I was an event coordinator at a Barnes & Noble about 15 years ago - I dealt with a lot of authors when they did readings /signings at our store.
The single most unpleasant celebrity I had to work with was a name most people are surprised at…Deepak Chopra. He was rude, egotistical, completely self-absorbed and made it quite clear that the people working at the store were his underlings. He referred to one of my co-workers as a “minimum wage tool.” Once he was scheduled to begin a reading at 8pm, but decided he didn’t feel like staying that late, so he showed up an hour early, without giving any advance notice to the store, gave a perfunctory reading (of course, a mob of devotees had begun gathering since the store opened at 9am), and walked out at 7:30pm - leaving the store personnell to deal with many pissed-off fans who blamed us for not posting the right time for his reading. (One woman actually threatened the store with a lawsuit because she’d missed the reading!)
Of course, always just before greeting the public, he made a transformation as if an on/off switch had been thrown. He’d instantly put on his ‘serene, humble, wiseman’ face, especially if a celebrity news camera was in the room.
It was actually a joke around the store that the most insufferable, impatient and demanding authors to deal with were self-help gurus who wrote about ‘self-fulfillment’ and ‘seeking serenity.’
I’ll agree to the 1st, but Bill seems to be uneven- funny, grateful to fans and self-effacing sometimes and a bastard others. Tony Randall was an ass when I worked with him (as security only, mind you).
Whenever I’ve heard David Lee Roth give an interview he’s come across as a dick. When he got back with Van Halen for the last tour one of their stops was in Grand Rapids Michigan. The arena they were to play in was the Van Andel arena. The local radio guys got together and petitioned the Van Andel family for permission to change the name of the arena for that night to the Van Halen arena. The family allowed it on the condition that a donation was made to a charity. So the radio station took a guitar to the band to sign to auction for charity. Knowing it was for charity all of the band gladly signed it except for DLR who refused.
I’d have no way of knowing what he’s like backstage, but the two times I’ve met him after shows, he hasn’t been any kind of prima donna. I think his days of having a big problem with his Star Trek fame are also in the past.
I’ve met him a number of times (was on a shoot for a couple months with him up here in the great white North). He’s a bit grumpy, definitely likes things a certain way, an doesn’t suffer fools lightly, but he’s not all that bad. It’s not like he was making outrageous demands…the only time I saw him get bent out of shape was a day when the extras weren’t really behaving all that well and were causing extra takes. Considering the hours he was putting in, I totally get why he was mad.
This is second hand, but I talked to the person who saw it. Reeves was a pilot and he attended flight school here in Florida. When he graduated, everyone else in the class chiped in and had a special shirt made for him to commemorate it. When they presented it to him, his reaction was “Oh great, another boat rag.”
Sorry to hear the negative reaction to Chris Reeve. I met him a couple of times in connection with flying (he was a sailplane pilot) and found him to be an easy guy to get along with.
I know some pilot who fly for NetJets and Citation Shares (small jet fractional ownership outfits). They mention Martha Stewart, Alec Baldwin and Madonna among those they hope will not be aboard.
I’m not one to want to stick up for celebs (I luuuurve hearing about how these hoity-toity rich folks are such assholes) but this thread brings to mind a blog article (a rather long-winded blog article) Stephen Fry wrote about fame.
I found it quite interesting and, in some respects, clarifies some of the confusion we have as to who is really a jerk and who is just having a bad day.
Oh, and Kid Rock is an ass, or at least was before he was famous when my friends played a show with him. I can only imagine he’s gotten worse since he made it big…
I do think he plays it up a tad though. Even though he was still crass he was a lot more, how can I put this? Calm and reasonable sounding when he was on the Daily Show (recent appearance at least). He may be a bastard, but not as big a one as he’s been playing up.