he took the 'Stros on that run down the stretch. I don’t talk to him much, but he always waves or say hello when driving by on his Harley. He DID complement my two-year old’s puppy dog costume at Halloween.
And a friend of mine used to live next door to George Foreman before Foreman made his big comeback. His last name was Foresman (they were always getting each others mail). Foreman is one of the nicest people in the world.