It is amusing that I’ve been looking at online best /worst celeb lists since usenet in the early 90’s and over half the “bastards/bitches” here have also been on “nicest” lists at one time or another.
I suppose of lot of it depends on the context you catch them in.
Am I threadshitting to point out that there seems to be a lot of hearsay, often 2nd/3rd hand, or higher, in this thread? Now the three or so celebrities that I’ve personally met (very SSS caveat) have all been very gracious, but is it possible that perhaps you (for those who have 1st-hand accounts) caught the star in question on a bad day, or something? I guess I am reluctant to judge someone unless I know the individual in question very well, which is pretty much impossible unless you are around them every day (as some in this thread seem to have been, such as in post #5). I’d imagine that most celebs have acquired Armor of Public Warding +10, just to stay sane if nothing else.
Sigh
I’m sure you’re right. Such is the nature of our educational system these days. Still, wouldn’t you rather look to Merriam Webster for definitive word meanings instead of some random governmental agency caseworker? For all we know, other people in the agency who know better roll their eyes every time they see it.
Thanks for the Edison story though. Apocryphal or not, it certainly fits his image. 
Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon. Demanded that the entire backstage area be cleared so he could go to the catering tent. Then bitched because there was no one to serve him.
George Thorogood. Refused to autograph a guitar for auction (even though it was in his contract) because the wrong beer was backstage.
Thanks. I’m not a particular fan of Celine’s singing but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad word about her on a personal level.
I have no concrete confirmation whatsoever, but a friend of a friend - yeah, take with however many grains of salt feel appropriate - has said repeatedly that Gary Burghoff (Radar from MASH, of all people) is an utter dickhead in person…
AFAIK, you have the gist of the thing right.
Westinghouse was pushing AC current, while Edison was pushing DC through a few select municipalities. One of the few objective manners in which DC was better than AC was safety - so Edison kept trying to claim that AC power was inherently dangerous. To the point of coining and using the verb “Westinghouse” to be synonymous with execution by electrocution. ISTR that the famous photo being taken as a woman was electrocuted actually ran with the headline that she was “Westinghoused.”
See, that just proves my point. Burghoff once stayed at my mom’s condo for a fortnight while he was performing in a local play, and she forswears that he was very nice during their several encounters (handing the keys off, meeting him backstage, etc.). But don’t take her word for it-for all anybody else knows he is an asshole.
I also recall reading somewhere recently that there was a reason you didn’t see an emotional outpouring from Hollywood after Christopher Reeve died. Supposedly he was despised by nearly everyone, except for his former roommate, Robin Williams.
In interviews I’ve seen of former MASH cast members, they weren’t very fond of him.
My mother worked in bars and hotels and clubs for years and years. She hates Hank Williams Jr. with a fiery passion to this day, and says Linda Ronstadt was a big lush.
Oh, and just to add to this: the same article hinted that the consensus around Hollywood following Reeve’s horse riding accident was “karma.”
Also, there is an interview with Mickey Rourke in the recent issue of Empire. When asked what it was like working with Marisa Tomei he says, “Evan Rachel Wood was wonderful to work with.” When the interviewer says, “Yeah, but what about Marisa?,” Rourke says, “Evan Rachel Wood was wonderful to work with.”
I’ve heard rumors about Tomei’s behavior and they’re not pretty. Apparently, there was a reason her career basically died after her Oscar win in the early 90s.
Whoops. Thanks for the correction, postcards.
An old girlfriend ran autograph shows in the Detroit area for sports stars. She said hockey players were the nicest people. Her worst was Willie Mays. He charged a ton for his autograph and if it were for a white person ha made sure he smeared it when he passed it to her.
I remember hearing Van Halen destroyed a hotel room or something back in the 80’s because the M&M’s weren’t to their liking. The people sorting out the candy aren’t likely to be the technical people setting up the band’s sound/lighting equipment anyhow, so it sounds fishy. Sounds to me like they put the rider in to be asshats, then tried to justify it afterwards when it got the band a lot of negative publicity by claiming it was a test of some sort.
The man seems very particular about his beer since every song of his I have heard is about him drinking alone and not having any friends. He probably seems like a jerk because he relates to alcohol better than to people, like some people prefer the company of cats.
I’ve never met anyone famous, but since we’re mostly going on hearsay and I get to be anonymous, I’ll say that Molly Shannon hates black people.
In a TV Guide article from the time MASH was on, it mentioned that at one point Gary was given an electric chair with his name on it.
Make of that what you will.
The golfer? That doesn’t jibe with my experience.
