Forgot Maya Plisetskaya, when she was the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi in Moscow. Got her autograph, I did! :o
Anyone who grew up in Minneapolis/St Paul during the '50s and '60s will remember Casey Jones and Roundhouse Rodney on WTCN 11. I met both of them when I got to be on Dave Lee’s ***Popeye and Pete ***for my twelfth birthday. (Had to wait six years for the goddamned tickets!)
Grandma Lumpit’s Boarding House was broadcast live immediately afterward, against the wall at the other side of the studio. My dad was with me and the friends I had invited to come with me, and we just kind of hung around behind the camera, watching them do the show. When cartoons were on, they were very friendly and happy to talk to us all.
To this day, I’m disappointed that I never got to meet another Minnesota legend: Clayton Moore, who played The Lone Ranger on TV. He was one of my childhood heroes.
I did get a nice letter once from Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts (and also from Minnesota). My astronomy professor and mentor at Macalester College was a good friend of his; the character of Shermy in Schulz’s comic strip was named after him.
I literally bumped into Alan Thicke once.
I don’t watch TV. To the extent I don’t know who the local TV news stars are. (I prefer to read books.)
Anyway one time I was volunteering at a Presidential campaign headquarters and a big shot local TV anchor came in and asked me a few questions. I had no idea who this person was. He realized I didn’t know him and really liked me for that! It was quite refreshing for him to not be noticed for once.
Anyway he learned my name and every time he came in after that, he called me by name and treated me like a celebrity! (I was no one.)
And I learned something from that. Later on I lived in L.A. for awhile and would sometimes run into celebrities. Maybe at the supermarket, a restaurant or something. I would LEAVE THEM ALONE and they liked that. They wanted to have a “regular life” at times - be left alone.
Record executive Jerry Wexler and his family. I worked in a doctor’s office when he came in. He gave our nurse an Aretha Franklin album, though we all agreed they were pretty crazy people
Howie Mandel (don’t touch him, he’s a germ freak).
Adm. Hyman Rickover.
Alex Trebek.
Tawny Little (most of you will have no idea who she is).
Oh, right, I forgot - I spent a little time with Regis Philbin once.
Ed Helms was behind me in line at the car rental place yesterday but I decided not to bug him. No idea why he’s in town.
Along these lines, I had a local TV celebrity as a patient once. I opened with “Mr BigTVStar, I have been a fan of yours for many years” and then I DROPPED THE TOPIC. At the end of the visit he complimented me and thanked me for my professionalism, in those very words. After that, I treated him just as I would any patient. He much preferred that.
I met Terry Pratchett twice. Got some books signed by him, and the second time I met him I gave him a gold-inlaid hourglass from Toledo (the one in Spain).
I met several voice actors from “Futurama”: John DiMaggio (Bender), Phil LaMarr (Hermes) and Lauren Tom (Amy). Got myself a photo with DiMaggio ^.^
I got to meet and have a conversation with a few Spanish politicians:
José María Aznar when he was prime minister of Spain in the 1990s.
Josep Piqué, minister of Industry in the same period.
King Philip of Spain, who at the time was still crown prince. Incidentally, holy shit is this guy tall!!! I am not particularly short myself (1.77 m or 5’10" in weird units) but I almost needed binoculars to see his face.