Celebrity Run-In Stories

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was working at a supermarket called Hay Day, an upscale place where the wealthy and elite of Westport, CT shopped (it has since been bought by Balducci’s). One evening, a man walked up to my register to purchase a few items. I rang him up, and he handed me a $100 dollar bill to pay for his purchase. This was just after the new bills had gone into circulation, so I was holding it up to the light to check for the metal strip imbedded inside it, making sure it was not counterfeit. He asked me what I was doing, and I explained that, with the new bills, there was a metal strip in the bill that you could see if you held it up to the light. I showed him, and he replied, “That’s good to know, I’ll have to look through mine, I have quite a few.” He took his bag of items, said thank you for both ringing his groceries and teaching him something new, and left. The man behind him in line came up to me and said, “Do you know who that was?” “No, who,” I replied. “That was Paul Newman!” I turned and looked at the exit just in time to recognize him as he walked out the door!

OK dopers, now its your turn, tell me your best celebrity run-in stories. If it’s just a simple one, like you saw Matt Damon at a bar, that’s cool, but I really want to hear the stories where you actually interacted with them!

[ben@itaughtpaulnewmanhowtorecognizeacounterfeitbill.cool]

2

Robert Anton Wilson dumped a bucket of popcorn over my head once. It’s a long story but he was a local and very interested in homeless issues that I was involved with. When I told him that I couldn’t raise the money for his latest wacky (but still cool) idea he didn’t say a word, stood up, walked over and dumped all of the popcorn on me and then made a few calls and rounded up the money himself. He was such a trip.

I also know Paul Newman’s daughter but I don’t think she’s famous unless you buy her organic treats. Her foundation donated a lot of money but she’s also one of the nicest and most down to earth people that I’ve ever met. Every Thanksgiving she would bake a dozen pies and bring them down to the shelter. The homeless guys would talk to her and joke around with her but they had no idea who she was.

3

When Christopher Reeve was doing 5th of July, I waited outside the stagedoor with a window card for him to sign. He asked me where I had bought it, and I told him a store a few blocks away. He walked down the street with me to the store, purchased five of them, and signed mine.

Yes, I walked down the street with Chris Reeve.

4

When I worked at a movie theater in Texas I sold popcorn to Chuck Norris.

I think that is my most awesome celebrity run-in, but my favorite was the time I met David Hyde Pierce after the show Curtians. I had seen the show and then I was waiting at the stage door to have the stars of the show sign my playbill and there was this 10 or 12 year old boy next to me who was so over excited that every time the door would open he would scream, “Its David!” no matter who was coming out of the door. (The 7th or 8th time he did that it actually was David Hyde Pierce and the little kid practically had a stroke while he had his playbill signed.) While he was signing playbills David Hyde Pierce was talking and joking with everyone standing there for a few minutes and this woman came up and gave him a Zagat guide as a gift and welcomed him to NYC, to which he responded, “Thank you! I live here, but thank you!” :smiley:

Le sigh…he is my inappropriate celebrity crush and I probably should have tried to get him to come home with me but we would have played Trivial Pursuit instead of getting it on. You know, because he is gay and all.

5

When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I ran smack into Bob Lilly at the hotel they were staying at in Richardson, TX. (I guess the Cowboys stayed at hotels locally the night before games to avoid distractions?).

I’ve met a few celebrities, but that’s the only one I’ve literally run into.

6

I took a leak next to Cuba Gooding Jr. at Disney World in the bathroom of the Pagoda restaurant a few years ago in Epcot. Didn’t realize it was him until he was washing up and made small talk with the third occupant of the restroom. I recognized his voice before I recognized his face, plus I was trying to look straight ahead as one might be inclined to do while taking a leak next to a fellow urinal user.
I had my picture taken with Colin Raye (country music siger) and I met Joe Theisman (of compound-fracture fame) in an airport terminal.
Something tells me I’m missing someone…Oh, I played a game of pool against Jani Lane from Warrant back in the early 90’s when their tour ran through Milwaukee. Had him autograph the cloth wrap on my pool stick.

7

I’ve had one true encounter and the other was a WHO?
I rode an elevator with Lee Iaccocca when I was about 10 or 11.

I was in Hamburg with my husbands teenage cousin shopping. I was too busy looking at stuff when his cousin nudged me and said, " Do you know who that was?"

I turned and looked and saw…uh…lots of people. " No, who?"

" One of the guys from Rage Against the Machine."

“Who? Never heard of them.”

8

Nothing truly dramatic. In the mid-1990s I was flying from L.A. to New York and got upgrade to first class (I had scads of frequent flier miles). I sat next to someone who looked exactly like Elayne Boosler, the comedienne. I exchanged polite inconsequential chit-chat with her the whole flight, and only as the plan was beginning final approach did I decide to say, “You know, I bet you’ve heard this before, but you look exactly like Elayne Boosler.”

And she gave me a funny look and then said, “Yeah, there’s a good reason for that.”

I kind of chuckled and made some inane comment about how I enjoyed her work, and that was that.

I got into a brief argument with Lauren Tewes over a coat-check; my date and she apparently had very similar looking coats and she thought I was trying to steal her coat when I picked it up from the coat check. Again, I didn’t recognize her at all; the coat-check girl had to tell me who it was after the fact. (Which was ironic, since I had a bit of crush on Julie McCoy… but Ms. Tewes had gained a bit of weight since her days on “The Love Boat” and I didn’t recognize her at all.)

It’s just as well that I didn’t recognize until after the fact, because when I do, it’s not a pretty picture. I was walking down La Cienega in L.A. one afternoon when I saw Jamie Lee Curtis walking towards me. I recognized her immediately. She was about a half a block away. SO my mind had plenty of time to go through gyrations:

“Hey, it’s Jamie Lee Curtis!”

“What do I say to her?”

“Jame Lee! Big fan!”

No. Maybe that’s too informal. I don’t know her.

“Ms. Curtis! Hi! I’m a big fan!”

Ms. Curtis? What am I, selling her a house? That’s too formal. OK, forget the name. She knows who she is, anyway.

“Hi! I’m a big fan!”

Yeah, that’s just out of nowhere. Some kind of introductory phrase is needed.

And as I was running all this stuff down in my head, we passed each other, and all I could manage was a pleasant nod.

9

I was buying a turntable at Adray’s in West L.A. in the early-'90s and Rod Steiger was ahead of me shopping for a CD player. He didn’t know much about them, and he turned to me saying something to the effect of ‘I’m old and this new technology is confusing.’ He had to give his phone number to the clerk, and I remembered it for a while. Of course I never used it.

I was at Bel-Aire Camera in Westwood chatting with Otto Herskovic (sp.?), inventor of the Hervic tape splicer (for editing super-8 film). Lloyd Bridges came up and joined the conversation.

I ran into Dan Akroyd at House Of Blues in Hollywood. It was just the two of us up in the balcony/dining area, and we exchanged a couple of words about the Blues musician who was playing on the stage. Then a couple of people came up and asked me to take their photo with Akroyd.

My dad picked up Chuck Yeager after Yeager made a forced landing in his ultralight in the desert once.

10

I was walking down the streets of NYC one day wearing my bizarre lavendar suede work shoes. I noticed someone staring down at them, and as he passed he looked up at me.

Several steps later, I realized it was Woody Allen! I looked back and he was looking back at the shoes. Definitely him.

It was during the whole Mia-Soon-Yi bruhaha. It took all my self-control not to go back and start beating on him.

11

I’m sure I’ve posted this one before but late at night in a nightclub I saw this bloke across the bar - I was sure I knew him, was it the guy who gallantly helped me start my jeep a few weeks ago or was it one of the delivery guys from a local distributor?

“Boo”, says my friend, “Stop staring at Wesley Snipes”.

I played a game of pool (or was thrashed at pool rather) with Lemmy from Motorhead at I think The Music Machine many years ago. He only scratched one shot, the cue slipped and he “dusted” it by scraping it against the wall.

Eric Clapton was in my local supermarket and had forgotton his wallet/chequebook etc. He asked if he could come back later to pay but was refused. This is a small place where almost any local person could get a credit such as he was asking for - and he is local - plus his rehab Crossroads is here… Two people pushed past him in the queue - no one recognises him here. It’s funny to be in line with someone who was once thought to be bigger than god - he’s not an egotistical rock star type at all by the way.

My friend was a chef at a Virgin recording studio and I was hanging out with him in the kitchen. Janet Jackson came in to compliment him on the gumbo my friend had prepared the night before and had a cuddle of my then 6 month old baby. Another very down to earth person.

12

This last July I shared an elevator with James Carville. I commented on his hairstyle and left it at that. I don’t think he thought I was crazier than the norm.

13

This is going to sound a bit surreal, but I swear it’s true.

I met Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor from Smallville). It was at Pleasure Island on Disney property on New Year’s Eve a few years back. It was in one of the clubs there, and Tone Loc was performing. When he started “Funky Col Medina”, out from behind the curtain on stage came Rosenbaum, wearing a hawaiian shirt throwing beaded necklaces out to the crowd. As soon as I saw him I told my wife, “Hey, that’s Lex Luthor!” I think the 2nd season of Smallville had just ended, and he wasn’t bald, but his hair was really short; buzz-cut style.

When the song ended he jumped down off the stage, and my wife I walked over to him and told him we enjoyed the show. He shook my hand, he hugged my wife. He was sweating his ass off from dancing, so I offered to buy him a drink, which he politely declined. We all talked for a minute or so. Nice guy.

And (I’ve told this one before) I know Johnny Depp’s sister/manager, Christie. I’ve met Johnny once.

14

Living in Chicago, you see quite a few celebs here and there.

My favorite though was while eating dinner at Gibson’s, there was a wild kid, maybe 3 or 4 years old, running all over the dining room and creating a scene. He wanted to go to the front lounge area and watch the piano player but he wasn’t being allowed to. I kept hearing his dad trying to chill him out. The Dad’s voice sounded familiar to me but I couldn’t quite place it.

The kid ran all the way out to the piano player and we were all laughing a bit at it. I didn’t see his Dad chase him, but I saw him carrying his kid back. It was Andy Richter and he looked mortified with embarrassment. He made eye contact with me and made one of those “I’m so sorry about my brat” faces. It was awesome.

15

Literal run-in; last week my local running store had Dean Karnazes as a guest (plugging his latest book) and we all went for a run together.

16

I once waited in line at airport security with Tone Loc. He was making fun of me for my choice of footwear. (Lace-up boots) And proceeded to educate me on airline travel attire. (sweat pants and house shoes) A good time was had by all.

17

Rather than me interacting with a celebrity, how about a celebrity interacting with me?

At a previous employer, we shared a building (and an elevator bank) with Joan Rivers’ offices. We would run into her frequently, and she would always act like she was being gracious dealing with us “normal” people, because everyone wants to rub elbows with obnoxious celebrities.

I’m in NYC. Can’t go anywhere without tripping over a “celebrity”. Some are very nice when you run into them (in a way that invites conversation) - Danny Aiello and Jerry Orbach (who lived, pre L&O, in the same building as my close friend) were friendly. Others (Dave Letterman comes to mind) act like they shouldn’t have to share the streets and stores with the rest of us.

18

I helped a woman with some art supplies once. I thought “Boy, she looks like Michelle Pfeiffer.” After she left, some co-workers asked if I saw Michelle Pfeiffer. :smack: That explains why she looked so much like Michelle Pfeiffer.

A few years earlier I helped this gigantic man get a big roll of black paper. I thought “Holy crap this guy’s big.” After he left, some co-workers asked if saw Kevin Gogan. :smack: At 6’7", 325lbs, he was the center for the 49ers at the time. (He was in training camp and wanted to cover his room’s window because the light was too bright in the morning.)

19

I saw Eddie Cheever at the Noodle Company having lunch today.

20

I’ve had a few “run-ins” but my most embarrassing one was when I was going to college. Neil Diamond was doing a concert on campus, and the campus TV station, which I worked for at the time, was videotaping it so that parts could be used in a TV special.

Before the concert, I happened to be in the TV truck outside the arena and he was sitting there at the director’s console looking at the camera feeds. He stuck out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Neil Diamond.” The best I could do was to stammer out, “I know.”:smack: