That is, you never met them, but someone you know has met them.
My cousin was the Art Director for a movie directed by and starring Jodie Foster.
A friend of mine was one of 3 B-25 instructor pilots who was assigned to do all the flying in the movie “30 Seconds Over Tokyo.” So he had stories Van Johnson and Robert Mitchum.
The same friend later had a job flying Lear Jets for a charter jet company owned by Paul Tibbets, so he knew him. He thought Tibbets was an asshole, by the way.
My uncle was a USAF SSGT and was assigned to the '67 Bob Hope USO tour. He met Bob and Raquel Welch.
Once, Ed Zotti took me to see Cecil’s office at the Chicago Reader. It looked like an explosion in a paper factory.
My brother-in-law is the first cousin to Billie Joe Armstrong. I supposedly actually met him at my sister’s wedding when he was seven or something like that.
My sister got hit on at a shopping mall by singer Corey Hart. Why he was at a suburban shopping mall in California, I don’t know.
A friend of mine is a professional stand-in and extra and has been in lots of movies and TV shows. He says that whenever you see Dabney Coleman from the back in Boardwalk Empire, that’s him. I’m sure he’s met lots of actors.
A guy a went to high school with is also an actor, and got whacked by Tony Soprano. I’m sure he knows a lot of actors as well.
Another friend from high school was in the Secret Service. He would have met quite a few presidents.
I played in a band with a man who had played fiddle for a guy named Lecil Martin in Lincoln, NE. Martin turned an ability to imitate a train whistle with his mouth into a gimmick, and adopted the stage name Boxcar Willie.
I took a sail-training trip a few years ago. (Posted about it at the time.) Actor Billy Campbell (The Rocketeer, and a bunch of other stuff) had just finished a round-the-world trip with them, and some of the same crew was still on the ship when I was there. Said he was a good shipmate, which is good enough for me.
For that matter, just after I left the ship, they filmed a reality TV show on board, so I’m once removed from the host and contestants on that, too.
My aunt babysat Heather Graham until she was about 2 (when she [Heather] moved out of Milwaukee).
Kirsten Johnston (Sally from 3rd Rock From The Sun) grew up around me and went to my High School (10 or 15 years before I went there) so a handful of the teachers remember her. My mom bumped into her at a tennis club one day, showed her how to use the coffee machine.
Another aunt either met or is friends with Kathy Kinney.
Some friends of mine know Dee Snider through his son.
My grandfather was in the computer industry for decades and knew Bill Gates.
For whatever reason my grandparents knew a lot of famous people somewhat randomly. My grandfather also met Charles Bronson while on a ski trip and he knew Michael Douglas who lived in Bermuda when my grandparents did and apparently has an interest in computers too. Hootie and the Blowfish recorded their second album in Bermuda in the house next door to my grandparents. They have a song called Tucker’s Town inspired by Tucker’s Town, Bermuda. ETA: My grandma called them “nice young boys.”
My former co-worker’s aunt is Rosie Perez. Another former co-worker said he grew up in the same neighborhood as Rosario Dawson although she’s about ten years older than us.
Oh, I forgot one. A friend of mine’s sister lived with Albert Bell. The friend says that when Albert Bell was playing for Cleveland and they came to Anaheim to play a series, he didn’t want the sister to come with him (even though her sister lived in the area), but she came anyway and caught him with another woman.
Neil Young went to my high school. He was there some years before I was, and I don’t believe he graduated from our school; but certainly, a number of my teachers had him in their classes.
My Dad knew Canadian author Farley Mowat. Not well, but well enough that they were on a first-name basis. Dad also knew Canadian sportswriter Jim Coleman, whose work in the Globe and Mail, among other newspapers (Mr. Coleman specialized in horse racing) has been reprinted by the Daily Racing Form in its “great racing sportswriters” books. I myself met Mr. Coleman a number of times; but as I was a child, I cannot think of him as anything but “Dad’s friend, Mr. Coleman.”
Not sure if this counts as “second-hand” or not, but when I was in my first year of university, I got to know a guy named “Dave,” who was in his fourth year. He was a good guy, and we had a few coffees and conversations together. He graduated, and I didn’t think about him much–until I saw him as the weatherman on a local TV station. Then, long after I left Ontario, I heard that he was appointed to some political position. I haven’t met or spoken with Dave in over thirty years, but today’s Ontarians would know him as Lieutenant-Governor David Onley.
Dang, you guys are impressing me. Though I’m not sure I believe the anecdote about Cecil.
Famous people second-hand? I’ve mentioned this before… My mom worked with Ed Broadbent back in the seventies. My sister was a nodding acquaintance of Jane Siberry.
I have friends or relatives who’ve either met or worked with the following:
Ronald Reagan
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Frank Sinatra
John Wayne
Jack Benny
Ed McMahon
John Davidson (boyish singer known mostly in the 70s)
Bob Hope
Darrell Royal
Fred MacMurray
Bill Goetz (movie producer)
Dionne Warwick
My wife’s uncle was something in the rock industry. He’d be the top answer if I hadn’t met him, but I did, once, so that means I’m one handshake away from everyone famous The Who ever met.
I also met this goalkeeper (I needed to move my car out of his way on the drive of the boarding house we were both stopping over in) so that’s HM the Queen from when he got his OBE and most of the bigwigs in world football. (I also knew well a local man who got the MBE so that’s a closer link to the Queen.)
A guy I grew up with is currently a movie director. That’s a ton of actors, actresses, directors and producers I’m in contact with via panels, trade shows, etc.
Speaking of panels, trade shows et al, I know half the people who organize or have been organizers for Sitges’ Film Festival.
Oh, and several artists and writers who at some point worked for Marvel and came to Barcelona’s Setmana del Comic, so through them… buf! I even met The Man once, which puts me in second-hand contact with a ton of people. And of course, I know a lot of the people who organize or have organized that particular shinding. I used to get in for free by means of helping shuffle boxes, set up the place and keeping people in something resembling queues.
Broke bread with two of last years’ Nobel Prize for Chemistry winners, which puts me in second-hand contact with the third.
Have shared meals with two of my regional presidents, which means that through them I’m linked to a bunch of other politicians and similar fauna… hopefully I won’t catch cooties.
When I was in the Navy, a young man who worked for me was the cousin of Hector “Macho” Camacho - I guess he counts as famous.
After I was off active duty but working at a Navy command, the CO was a pilot - F-14s - and he’d been involved in the filming of Top Gun. He also got his face on screen during the bar scene where everyone was singing.
My cousin met Bobby Vinton back in the 70s - said he was a bit of a jerk.
I’m the third cousin of Ralph Macchio on my maternal side and of Tony Danza, by marriage, paternally. My dad worked with Ricky Schroder’s grandfather and my brother in law is a distant cousin of Twiggy.
A musician buddy of mine has collaborated and is friends with Jon Bon Jovi.
Another buddy of mine played football (American) for the Steelers in the 70s and 80s and is in the HOF. He has all kinds of friends from that golden era.
