I met Patricia Cornwell at a reception that work was hosting. I said to her “I don’t want to sound like a stalker but your books are some of the very few that I always take with me when I move.” She laughed about it and said she was flattered. Some of the cool celebrities that I’ve met were Kevin Costner (he was surprisingly nice but his wife was not), Muhammad Ali, Bianca Jagger and Matthew Modine. Prince was definitely not cool. He requested that we clear the waiting room for him and when we refused, he demanded that we not make eye contact with him. Uh-huh.
You’d love him. He is a GREAT guy. I went to high school many of his Jr. Georges.
I’ve met Carl Lewis several times (we have the same alma mater, so I’ve seen him around campus). Great guy. Has a reputation of being standoffish, but I’ve never seen it. I was walking shoulder to shoulder with him at a Bowl Game, and he bypassed the VIP entrance because he was having such a good time cheering with the crowd.
I got to meet him at a fight as a ten year old boy. He was surrounded by very angry looking bodyguards (I now assume they were Nation of Islam members), and was only letting kids come over and get autographs. As I approached, he saw I was nervous and pinched my cheeks and gave me a hug.
BIG Ali fan. My autographed program (Foreman was there as well, so both men signed it) is my most treasured collection next to my stash of low class porn!
So many stories.
Most are via my husband’s work … So they are really his stories, not mine.
But my favorite personal experiences is this oldie but goodie.
In the 1970’s I was a Pan Am stewardess.
I met many celebrities back in the day.
This guy was the most fun.
I spent hours with him in the first class upstairs lounge.
I told him he was very funny, and that’s all it took to keep him wound up, and talking.
He told story after story right up in my face.
He was one of those people who had no “personal space” issues.
Literally inches from my face.
He talked very rapidly and spit kept shooting out his famous gap.
I literally had to wipe his saliva off my face for hours.
But, the trip seemed like minutes.
He was so much fun.
If you’re Russell Crowe, it’s annoying.
If you’re Russell Crowe, it’s respectful.
I have a good friend who has a good friend (I know, I know…:p) who’s dating someone who works on Ellen DeGeneris’ show. I was not particularly surprised to learn she runs a very tight ship but I was surprised to learn that she is one of those “employees are not to look at me” types.
I just remembered an unexpected encounter with a celebrity. I was boarding a flight from Florida (Miami, I think) to New York. Slowly walking through first class I find myself locking eyes with Lou Reed. I asked him, “Are you Lou Reed?”. He says “Yeah”. My response was “You’re excellent!”. He smiled and said “Thanks, man.” No autograph request, I just kept walking by.
Ha! I’ll have to ask about this. My sister-in-law’s stepdaughter works on her show! 
I don’t usually do sig quotes but please, may I use this? It mades me giggle. A page and a half later, it still makes me giggle.
It’s not just their famous catch phrases- odds are, ALL of their lines have been quoted back to them at one time or another.
So, it doesn’t pay to be “obscure.” For example, we all EXPECT John Cleese to get annoyed when people come up to him and shout “Albatross,” or start doing the Silly Walk. But he’s not going to like it any better if you quote a lesser-known Python sketch. It’s a safe bet that
- He’ll STILL find it annoying
- Other Python fanatics have probably quoted him the same line many times
- He may not even remember where the line came from in the first place! (He’s undoubtedly forgotten dozens of sketches that you’ve committed to memory).
Sounds like that Chris Farley bit.
"Remember that one time when … "
“Yeah.”
“That was awesome!”
Cool. I’ll be interested to learn what you find out.
Oh gawd Speed Walker was the funniest! You could always see his man-junk bouncing around.
I once met someone who met Dick Butkus. Instead of talking football, he asked him about the Quik-Cook Grill (an infomercial featuring Butkus promoting a little grill that uses burning newspaper). Butkus said something to the effect that sometimes you gotta make a buck.
That would be the Quik-Buck Grill. 
Better than asking him about his recurring role in “My Two Dads!”
The thing that I’ve found when talking to celebrities is to be discreet. Just a word and a handshake and then move on. If you start taking pictures or gushing at an airport say, it tends to draws attention which then draws a crowd which is then a burden on them. But by casually opening with “I really liked your work in X”, I have had nice conversations with Bridget Fonda, Michael Chiklis, Frank Shamrock and Marina Sertis.
Oh, it is such a good thing that I wasn’t there. I’d be verrrry obviously swiveling my head to stare at him with wide eyes, and when he glared at me, I’d wiggle my eyebrows. And when he exhaled as with bovine anger I’d play the bratty little sister and mouth the words “I Can SEEEEEE You…”
Oh, by the way, if you meet David Ogden Stiers, don’t think you’re going to be oh-so-clevah by not mentioning MASH*, and instead say** “Good job as J’onn J’onzz in the Justice League movie.”** He will look down his nose at you like the liar he knows you know you are.
Yes, it’s a real live-action movie from the 90’s, complete with a pudgy Atom, a bratty Green Lantern (named Guy Gardner, but he’s a wuss! Looks nothing like Guy and wears a Kyle’s uniform), an out-of-shape Flash… and a Martian Manhunter (David O-S) who speaks his lines from the shadows, so no one’ll notice that he’d put on an few dozen extra pounds, or that he had so many problems that he was forced to take this role.
Kevin Pollak, character actor trying out an Internet talk show*, says that all famous people have “Hey look at me” disease. He also warns that you should be sure who they are, as he’s had examples where he is assumed to be someone else. (Of course, for him, it’s also material for his stand-up.)
*Main page uses Flash, but HTML navigation is available at the bottom.