I was standing near the gate at an airport, leaning against a pillar as I read a book, when suddenly a man walked down the boarding/deplaning ramp and past me. I looked up and thought, “Gee, he looks a lot like Muhammed Ali” And immediately people ran past shouting Muhammed Ali’s name and asking for his autograph.
That’s undoubtedly the biggest celebrity I was within twenty feet of, although I didn’t interact with him at all.
I’ve met several authors and interacted with important scientists*, but most people probably wouldn’t even know who they are.
(For instance, I sat next to Arthur Kantrowitz in the back seat of a limo for a several hour-long ride, for instance. He’s the founder of Avco Everett Research Labs and a co-founder and president of the L-5 society. Most people have never heard of him. In his old age (he died a few years ago) he looked like a predatory Santa Claus.)
Katharine Hepburn, in the 70’s. She was touring in a play, came to my city, and she walked out of the stage door afterwards just like in the old days. We had been waiting for her, and she must have passed within 8 feet. She looked great, by the way, even though she was nearly 70. She had presumably just cleaned off her stage makeup and her face was as fresh and unlined (as far as we could see under the lights at night) as a 30-year-old. Of course, she had her neck completely covered up. She had a big smile, and she wasn’t shaking at all.
On our last flight back from Japan, in the boarding area we were right next to a famous Japanese comic actor (whose name I don’t remember at the moment - he’s fat and does a lot of food commercials) who was traveling to San Francisco to film another commercial. He even asked my partner a question about the time of the flight; then his entourage caught up with him. Most of you wouldn’t know him, but he’s a big deal in Japan.
I totally forgot to mention: either Orlando Bloom or his separated at birth twin.
The train’s conductor was being followed by an apprentice who looked a lot like Bloom. By “a lot” I mean “is that Penélope or Mónica Cruz?” level. The conductor was explaining the job, the other guy was making appropriate noises but didn’t speak a word. And while it seems extremely strange that Orlando Bloom would have been training as a conductor for Renfe:
the train was coming from Gijón,
where one of the biggest fantasy, scifi, comic and related freakyness cons in Europe had just finished,
and he was about as hot in that kind of circuit as can be.
So while unlikely, it’s possible that he’d happened to meet some Renfe worker, mentioned he likes trains (I have no idea if he does) and been invited to take the special tour. I didn’t ask, because whether it was him or his double it wasn’t my business and he had better things to do than show ID to random train passengers.
Oh, and I’ve broken bread with two of the guys who got last year’s Nobel in Chemistry, but this was during an ACS meeting, back in grad school and we happened to work in their field; my advisor had done work under one of them, collaborating with the other.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza was the speaker at the graduation of the year previous to mine, which I attended because I was friends with half that class. He was a complete asshole, with my apologies to assholes. Dude got saved from a dunking in sulphuric acid by our knowledge that such behavior is illegal, but mainly because we didn’t have a large enough vat; his whole speech consisted of “you guys are worthless, you’re useless, you’re not me therefore you’re shit.”
I passed Gabriel Byrne on the street in Toronto when they were filming the “Assault on Precinct 13” remake.
Canadian “celebrities”:
PM John Turner (he worked in my building and I saw him in the elevator)
Governor-General Ray Hnatyshyn (went to school with his son)
Michael “Pinball” Clemons (he came to my workplace for some charity thing, I think)
I sat next to LBJ in church one Sunday. At the same church a few years later, I served as an acolyte and got to shake President Ford’s hand on a few Sundays.
Many years later, my best friend and I were interviewed by James E. Faust.
While I was working as a security guard part-time, I worked the Pro-Am at Pebble Beach and Tiger Words, along with a few other big names in golf walked within just a few feet of me. Same job, also at Pebble Beach, I got to be one of the security guards for Jay Leno’s party during the Concours d’Elegance.
A couple years ago, I attended my cousin’s wedding, officiated by Asian religions scholar Robert Thurman. His daughter Uma attended the reception – she was five feet away, behind me, and I had no idea until later (when I finally figured out why my cousin had been poking me in the ribs).
Brushed shoulders with Wolf Blitzer about a year ago, on the street in Georgetown, DC.
But neither of these are real interactions, like so many Dopers have had with so many interesting folks.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza (b. January 27, 1934 in Barcelona) is a Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat and poet. He served as Director-General of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999. He is currently the Chairman of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and member of the Honorary Board of the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World[1] as well as the Honorary Chairman of the Académie de la Paix.
Queen Elizabeth, I guess. Handshake.
George W. Bush, he was in a car, I gave him the finger.
Rush Limbaugh, worked with him before he was famous.
Lots of ballplayers, Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, George Brett.
Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles.
Mine is Billy Corgan, too. I didn’t fall in his lap, but was standing next to him. Funniest thing about it…WhyNot and I compared notes one time, and turns out it was the same night, same club. We were both there and didn’t get to know each other until years later on this message board.
passed by former late governor of TX Ann Richards at a parade.
I’ve only met soap opera stars at meet and greets: One was for Rick Hearst and the actress who played Carly (the one after Sarah Brown left) and they were gorgeous and cordial. and so thin!
The other was Rebecca Herbst and Natalia Livingston and they were so pretty and extremely gracious and nice all around. I think NL is no longer on General Hospital as Emily is dead? but Rebecca still plays Liz.
I recall my college buddy meeting Buzz Aldrin at Barnes and Noble on campus of Univ. Texas in Austin and she told me she chatted with him for like an hour cuz nobody seemed to come by to meet and greet him one afternoon! And that she had time to walk to Walgreens and get a disposeable camera (this was about 15yrs ago) and return to take several pics with him as there was still no autograph line)