I don’t think much of donations, it’s easy to be generous when it isn’t costing you nothing.
Not to pick on Spade, but anyone in general famous or not.
Did that peson take a write off his taxes? Did he even know about it? Or does his account say “We need a write off,” and he just picks whatever cause is on the news that night
I like the quote Homer Simpson, to famous people
“And just once get involved with a cause that doesn’t directly effect you or your family.”
All too many times we see something on the news and throw money at it.
So what if Michael J Fox was an alcoholic and stopped.
What about the people who NEVER abuse alcohol and treat their wives correctly all the time. To me those people are far above those who simply correct their mistakes and take pride in making those errors in the first place.
But we never hear about those who struggle and DON’T succumb to temptations and abuse
To elaborate on what Bosstone said (thank you, by the way), I’ll just point out that Portman is involved in philanthropy to a considerable extent, and in every interview I’ve seen or read of hers comes across as extremely well-informed, clever, and polite.
It does, however, sting to find out that she’s a PETA supporter. What is it with celebrities and those yahoos?
*Edited because this quote by Portman shows that even when she’s not saying the most ladylike things, it’s with good reason.
I’ve heard this from hotel/service people who’ve met her. One mentioned waiting on her and how attentive she was when the waitress (who I heard this from) prattled on about “big fan” “I sing and dance too” “huge honor” etc. and was very polite and encouraging and sweet. Only later did the waitress (who doesn’t read tabloids or Variety type mags about celebrities’ personal lives) learn that Peters’ husband had been killed in a chopper crash just a few days before- she never mentioned it and it would have been completely proper for her to have given a polite “I want to be alone” brush off.
I’ve heard wildly mixed accounts of Bob Hope, Andy Griffith, and Sammy Davis Jr., with some of the accounts I’ve heard and read being “great and wonderful” and others being “spoiled selfish ass” for each of them.
Johnny Depp has had his demons (drug use, the occasional trashed hotel room) but seems classy when it comes to his fans and helping people without cameras around.
While the “breaking up Brad and Jennifer… and Billy Bob and his wife… and whoever else” allegations are probably true, one thing I’ll grant Angelina Jolie is this: after going to Cambodia and to African countries and seeing how impoverished and hopeless the conditions were she stopped the diva crap. Remember when she used to do things like kiss her brother [on the mouth- don’t know if there was tongue but it wasn’t a sibling kiss] or carrying a vial of Thornton’s blood and other weird and probably affected crap like that? She cut it all out when she took what seems to be a very sincere interest in international poverty (implying it was mostly for publicity anyway).
I’ve heard that Henry Winkler is exceptionally nice and exceptionally intelligent (though some of the same accounts state that his wife is exceptionally neither).
What’s the scoop on George Clooney? Or Jon Stewart?
Per Kathy Griffin, Celine Dion is exceptionally gracious, even though she knew Griffin’s comments about her.
Celebrities I haven’t met personally but have heard only classless/bad accounts of:
Zach Braff
David Spade (though another “good for the donations”)
Steve Martin (intensely private and can be very rude to guard it)
Clay Aiken (though perhaps nicer now that he’s out)
Ricky Martin (very demanding diva)
I told the story somewhere on the boards but don’t feel like looking for it, but long story short: he was EXCEPTIONALLY gracious to a group of teenaged girls I know of who saw him onstage in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof even after lesser star Ned Beatty (Big Daddy), who was a relative of their chaperone, was arrogant and rude. He tried speaking Mandarin to a girl who was Chinese, posed for photos, and even apologized for “having to go” when he left. He’s also very well read. And hot. And ‘hot plus not rude’ is the same as ‘not hot plus sweet’.
Having trashed Michael Fox, I guess I should also mention that I’ve read that Portman is not as nice in person as she appears in interviews. Supposedly she can be rude to fans who meet her in public. I suppose a certain amount of that is understandable. But I also read that she was widely disliked by her fellow students at Harvard because she had a very superior attitude towards everyone else - she expected to be treated like a celebrity even when she was a college student.
I think the important thing is to remember that a celebrity appearing on a talk show or giving a magazine interview may be performing just as much as they do on a set or stage.
I’ve heard this too. I saw a snipped of Pawned, the Ashton Kutcher show, on I Love the New Millennium, and Braff is seriously losing his shit over the prank, before knowing that is was a prank. He was screaming at this couple. I don’t know the whole story, but it was a far cry from his lovable-would-he-just-French-kiss-Turk-and-get-it-over-with JD character.
Online here.
In Braff’s defense, he thought the kid had vandalized his car and that would make anybody furious. Of course it’s also clear that’s not a long trip for Braff. (I don’t quite get PUNK’D- Johnny Carson trapping Joan Rivers into thinking she was having an audience with Margaret Thatcher is a practical joke, this was just a witless fookin’ with.)
Point against:
Val Kilmer. A friend of mine was his liason at GenCon a couple years back, and couldn’t say enough about what an entitled jerk he was. Sad. I really like him as an actor.
Point for:
If we’re allowed musicians, Alice Cooper. Guy just seems all-around nice, generally amused at what a ‘hellraiser’ reputation he has, and, from what I understand, is the go-to guy if you’re a musician who wants to break an addiction problem.
Past-tense, I’d like to add Jack Benny to the ‘old’ class acts. Every interview I hear about him says that not only was he extremely charitable (which, of course, clashed with his ‘on air’ persona), but that he loved other people doing well. It was aparently a bit of a rarity in the radio industry of his time for heads-of-shows to want other actors to get the funny lines, but he just wanted the show to be funny; he had no ego about the jokes.
My ex worked on a film with Josh Harnett and said he was a very decent young man and had a really down to earth demeanor and a good head on his shoulders. That was early in his career though, so that may have changed as he became more famous. She said the same thing about Paul Walker. Apparently he is/was very gracious and appreciative of his film opportunities and treats cast and crew members well. Rob Cohen, the director of The Skulls took each of the leads to dinner separately, and Walker was so gracious, thanking him for casting him in the role and so on, that he made a good impression with Cohen which helped the director make up his mind to cast him in The Fast and the Furious.
I thought it was here that I read this anecdote, but I’m not finding it on search. If anyone else can find it, I’d be much obliged.
Apparently Steve showed up at a banjo workshop at some folk/bluegrass festival. Kind of sat in the back, was fairly quiet, participated like everybody else. After the workshop was over, the other participants learned that he had paid all their fees for the workshop. Apparently in appreciation for treating him like just another banjo picker, instead of acting like a bunch of star-struck idjits.
(I’ve also heard about him being rude when approached on the street, etc. But I can see how that would get old after a while when you’re just trying to go about your business. I have a crazy fan [of my handmade jewelry] and all by herself she is a pain in my ass on one day a year. Imagine having that happen all the time.)
Did you mean HUGE talents or HUGE … tracts of land?
Yay! I started a thread without actually starting a thread. Anyway, I’ve had too much wine to think clearly. I’d like to think that Hugh Jackman will one day be called a genuine nice guy and class act. From what I’ve heard he’s crazy about his wife and kids. He’s an all around talent, acts, sings, dances, and is hot. But I don’t know much else he’s done to qualify.
My Aunt and young cousin were having brunch in a restaurant in New York, and noticed Marcia Gay Harden and another prominent actress at another table. As Marcia Gay Harden was leaving, she paused to let my cousin know that her bag had slipped out of sight under the table, so they she wouldn’t forget it. She stayed and chatted for a bit about some kids movie that my cousin recognized her from, as well.
To me, that’s a classy thing for anyone to do- helping out a kid. Of course, my cousin is absurdly adorable and magnetic (no bias here, honest!) so maybe Harden was just drawn in by her charms.
If I were rich and famous there would be times when I was exceedingly nice to fans and times when I would be exceedingly rude. I would pretend to be clever and considerate in interviews, and, so long as it wasn’t too much money, would donate to various charities. Most of what I do in the public eye would be to make me look good.
Ben Affleck befriended a boy with a rare disease and as a result of that friendship has done a lot of charity work for the disease. He spoke at the boy’s graduation in suburban Virginia a couple of years ago. My friend was a teacher there and said Ben Affleck was really low key and friendly.
For those dissing on David Spade, I’d read (some years ago, when he was on Just Shoot Me) in a magazine that he was a genuinely nice guy, no “Star” pretensions, generous tipper, courteous to wait-staff at restaurants, etc.
I met Zach Braff very briefly a few years ago. I was an extra in a crowd scene in his (not very good) movie The Last Kiss, which was shot partially on campus at UW-Madison when I was in library school there. Anyway, he seemed nice enough to me. He went around between takes to say hi to the extras, shake hands, etc., and during one long interval between takes he got a megaphone and started telling us goofy jokes. This was in contrast to Rachel Bilson, who totally ignored the extras and between takes sat in the shade fanning herself and sighing. (In fairness to her, it was a really hot day.)
On the other hand, I know someone whose sister was at Northwestern with Braff and really disliked him. She said he was a jerk who acted like he was some big star even then.
