# Ever Encounter a Celebrity and Realize That They Weren't all That? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185 "2015-09-22T05:03:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/21 "2015-09-22T20:08:19Z")
I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger on a sidewalk in NYC. He was wearing a dark grey tweedy type overcoat. He struck me as not being as tall as I thought he’d be. While I was stationed in the Bahamas, one day several of us had taken the station flatbed truck to the bar at the marina. It was about 4-5 miles away. As we were piling in to head back to the station, a curly haired blonde guy asked us if he could catch a ride from us to the airfield. It was on the way, so we told him sure and gave him a hand up to the truck bed. He explained that he had sailed down there but something had come up and he had to fly back to the States toot sweet. Anyway, we dropped him off and continued on home. No one thought all that much of it until later that night, one of the guys showed me an LP cover and asked me if that guy looked familiar. Yep, Jimmy Buffet had bummed a ride from us. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/22 "2015-09-22T20:45:43Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger on a sidewalk in NYC. He was wearing a dark grey tweedy type overcoat. He struck me as not being as tall as I thought he’d be. I’ve heard that he’s consistently positioned at about 6-2 to 6-4 in movies, often looking eye to eye or down at notably taller actors. He’s claimed to be six foot but others have put him a tad under that. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/23 "2015-09-23T03:55:45Z")
Not certain what exactly you mean by “not all that”, but… I’ve told this story multiple times, to near-universal indifference: In the mid-nineties, I was working in a store in Atlanta with a co-worker who was trying to break in to the Atlanta radio scene. One day, I walked up my aisle to assist a tall, muscular African-American man and a slight, very short woman. They were looking at flooring for a studio and wanted to know about soundproofing. As I was helping them, my co-worker excitedly came up and began fanboying all over the young woman. I figured she was a program director or DJ or something, and waited for him to stop gushing so that I could go back to helping her pick out her floor. (My coworker was almost a dead ringer for Michael Jordan, so it was funny to see him squeeing over a very short, cute-but-not-extraordinarily-so girl dressed in jeans and a jacket. For her part, she was reserved but polite to my coworker, and very businesslike with me. Not friendly, especially, but not by any means unfriendly, either.) A week or so later, I finally asked my co-worker who the young woman was. He was incredulous that I didn’t realize at the time that I was talking to [Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TLC_(group)). Funny thing is, a few years later I also waited unawares on Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. (She was aloof, unfriendly, and impatient.) I’m hoping to one day share an elevator with T-Boz, to complete the set. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/24 "2015-09-23T05:46:40Z")
When I worked at a gas station I met Ray Mancini. He was very talkative and surprised that someone my age knew who he was. I told him I had seen his picture on the walls of a local hot dog shop, and had heard him on the radio a few times. We ended up talking a for a bit about a documentary he was making about the Youngstown area. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/25 "2015-09-23T12:28:14Z")
I remember meeting Michael O’Hare of **Babylon 5** at a convention. O’Hare was very charming and diffident – a real nice guy, who seemed to be a very quiet type. Years later, it was revealed that he was suffering from extreme paranoid delusions and hallucinations at the time, so much so that they considered suspending production. He held it in check admirably, but I think that was one reason he was so quiet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/26 "2015-09-23T13:16:30Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Not certain what exactly you mean by “not all that”, but… > > I’ve told this story multiple times, to near-universal indifference: In the mid-nineties, I was working in a store in Atlanta with a co-worker who was trying to break in to the Atlanta radio scene. One day, I walked up my aisle to assist a tall, muscular African-American man and a slight, very short woman. They were looking at flooring for a studio and wanted to know about soundproofing. As I was helping them, my co-worker excitedly came up and began fanboying all over the young woman. I figured she was a program director or DJ or something, and waited for him to stop gushing so that I could go back to helping her pick out her floor. (My coworker was almost a dead ringer for Michael Jordan, so it was funny to see him squeeing over a very short, cute-but-not-extraordinarily-so girl dressed in jeans and a jacket. For her part, she was reserved but polite to my coworker, and very businesslike with me. Not friendly, especially, but not by any means unfriendly, either.) > > A week or so later, I finally asked my co-worker who the young woman was. He was incredulous that I didn’t realize at the time that I was talking to [Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TLC_(group)). > > Funny thing is, a few years later I also waited unawares on Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. (She was aloof, unfriendly, and impatient.) I’m hoping to one day share an elevator with T-Boz, to complete the set. So, was the tall muscular male a bodyguard, or possibly her boyfriend WR Andre Rison ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/27 "2015-09-23T13:30:17Z")
I met the most famous movie star to come from Englewood New Jersey once. The guy is dumber than a bag of rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/28 "2015-09-23T14:17:10Z")
I’ve met a lot of the pre-reboot Doctor Who actors at conventions. The only real disappointment was Peter Davison, who seemed distant and a little cold. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/29 "2015-09-23T14:39:15Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > I’ve met a lot of the pre-reboot Doctor Who actors at conventions. The only real disappointment was Peter Davison, who seemed distant and a little cold. Well, what do you expect from someone who has a role as a suicidal cow on his cv? 😃 I suspect ex-Doctors are just as prone to “get a life!” thoughts as ex-Captains. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/30 "2015-09-23T14:54:15Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I work in entertainment and have for almost 35 years, so I’ve met hundreds of celebs. Most of them are cool; the key is to treat them as people and not as celebs; most of them seem to really appreciate that. I have similar background and echo the sentiment. From the OP and other posts, people seem to “expect something” when encountering people who make their living in the public eye. And when the expectation, whatever it is, is not met exactly they make statements like “they weren’t all that”. Maybe they are a successful musician, or actor, or sports figure, why would you expect them to want to be your friend for 5 minutes? Do you have the same expectation of random strangers? Usually people, when meeting celebrities, feel the need to interact with them. Imagine how tiresome that is if you are a celebrity after the 500th person a day tries to yak at you and expects a warm embrace? Geez, if they are not working, leave them alone - just like you would any other random stranger. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/31 "2015-09-23T17:44:24Z")
I startled the hell out of Dustin Hoffman, once. While I was trying to figure out if I wanted to talk to him or what, he looked at me like I was about to go for this throat and did a fast fade. Not sure that makes him a bad guy, though. I hear a lot of celebrities have had very bad experiences with some fans. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/32 "2015-09-23T20:12:04Z")
I was working at a gas station in western South Dakota once and waited on Graham Greene when he came it to pay for his gas. He paid and left and that was the extent of our interaction. From what I remember, we were very busy at the time and barely had time to look up to see who we were waiting on. It was when they were filming _Thunderheart_. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/33 "2015-09-23T21:37:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I met the most famous movie star to come from Englewood New Jersey once. The guy is dumber than a bag of rocks. I knew who you meant immediately. I ran into a local NYC weatherman on a call at work. Nothing bad, it was a minor dispute involving a family member and he just happened to be there. I recognized him and talked to him for a bit. He is amazingly short. I mean Peter Dinklage could dunk over him. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/34 "2015-09-23T22:29:38Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Most of them are cool; the key is to treat them as people and not as celebs; most of them seem to really appreciate that. I think I’ve told this before here but I got a grateful look from a world-famous rock star when my father and I were the only other people in the same pub and my father pointed him out to me - I have no interest in rock music - and I said that we should just leave him to enjoy his pint in peace. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/35 "2015-09-24T00:04:46Z")
> [@The\_Tof](#): > > So, was the tall muscular male a bodyguard, or possibly her boyfriend WR Andre Rison Jeezus, you know, that _never_ occurred to me until you said that. Wow. I was not then nor am now a Falcons fan, so I wouldn’t know Andre Rison if he walked up and bit me in the ass. In retrospect, though, and as best I can remember, I doubt it. She spoke to him as if he were someone in the industry, who knew a bit about recording studios. They seemed like colleagues, rather than a couple. Maybe it was L.A. Reid? The other “not all that” story I can relate is seeing Dominique Wilkins two or three years ago, when I worked for his sister. Nice enough guy, but the “not all that” bit is that he wasn’t nearly as tall as I had expected. He was “Hunh. Big dude.” tall, rather than “NBA/normal guy on stilts” tall. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/36 "2015-09-24T00:30:19Z")
Would it be a shock if I said Geraldo Rivera seemed like a bit of an ass when I met him? He came off very self-important and seemed generally annoyed. Or is that the general impression of him anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/37 "2015-09-24T02:17:04Z")
I shook hands with Vicente Fox on Christmas morning, 2001, just outside his ranch where we and dozens of other people had set up an ambush. The motorcade of Suburbans came to a stop, he and his guards got out, and he started shaking hands with his admirers. Him being tall, and me being a tall gringo, it was easy enough over the Mexicans’ heads. He said, “Q’hubo le” to me. Over the years I’ve met other state and federal politicians, but not being Mexican myself I had no real idea who they are. Because of the funny name I remember meeting some “Cabeza de Vaca” at a Lebanese restaurant in León. (They were nice enough to sell some sumac to me, which had been impossible to find up to that point.) One time I met some cumbia singer at the BJX airport, getting onto the same plane to DFW. I have no idea who he is, but the girl behind me in line was excited and had me take a picture of them together. Because of this I know there’s a music genre called “cumbia.” Another time at a restaurant in León with my ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law we met someone who was a famous soap opera star. This dude had _class_, and was very patient while my mother-in-law fawned over him and had some pictures taken. I’m not even Mexican, and the only “famous” people I’ve ever met have been Mexican in Mexico. Oh! I’ve got an American one. My father’s neighbor in Henderson, NV. Apparently the guy was a fairly famous “little person” stunt man. Maybe not a celebrity himself, but a body double for famous midgets, I suppose. It was one of my father’s cookouts, so it was just a neighbor dropping by and having a beer and brat with us. Cool guy. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/38 "2015-09-24T13:19:34Z")
Steve Miller came in my record store, and bought $125 worth of LPs (This was ca 1980). Even thought I was never a big fan, it was kind of fun talking with him a minute. Then his check **bounced** , and management got on my butt to collect the money. (I eventually did). I later proudly displayed the check behind the counter in the “Do not take checks from these individuals” display that used to be common back then. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/39 "2015-09-24T13:26:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I met the most famous movie star to come from Englewood New Jersey once. The guy is dumber than a bag of rocks. Ed Harris? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185/40 "2015-09-24T14:17:40Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I met the most famous movie star to come from Englewood New Jersey once. The guy is dumber than a bag of rocks. What in his speech or behavior gave you that impression? Not that it would surprise me if he was. You have to be dumb/deluded to side against Xenu. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-encounter-a-celebrity-and-realize-that-they-werent-all-that/732185.md?page=3)