Who?
I’ve performed with Bernadette Peters, and found her to be nice to work with, while being totally professional.
John Prine, the stories of his being a nice guy are legion. A friend of mine worked at a theater that Prine played, my friend was responsible for driving him to and from the show and Prine was super nice to him. As for talented: Angel from Montgomery.
Woody Harrison was extremely nice and down to earth the several times I was fortunate to hang out in his presence.
I’ve posted this before I think, but some friends of mine met Woody Harrelson on a beach in Ireland a few years ago. He was just wandering about, and came over to chat with them. They didn’t recognise him at first, but they ended up sharing their picnic with him, and he had some weed on him, so they ended up just hanging out. He’s a really, really nice man apparently.
I spent an hour or so in Dave Grohl’s company in a pub. I was the only one there who didn’t know who he was, I suspect. I just thought he was a really nice American bloke called Dave. (NB I’d seen Nirvana a few times live, at both big festivals and small clubs, but I guess no-one notices the drummer)
Bonnie Raitt has the reputation of being nice to everyone: fans, fellow musicians (including sidemen and young talent), lighting people, ticket takers. . . everyone, including people who aren’t a position to do anything for her, and who she’ll probably never see again.
Paul Newman was supposed to have been a great guy. I read a story about him once (it may have even been on SDMB) in which he had expressed some impatience while waiting at a deli, and returned the next day and insisted on apologizing to each individual employee.
Danny Trejo, usually a very scary villain in movies, appeared on an episode of Pit Bulls and Parolees – not as a star or visitor, but as a manual laborer when disaster threatened the dog rescue. He showed up when the word went out that they needed bodies, and, without any fuss, began hauling crated dogs into trucks to evacuate them from approaching wildfire.
I don’t know anything else about him, but he was self-effacing and worked like the devil to save the dogs, so I like what I do know.
Both Neil Gaiman and Stephen King will sign until the line is gone, no matter how long it takes.
I think every actor who’s ever worked with Tom Hiddleston has said what a nice person he is in real life.
Henry Winkler was on Howard Stern’s radio show about a year ago and after some prodding from Stern, Winkler said in a roundabout way he dislikes Tom Hanks in a big way.
This is from Mr. Nice Guy Henry Winkler who many people in the business say is a great guy. I was hoping he’d elaborate on Hanks, but he didn’t.
I’d love to have some beers with this guy. Talk bikes and drums and kids.
I met Jeremy McGrath. Very cool dude.
Forgot to add: my wife and her friend have hung out a few times with Gary Numan, and he is reportedly a very nice guy, as noted up-thread.
And a damn good pilot, too.
Forgot to mention - Alejandro Escovido. I did a video shoot/video reinforcement of him at a club, and he sought me out after the show to compliment me on my work. That just never happens. The sound people always get thanked by performers, but the video people may as well be furniture.
I recall reading that Larry Linville was considered by his MAS*H cast-mates to be the polar opposite of the horrible jerk he played on the show, Major Frank Burns.
Robin Williams - nice guy. met him playing pinball at a comedy club in SF after a Bo Diddley concert wound down upstairs at about 1 or 2:00 am. He sucked at pinball (I am pretty decent), and we played 2 or 3 games together. He made a lot of jokes about how he sucked at pinball. Then he happily did an impromptu promo spot for the college radio station I was the GM of at the time.
Other nice guys that stood out from probably a hundred+ interviews/concerts were blues legend Clarence Gatemouth Brown, DOA, Butthole Surfers, Dennis Banks (AIM) and Timothy Leary.
For people I’ve actually met:
I second Kate Bush wholeheartedly. I met her and she was very sweet and kind. I only met her once but I’ve been a fan for 34 years and have never heard anyone say a bad word about her as a person. Everyone loves to work with her, and be around her.
I’ve met both Tori Amos and Happy Rhodes multiple times and they’re both extremely nice. Good people.
Milla Jovovich is another sweetheart. I’ve only met her once but we talked about her music, Kate Bush, and her being on the cover of High Times. She signed my poster for her album The Divine Comedy, and gave me a big hug. She was just lovely, inside and out.
I saw Weird Al perform once. The week before I’d been SOOO excited to hear he was going to be in town. Then, the very next day, there was an article in the paper about the death of his parents. I think it was carbon monoxide poisoning.
I figured he would be cancelling a lot of performances. But up until the funeral he went on performing. He loved his parents, and he explained, “As long as I’m working I’m not crying.” His show was great, he sure didn’t disappoint. Everyone in the audience gave a big ovation when a big video screen said “Tonight’s performance is dedicated to the memory of Nick and Mary Yankovic.”
Again, I don’t want to criticize Winkler OR Hanks. I’ve never met either man, and have no right to an opinion as to whether either is a nice guy.
It’s entirely possible they’re BOTH nice guys who just rub each other the wrong way for some reason. Or maybe they’re both jerks. Or maybe WInkler is wonderful and Hanks is a jerk, or vice versa.
All I’m saying is, we don’t KNOW these people. We may think we do, but we’re going by superficial impressions or things we’ve read or seen on TV. And the media don’t always give us a true picture.
As a sports fan, I read countless times that Kirby Puckett was the saintliest man in baseball. Turns out, that wasn’t true. Not by a long shot.
So, what do we know? Not much.