Hmmmm…I met a bunch of actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company when they were in Ann Arbor last spring. One of them was in Trainspotting.
I was in a celebrity tournament once with Dave Barry, and many people had no idea which of us was supposed to be the celebrity!
-My friend’s stepfather is Ernie Orsatti, who was recently covered in Maxim for a famous movie stunt he did (I think it was in The Poseidon Adventure
-My grandfather has a theorem named after him in computer science (he’s the Rosser in the Church-Rosser theorem)(This resulted in my mom, as a young girl, meeting all sorts of prominent mathematicians and so forth… she knew the son of Edward “The father of the hydrogen bomb” Teller, who was referred to as “the brother of the hydrogen bomb”)
-One of my grandmothers once played in a string quartet with Albert Einstein, and the other made the sculptures that are in front of the Indianapolis convention center
-My company’s CEO was once one of People Magazine’s 50 most beautiful people
In college I knew Greg Daniels and Richard Appel, who went on to be writers/producers of The Simpsons and King of the Hill.
I’ve worked for many minor politicians, some of whom went on to bigger things (Head of the State Parks & Recreation Dept., Member of Congress, Cosmopolitan’s Bachelor of the Month, etc.)
I once served ratatouille at a dinner party given by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (now a Supreme Court Justice).
It’s funny, I often think about the breed of people who are like gods to the people who know their field, but they could sit next to the average person on an airplane and never attract second notice. I know my husband would drop dead speechless if he ever ran into Sam Maloof or James Krenov (famous modern woodworkers) but they would completely escape notice in a crowd. I think it must be odd to have a life where at some events you would garner a huge standing ovation, but otherwise you’re utterly anonymous.
Along those lines, my husband has come to know Tom Lie-Nielson a little bit. He’s a plane maker, really a master in creating reproductions of Stanley planes, definitely a big, big guy in his field.
And we both know Earl Klugh–certainly famous among jazz guitarists, but pretty unknown outside of that genre.
And, among 3-D computer animation folk, my husband is halfway one of these famous types, almost sortof kinda, because of the software project he helped on. He isn’t one of the utterly cool original developers, who really are gods to fans of the software, but… well, I consider him amazing. 
Any Bette Midler fans here? I’m not familiar with her past, but apparently, years ago when she had a stage show (or tour, whatever) she did this “mermaid” scene, where she wore this great mermaid costume. My friend David Baca designed that costume. He also worked on many TV shows as a costumer, and also worked on the Oscars, year after year. He’d tell us great stories about the Oscars. He also told some not flattering stories about Bette, but I won’t share them here.
He died of AIDS in '95. Damn, I miss him.
I was hired to be “background” on an episode of “Murder She Wrote”. I was in a scene where Jessica is at a Craft Faire in Cabot Cove. I was working on a potter’s wheel, and had samples of my pottery there, and everything. Angela Lansbury wandered by and said to me “Colorful pottery!” (It is rather colorful.) Alas, my scene was cut out of the show (episode called “Bill and Jack”) but if you look in the background on one scene, you can see my pottery in the background, kind of fuzzy, but there. Woo hoo. It was a morning’s work, and they paid me DAMNED well.
Giovani Ribisi’s (“Mod Squad”) mom was a fellow potter in one of my pottery classes. She invited me to visit the set of “Davis Rules” when she found out I was a HUGE Jonathan Winters fan, but the show was cancelled before I could go. Damn.
Several friends work on, or have worked on “Star Trek - Next Generation”, “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd”, and umpteen other films and shows.
Another friend wrote an episode for the original “Star Trek” series. She still gets rabid Trekkies calling her at home, and fans ask for her autograph at conventions.
Ted Bessel (“That Girl” boyfriend) was in my pastel class at art school, Otis in L.A. I also saw Peter Falk at Otis once, in a spare room, drawing. Apparently someone allowed him some studio space.
One of my art teachers at Otis, Richard Milholland, was also an actor who was in TV, and was (at one time) dating Susan Sullivan (Greg’s mom in “Dahrma and Greg”). Milholland also did illustrations for the LA Times editorial section.
Former Tarzan comic artist (and art book author) Burne Hogarth was one of my teachers at Otis. He was fabulous.
Oy. I could go on.
My fathers pretty well known in the psych world. I have actually seen one of his books for sale used on Amazon(they sell them new all the time).
My sister is pretty well known in the victims assistance circles in Texas. Shes always going down to austin to meet with the AG and stuff. Shes the head of Victims assistance for the city of arlington.
My dog was given to me by a serial killer.
My band once opened for Ian Moore
My old guitar player from my first band wound up in the Grand Street Cryers, and they got a bit of radio play.
I have been to the house of the guy with the harley in the prolong oil treatment ads
C. Alan Lytle, author of “American Vampire” and “A Breath Before Dying: The Deconstruction of Benjamin Smith.” I only know two people who have ever heard of him, but his books are outstanding … I think I might be the only person who has his autograph.
I’m friends with the guy who writes the English translations of the Final Fantasy games. And no, he’s not responsible for “all your base are belong to us.”
My mother grew up with Peter Onorati, who was in a short-lived law series with Mariel Hemingway called “Civil Wars” and recently appeared in an episode of Sex in the City.
Science Fiction writer Joel Rosenberg has been to my house. I also vaguely know Steve Brust and several other writers from the Twin Cities SF community. One of my distant girlfriends is the model for Tinnie Tate in the Garret books, by Glen Cook - who I’ve met and is very shy.
Another girlfriends dad is Charles Hoffman of Hoffman Guitars. Not well known at all, unless you are into handmade guitars, in which case he is apparently well known.
Woody Harrellson and I were roommates in Crowe Hall sophomore year at Hanover College. I also knew Leo Geter there. He was the kid who gave Kevin Bacon a joint in “Footloose” and was Kevin Costner’s adjutant in “No Way Out.”
For my money, this is the coolest story in this thread.
I’ll let y’all decide for me if this is a “famous” person who “no one else recognizes.”
You’ve all seen the Coors Light commercials where a blond guy sitting on a couch with another guy (different in all the various spots) says, “Are you ready for a cold one?” and then pulls a rope and an igloo or a drift of snow or a polar bear falls down into the room?
The blond guy, who pulls the rope in all the spots, is Matt Young, who I used to know at the theater I played improv comedy at here in Atlanta.
I haven’t seen him for a while, but I’ve heard he’s currently chilling in Atlanta for a few weeks and has grown a beard. Presumably so people will stop coming up to him on the street and asking “Are you ready for a cold one?”
Years ago, I was in a bar in downtown Long Beach, celebrating a friend’s birthday. We bought a few drinks for a familiar looking guy on the fringe of the crowd. Toward the end of the evening, I started talking to him and learned why I recognized him.
He was the green grapes in the Fruit of the Looms commercial.
Oh yeah. I know a guy (well, knew him, since he died recently) that every one of you in the U.S. knows about. Although you might not have knows there was an actually guy with his name…
Cliff Hillegass, the guy who founded Cliffs Notes. Yeah, there’s really a Cliff, and my dad knew him. He was a real great philanthropist for the museum my dad is on the board for.
Tell him I said “Thank You.”
Diane
Colibri
Avery Schreiber was also in Story Theater. They acted out fables, nursery rhymes and the like, with minimalist scenery and props.
There were about 6 actors in the “troupe” and most were quite talented, but had short-lived careers.
According to a lot of stuff I’ve seen, Ford was the teacher but was only shown from the neck down. My wife says that’s B.S. and that she’d have recognized Han Solo if he was in the same room (even if she was only like nine years old at the time).
Coolest thing about her being in E.T.? She has a trading card with her picture on it!
About seven years ago, my best friend and I started our own “production/management” company. Our first client was Artis. We became very good friends with him after interviewing him in Cleveland when he was opening for Consolidated and Nine Hundred Foot Jesus. He wanted to go on his own spoken word tour so my friend and I decided we’d take on the challenge. We had almost finished planning a college tour starting in Tampa and ending in Rochester, NY when Artis kind of flipped and started telling us that all the work we did is not what we was looking for, even though he was a part of every decision along the way. Apparently he hooked with some woman Mary who decided SHE wanted to be his manager and didn’t want us to be involved at all. Bummer.
I’ve run into Artis several times while vacationing in Seattle. You can almost always find him playing his spoons down at the Pike Place Market.