I just got back from seeing the movie Memento (recommended by Cervaise) and it’s a strange film where the story is told backwards (No, not in reverse. It begins with a murder, then you gradually learn why the murder was committed.)
But what happened after I saw the movie was this:
I go into the men’s room because I REALLY need to pee. As I walk in, I make the comment, “I may have to see that again to know what happened!”
Someone at a urinal says, amused, “Yes, it was intricately plotted.” His voice was deep and very familiar…
But I REALLY need to pee, so I forget about the voice and go into a stall (no urinals avaliable) and relieve myself. I come out and go wash my hands. The guy who commented on the plot stands next to me and washes his hands. He finishes first and dries his hands. I grab a handful of paper towels and dry my hands. I turn toward the guy and I finally get a good look at him…
“George Takei!” (Sulu on Star Trek.) He smiles back. I say something truly profound: “We’ve met a couple of times, but you won’t remember me.” He laughs in that DEEP voice and walks out the door.
Some people wonder why I live in Los Angeles in spite of its problems. This is one reason. I never ran into any celebrites in Alvarado, Texas. (This is only one such incident.)
So tell us about your accidental meetings with famous people. While it’s fun to meet someone famous on purpose (lecture, conventions, movie premiere, etc.), I think it’s more fun to meet celebs in the wild, don’t you?
Yeah, Memento is weirdly worth it. Someone put in a lot of work, at the very least.
Plus did you know Guy Pearce had his beginnings in Neighbours? For some reason starting off in a soap hugely endears people to me. I found Morgan Freeman as a lawyer in some dreadful soap the other day, and while it may not have been his start by a long way, it’s still made him seem far more accessible in movies I’ve seen since.
I love George Takei. I have no idea why. I think it may be that DEEP voice.
Saw Robert Carlysle in my local supermarket. Didn’t talk to him as he had that “I’ve been busted” look about him already. Plus I didn’t fancy finding out how true to life his Trainspotting persona was.
I used to live in Idaho and would occsionally run into slubs. I did what everybody did: say Hi, go about your business and leave 'em alone.
On the other hand, one time when I was riding alone with Bruce Willis in an elevator, how badly did I want to say to him, “I loved you in 9 1/2 Weeks!”
While serving jury duty a few years ago, I met Gene Gleeson, local news anchor, who was also serving duty. I thought it was cool that he didn’t use his celebrity to try to get out of it.
Then there was the time I met the late Esther Rolle at LAX when she was buying a ticket. (It was soon after she appeared in Driving Miss Daisy.
While walking down Ventura Boulevard, I passed a restaurant and the late Doug McClure was eating dinner at one of the outside tables.
While at a book-signing for Harlan Ellison, Walter Koeing came in, his hair almost totally grey, which surprised me. (Koenig and Ellison are old friends and I found out later that Koenig shows up at nearly all of Ellison’s book-signings.)
And, on New Year’s Eve 1989 at Disneyland, Michael Jackson came to the park in his own helicopter. He landed in the “backstage” area north of the park and entered through a “cast members’” (employee) gate. There were hundreds of people there to watch the countdown to midnight and he stood with his entourage behind a fence. Someone spotted him and the word spread quickly and people went back to look at him. It was not an official visit and rumor had it that he disguised himself after that and visited the park as just another guest.
I never asked any of them for autographs (in Jackson’s case, it was impossible, anyway); in these situations, they’re just regular people going about their business and it just seems to me that asking for autographs is too intrusive. However, at conventions or movie premieres, it seems appropriate to ask them.
Anyway, great story. This has come up before, but here’s my list:
Shayna and I saw John DeLancey (another Star Trek guy, although TNG: “Q”) at a production of Carousel at the Hollywood Bowl. He was hanging out in the picnic tables, and then stunned us when he appeared in the second act. Huh!
Probably my most memorable incident involved Mickey Rooney. He was at a trendy 50s diner-type-restaurant in Westlake and was completely grossing me and my friend out by how he was leering at us. (She looks like Julia Roberts, to his credit.) We actually struck up a conversation with him, and he just groaned and moaned about how he built Paramount studios, how terrible TV is today, how no one watches that “Dr. Quinn crap,” how Jane Seymour was a bitch (“you know what they say about her?..”), how A&E’s biography had unfairly portrayed Judy Garland, blah blah blah. He was a really pathetic old man; his cute our-age companion just smiled apologetically the whole time. (I got to share this story on KROQ a few years later.)
I’m seen Maureen McCormick (Marsha Brady) twice. Once, ages ago, when she was still dressing like a school-marm and shopping at Marshall’s; later at a restaurant with new bleach blond hair, lips, makeup, etc.
Ariana Richards, the little girl Lexi in the original Jurassic Park, was my last customer (on the day I quit) at the pet store I worked at in a mall. They (she came with her mother) were looking for female zebra finches; I recommended going to another store for better quality.
The lead guitarist and lead singer of Warrant were friends, actually roommates, with a friend of mine. I used to hang out at their place, a fairly decent spot in Westlake/Aqoura area. Just looked up their names: dark-haired guy is Erik Turner, blond guy is Jani Lane. Erik ended up marrying a Baywatch chick (She was a regular who had no speaking lines…more or less more eye candy. You can imagine why I hated going to pool parties there.) There were gold records on the wall, as well as Erik’s…um…interesting paintings. I have no idea what he was doing, but the blond guy (a really nice guy, friendly and all) was in computers at the time. I think they’ve started playing again, if you can stomach it. (I had never heard of their music.)
Oh…I’m not sure if these count because they weren’t random encounters, but I’ve met **Tim Conway, Bob Newhart, **and Harry Anderson in the Winner’s Circle of some horse races. They were the celebrity trophy presenters; later on, they clinked champagne with us in the Director’s Room. Way cool.
Kellie Martin was waiting for a table as the same time as my family at El Torito’s ages ago, when she was still on Life Goes On and was wearing those red-rimmed glasses. I remember she talked 100mph.
Patrick McTavish, the little boy in The Wedding Singer (oldest one that asks if Adam is going to be put in an institution), was actually a sometimes-student of mine when he was in first grade (he came to my room for music). His mom was the secretary at the school, and as I remember, he was a pistol. He had just been in Liar, Liar–he’s the kid that says “My dad’s a twuck dwiver!” What was hilarious is we had an assembly and the performing troupe said they needed a student volunteer to help them act in a scene–Patrick was about to pop he was so excited, waving his hand frantically, shouting, “I’ve acted before! I’ve acted before!”
Heh heh. That’s all I remember right now. And really, enough for me to share for now, eh?
Does Jean Coutu count? It wasn’t really an accidental meeting - he’s a member at the country club I used to work at - and he’s not really a celebrity, but he did do all those commercials…meme un ami!
Similar context, I’ve met Steve Smith, the guy who plays Red Green. He’s a really hilarious guy. Um…Tom Nutten, cornerback for the St. Louis Rams - I know his father and met him once. I also served Peirce Brosnan, Sir Richard Attenborough, Annie Galipeau, Jean Charest (though he’s also a family friend) and numerous CEOs and whatnots of banks and other companies - country clubs are full of em, though they aren’t famous or even that important except in their own worlds
I once walked up to the back part of an open air stage and started talking to Paul Wilcox (drummer from Moist). We talked for about 15-20 minutes. Tons of people were lining up behind a security barricade just to get David Usher’s autograph, but no one stopped us from approaching from the other side. I got Wilcox’s autograph, too.
I’ve also run into Luck Merville in Montreal once - just a quick hello (with that sort of acknowledgement that I knew who he was) and that was it. He was with his daughter - she was SO adorable at maybe about 3 years old!
I met Bob Newhart in 1977, when I was teaching catechism to his son.
In 1982, I was helping my buddy at his trophy shop in Westwood, and a lovely red-haired woman walked in. I didn’t quite recognize her till she said her name: Cassandra Peterson (Elvira). After several seconds of hemming and hawing, my feet started working again and I found the item she had come to collect.
A couple of months ago, I had a blind date that turned out to be a local minor celebrity – she apparently does science-related feature stories on the newscast for one of the local stations. People stared, but nobody approached or said anything.
She was very intelligent, very attrative, and very far out of my league. She knew it, and I got the feeling that she would have rather experienced root canal with a slow drill and no Novocaine than endure an hour and a half across the table from me at a fine restaurant downtown.
Could someone explain the thrill? I may be in the minority, but I never understood the idea of celebrity worship. They are just people like you and me. They may have a bit more money or be better looking (even these norms aren’t positively assured), but why is it considered such a thrill? I would never go out of my way to be rude to someone because they were famous, but neither would I go out of my way to meet a celebrity (swimsuit models excepted, of course.)
I’m not sure if you would considder him a “celebrity” or not, but I met Jimmy Carter shortly after he left office.
He was at Brown University visiting his daughter. I was on a field trip with my class. He came over and talked with us, I shook his hand. I think he is perhaps the warmest, most genuine president we’ve had in a long time.
Back when my father worked occasional head security at football games, I got to occasionally meet some players from the Tampa Bay Bucs. No autographs, didn’t seem like my place to ask them, but shared a few jokes with them all every now and then. They seemed to enjoy it. The ones I recognized were Warren Sapp, Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott, Trent Dilfer (back when he played, and believe me, he is every bit the asshole that everyone who lives in Tampa knows him to be), John Lynch too. This is a big deal if you are a huge fan of the Bucs, like I am.
My older brother is one of those people who seems to know everyone. I’m not kidding. And he’s so off-the-cuff about it that it doesn’t surprise me. That attitude must be refreshing for people who find themselves recognized by everyone.
As for me, the only really famous people I’ve ever met were Graham Chapman (at a college lecture series he did in the late eighties) and Ian Frazier (who was a guest professor for a month). Graham was…Graham. Ian was a wonderful inspiration.
A few years back (96?) when I lived in Burnaby (suburb of Vancouver) a few friends and I went after work to put in a round of golf.
If memory serves they closed either the front nine or just the first few holes. We were a little miffed, but played what we could.
I had to rent some clubs (never a good thing). So, after our round was up I went back to the pro shop and returned them. I went up to the counter and ended up standing next to a man wearing a purple golf shirt. We started doing a little bit of conversing (the weather, bitching about the “film crew” tying up the holes.) After a bit of banter I turned to him to make some eye contact and continue the conversation. It was then I realized I was speaking to Carl Weathers. They were filming that fine epic of a movie “Happy Gilmore”. We spoke for another 30 secs or so and then went on our seperate ways.
I got the impression that he was a nice man… albeit from a very limited conversation.
I interview lots of celebs for books and magazines, but those “sightings in the wild” ARE fun.
I don’t feel like a Real New Yorker, as I never had a Garbo or Jackie sighting (and not for not looking, either!). I have, over the past 20 years, run into: Liz Taylor • Drew Barrymore • the late Caroline Bessette Kennedy • the late Andy Warhol • Tim Robbins •the late Jason Robards • Lena Horne • the late Doug Fairbanks, Jr. • Mercedes Ruehl
Back in '89 I went to a basketball camp where there were supposed to be a lot of NBA guys. After the camp was over for the day, everyone was milling on the floor. Looking for my mother, I accidentally bumped into a very tall man, I could only see his chest until I looked up to say excuse me.
It was Michael Jordan. My mouth must have been hanging open because he smiled at me and said excuse me. I stood there in shock until my mother found me.
I was on a ski vacation in Park City, UT several years ago. At the end of one day’s skiing, I was sitting in the locker room, taking off my ski boots when a familiar looking man walked by. I nodded and said hello. He nodded back, and commented on the good skiing that day. After he walked away, I commented to the locker room attendant that the guy looked an awful lot like Gary Busey, and was promptly informed that it was Gary Busey.
Then on my honeymoon last year (in Vancouver, BC) my wife and I were given the option at a local sushi restaurant to sit by the window, overlooking the city, or be placed in a private room. We were told the private room had another party in it, but that they would be leaving soon. We chose to sit by the window, and it’s too bad, because the party dining in the private room turned out to be Morgan Freeman and family. ::sigh::
Some years back–must be the early or mid-'90s–Connie Chung, who was then co-anchoring the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, was here in Salt Lake City for some seminar or something. It was late June, the same time that the Utah Arts Festival is held. I was going to the Festival with my family.
At that time, the Utah Arts Festival was held in downtown SLC between the Delta Center (indoor sports/performance venue) and the Triad Center (business park built by Adnan Khashoggi before he went through bankruptcy blah blah blah). The local CBS affiliate, KSL-TV, has its studios in the Triad Center. Triad also offered its covered garages as parking for Arts Festival patrons.
So we parked the car and got into the elevator to ride up the three floors to street level. When the elevator stopped at street level, we were face-to-face with Connie Chung, who smiled warmly at us and stood aside to let us out. She wasn’t waiting for recognition or anything at all.
My father attempted to be funny. He knew who she was but thought he’d play with her mind a bit. So he practically screamed, “Hey, you’re that lady from NBC News!” and pointed directly at her, his hand no more than 6 inches from her face.
The look on her face at being recognized but linked to the incorrect national network was priceless, but she was obviously distressed by my dad’s pointing hand. He never did (still doesn’t) understand that people have their personal space requirements, and that his hand was WAY TOO CLOSE to her for her comfort. She stepped back involuntarily and just stared at him in horror before he realized how out of line he was and withdrew his hand quickly, but then he spewed out this odd hooting laughter. We rushed him off the elevator and outside before Ms. Chung could request assistance from KSL security officers.
And the rest of us wanted to crawl into the corner and never face anyone again. But it would’ve been kinda fun to let them take my dad away in chains… hmm…
A large chunk of time ago, I was outside of one of the Ladies Room at the Farmers Market in L.A. waiting for my then-girlfriend. It had just started to rain and I was getting rather impatient. The guy standing next to me was obviously in the same position, waiting for whomever he was with as well. Not making eye contact, I struck up a conversation about having to wait for women in these situations and he laughed and agreed completely. We chatted some more and it wasn’t until I looked at him that I realized I was talking to Kevin Costner (pre-Dances With Wolves).
Nice guy. Loved him in Silverado. Shorter than I expected.
I have written about my experiences with celebrities on the boards in the past (Nolan Ryan being the biggest one), but recently I had another.
I was in Eatzi’s (a resturant/grocery type place) waiting on my bread and a woman was standing behind me. She leaned over to me and said “Lord, they are taking a long time.”
I smiled, and said “Yes indeedy!”
I turned around and there stood Debra Duncan who is a local TV show star. I smiled, and introduced myself. Told her my grandmother was a big fan of her show before she passed on and that I had taken her to a show a year or so ago.
We got to chatting while waiting for our bread (stood there 20 minutes) and she asked all sorts of questions about my Grandmother, and her life. I told her that there wasn’t a funeral but there was a “Celebration of Life” in August that I was writing a speech for. As our bread was finishing she handed me her card and asked me to call her the next day.
I did so, and she asked for my address. About 2 hours later a young man knocked on my door and handed me a Video tape from Ms. Duncan. I popped it in my VCR and it was a short message to my family about my grandmother to be played at her Celebration. It even had a clip of Granny from her show that we were at. I thought this was the most wonderful thing for a stranger to do. Needless to say I am now an even bigger fan of her than I was before.
Well, it wasn’t exactly by accident, but I met George Takei too, at a science-fiction convention in Kansas City. There was a drawing held to have dinner with the celebrity guests and I, along with three others, had a lovely mealwith him. I still have two pictures from that time. One is of all of us sitting at the table. The other is a rather unique photo of Takei. He had told the lady running the convention(it was its’ first year) that he would do anything to help out. “I’d sit naked on a silver platter, surrounded by parsley, with an apple in my mouth.” Well he didn’t do THAT, but it was arranged for a small silver dish to be brought out, with the parsley and an apple on it. He promptly picked up the apple, bit into it, and laid his chin down on the dish. I said “Wait, wait, wait!” and got out my camera. Funniest picture I ever took.
