I met Jean-Pierre Rampal. And his solid gold flute. I said, *Bonjour, Monsieur Rampal. *
When I was in DC about 17 years ago my friend and I took a tour of the home where Lincoln died. It was just me, my friend, the tour guide, and John Fogerty and his wife.
My friend asked “Are you John Fogerty?” He nodded and my friend just said “Cool.”
That’s all we said to him.
Not quite the same, but Robert Plant and Brian Setzer walked right past me and my brother and sat down a few tables away when we saw Les Paul at Fat Tuesdays. We were too starstruck to say anything to them.
A (female) friend of mine was in the parking lot elevator at the Beverly Center and couldn’t help saying to the other person in the elevator “Excuse me, did you know you look just exactly like Julie Andrews?” And then of course Julie Andrews said grandly, “That’s because I am.” My friend became somewhat star-struck, and giddily gushed forth about how much The Sound of Music had meant to her, etc. etc. And Miss Andrews just beamed and gave her a big hug. That’s class.*
*Though it also must get a bit old, having to do that every dang time you go shopping. Sheesh.
Re…remember when you were in Led Zeppelin? That was awesome.
One of the few times I engaged a celebrity with more than “I love your work” that turned out fun - my old thread about talking with Dave Foley: I said the right thing to Dave Foley ;-) - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
“You killed Tara, you bastard!”
It would be a specialized event.
I usually say “howdy; how ya doin’? Nice to meet you.”
Tom Hardy
I’d probably be speechless or faint
I met, or rather served, Patrick Stewart twice. I was working in a retail athletic shoe store and he bought shoes from me. I treated him just like any other customer despite knowing who he was and being a fan of his work, and I suppose he appreciated it because he came back and bought shoes from me a second time.
I’ve met a few other celebrities and generally just try to treat them like normal people. When I’ve seen celebrities, for instance Ted Danson in the grocery store, but have no reason to interact then I just leave them alone.
I bump into such folk occasionally - at various points I’ve found myself standing next to John Hurt, Glenn Close and other luminaries (and not-so-luminaries - I ran into Leo Sayer at Heathrow a while back). By and large I say nothing because saying “Hey! You’re THAT person!” is idiotic and I can never think of anything else to say.
Oh, wait: I have one more that kinda worked that I have told on the SDMB before.
Julia Child - I was working at a bookstore in Santa Barbara where she lived. She was buying a cookbook (duh). This was the early 80’s and she asked if she could pay with a check. I assume you all recall that she was over 6’ tall, and wonderfully distinctive in look and voice. I said we’d take the check if she had two forms of ID. She laughed as I kept going and finished the transaction.
I have never wanted to meet a famous person in a colloquial social situation. I’d much rather work with them and gain their respect before engaging them in personal conversation. I generally let celebrities go on their way.
Not that I’ve encountered very many.
I met Rob Reiner in DC once. I asked him if he had change for a dollar for the pay phone. He didn’t, but his friend did.
“Hey, if you wait five minutes before ordering your beer, you’ll get happy hour price.”
“Cool, thanks.”
We went on to become friends, but he tells the story as if I assumed he was a cheap fuck.
I haven’t met too many celebrities of any level casually. I’ve met a few before or after their shows but that doesn’t really count. I would probably feel embarrassed and not be able to approach anyone. The exception was poker star Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. I walked right up to him and asked to take a photograph with him. He was very nice and obliged and gave a nice pose for me. It’s a good picture despite it being about 5am in an after hours club in Vegas and I’m completely shitfaced. Come to think of it that might be why I could just walk up and ask for a picture.
It may be stretching the definition of celebrity, but once at a sci-fi convention I rode an elevator with Ben Chapman, who played the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I recognized him because I had seen him earlier in the dealer hall.
He was with a friend, in the middle of a conversation, and I didn’t want to interrupt. So I didn’t say a word.
I mentioned this just recently but a while back I was in a pub with my father when a world-famous rock star walked in. We were the only ones there at the time. My father pointed him out to me (I have no interest in rock music) and I looked at him and simply said, “Let him drink his pint in peace.” and got a grateful nod.
I was introduced to Neil Armstrong and my mind went blank. I figured anything I talked about he had heard a million times. So I think we talked about the weather.
Only famous people I’ve run into have been NFL players.
Ran into Ray Lewis in the gym and said, “I’ve always been a fan of yours since you were at UM, nice to meet you.”
He shook my hand, said “Thanks” and then I left, since I’d been on my way out.
Ran into Larry Csonka when he was filming his outdoor show at Katmai National Park. I said “It’s a privilege to meet you, Mr Csonka. I walked into my first day of second grade wearing your jersey.”
We talked for a long time about Alaska, brown bears, fishing, then Miami Dolphins, football, the NFL, etc…
Larry likes to talk.