Have You Ever Met A Movie/TV Star or Celebrity?

[DNO]

Jay Silverheels. When I was 8 or so my family went to an event on the Brantford, Ontario, Mohawk reserve and I met Jay Silverheels and had my pic taken with him...I was terrified. I'd almost forgotten that event...wonder where that photo ended up.

 

[HodgePodge]

You are My hero! I love the Femmes.


As For me I have met (shook their hands and said hello and that was about it) Mike Love and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and B.B.King.

I have Partied with HankIII (Hank Williams's Grandson) and Reverand Horton Heat. That is about it for me.

! You are MY Hero! The Rev. is in the upper pantheon of my "guitar Idols." Closest I'll likely get to meeting him will probably be the 6 rows back I stood for his show in Toronto a few years back.

Through a friend who is no longer a friend, back in my "dance music" days I met a few DJs of international renown, but those won't mean much to the FL crowd.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Nope. I can't think of a single TV or movie celebrity that I've ever met. Not much opportunity for that sort of thing in rural North Carolina.

But I have met a few celebrity musicians. When I was an undergrad at Carolina, James Taylor walked by me on Franklin Street, one day. I spoke and so did he...but that was it. He passed by and walked on down the street...walking man that he is.

I watched a Forth of July fireworks show with Harry Chapin. He had just done an outdoor concert before the show. I was standing there watching and danged if he din't walk right up behind me. We watched the show and chatted about guitars and guitar stings until the finale was over and then we parted company. He got killed a few years after that.

I worked on a stage crew at a Fleetwood Mac concert once when I was in college. After the show, I met Mick Fleetwood and chatted with him while he medicated his sinuses with some sort of special potion that his doctor had given him to keep for emergencies. Nice guy but I could barely understand him when he spoke. And I also recall him not offering me any potion.

AF

 

[davidraphael]

When I was about seven years old I found myself on the set of the 1930s vet drama, All Creatures Great and Small, where I met the lead actor Christopher Timothy. Around the same time I also met Martin Shaw of The Professionals.

[video=youtube;qS7Z1q9hL2I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS7Z1q9hL2I[/video]

 

[Gil]

I once met Rudy Vallee when I was a teenager. This would have been in about 1980 or 81 at a place called The Players Dinner Theater just outside of New Orleans. He was doing a kind of circuit tour of retirement homes in which he put on a one man show. I was the designated driver for my grandmother and several of her friends. They were all in their eighties and ninties. He showed slides of the highlights of his career and played records of his old songs. It was very sweet. He spent a large part of the show talking about his wife and how much she meant to him. He showed slides of her in her younger days and sang "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World". After the show, I went back stage and met him. I shook his hand and told him how I'd enjoyed the show. He then signed a program for me. Now when I see him in old films, I astound people by telling them that I actually met him. People from that era have a kind of God-like persona, and it's sometimes difficult for others to imagine them as flesh and blood beings.

 

[Chasseur]

Met Tom Selleck a few times when he was filming Magnum here in Hawaii when I was young.

Bumped into a few of the actors from Lost similar while filming, but did not really meet them formally. Evangeline Lilly is just as lovely in real life as she was at Kate, though shorter than I expected...

 

[Dennis Young]

New or Old?

I met Mickey Rooney, shook his hand, and got his autograph. My parents met Lucille Ball's daughter, Lucie Arnaz.

One interesting night in the MGM Grand of Las Vegas, NV, I was with my parents walking through the casino, people began to get excited. By what, I didn't know. Next thing I know my parents stick me next to this very tall man who could hardly move and snapped a photo. Here's the turn out.

Not a movie star, but I didn't know who this man was until years later. What a trip.

True story.

When I was in the 1st grade, Walter Brennen came to our school in Alabama. I dunno why he was there, but the teachers and principle escorted him to our classroom. We all got his autograph and and some of us (myself included) sat on his knee for a photo. Lol!

 

[Flipped Lid]

I've met a lot of pro athletes, the most notable probably being Terry Bradshaw. I bumped into him in a Circle K in Phoenix many years ago. We chatted for a few minutes and he is a very funny and friendly guy. Red Schoendienst plopped down on the barstool right next to me in the Cincinnati Stouffer's one night after a Cards-Reds game when he was managing the Cardinals. I met Bryant Gumble when he was still doing sports for NBC. I sat next to him at an Oakland A's spring training practice in Scottsdale, AZ. He could not have been friendlier or more gracious.

I've met a lot of Indy 500 drivers from the 60's and 70's. Paul Page, who was the voice of the Indy 500 on radio and television for many years and now anchors drag racing on ESPN, is a friend who I see regularly. I've met a lot of NASCAR drivers and also the late Benny Parsons who was a wonderful guy and a real character.

I hung out in a hotel bar in Atlanta with singer Tanya Tucker and some of her road crew for a few hours. She was very nice and I have some good pictures from the evening. She got smashed and it turned out her room was a couple doors down from mine.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I'm distant relation to Tom Wopat, who actually is from the area.

 

[Jaguar66]

When I was in school in Nashville, Tennessee, in 67/68, I lived a nice apartment complex near my School, (Vanderbilt). One rainy day a tall dude with a slicked back blond Pompadour hairstyle came up to me as I was about to enter. I was just coming in from doing some weekend shopping, had some new record albums I wanted to play, and this dude walks up to me and asks me if he can use the phone in my apartment saying he had been locked himself of his room. I assessed this man as an undesirable, simply based on his hair style, thinking he was up to no good, not wanting him casing my apartment, so I said to him "I don't have a phone". Not more that 10 minutes later, the door opens up, and here's my roomate, and says to me "Hey, this is Porter Waggoner, he got locked out and wants to use our phone". I was embarrased that the guy knew I had a phone and denied him entry and sheepishly kept my head down while playing my records. He made his call, said thanks to my roommate and left. I told my roomate what had happened to to me with Porter Wagoner earlier and we both shared a good laugh. We had no idea who Porter Wagoner was, only later to find out he and Dolly Parton were partners at the Grand Ole Opry. We began sharing the story simply as a funny story. People would ask Porter Wagoner? THE Porter Wagoner? We fouund out who the guy was and both had a big second laugh about this.

Here is Porter Wagoner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_Wagoner

 

[Gregg Axley]

THE Porter Wagoner, as if there is another one....
My dad had a room next to him at a Nashville hotel. They stood out on the balcony, saw one another, and then went in. My dad called me and said "some guy with a lot of sequins is in a room next to me, who would that be?" So I suggested Porter Wagoner, and darn if it wasn't him. Kinda like my first quote....

 

[Renault]

Jesse James is always in the shop (just last week). As Lyle Lovett and Hank Williams Jr. used to be. Worked with Kris Kristoferson, Scott Bairstow, Peter Coyote, Tom Skerritt, and may smaller character actors in the movie industry....

Renault

 

[MondoFW]

Managed to meet Karolyn Grimes, the woman who played Zuzu Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, at the Portland antique expo. She was with a vendor who was selling Jimmy Stewart memorabilia (posters, autographs, lobby cards, et al). She seemed like a nice lady.

 

[Bushman]

Met Tara Strong at a comic con, very nice woman. Considering she's voice half my childhood favorites, it was great to meet her.

Ran into Stan Lee at a comic con a different year. He was just strolling down one of the aisles. Really cool dude. Considering his recent health issues, I'm fearful we won't have him for much longer. The man is a legend who seems bigger than life.

Met paleontologist Thomas Holtz at a paleontology conference once. Not a celebrity, per se, but a very big name in the natural sciences world. We've since corresponded frequently with one another over Facebook. Very happy to know such a great scientist.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

I shook Keye Luke's hand outside a revival theatre in Santa Monica where two Charlie Chan movies were shown.
Also, got Captain Kangaroo's autograph from an appearance at UCLA: can't find it after all these years.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Since the last time this thread came up I've dealt with quite a few celebs in the course of my work. Some I really like as people -- the comedian Paula Poundstone is one of my favorite people in show business, and one of the most enjoyable just to shoot the breeze with. She has forgiven me for dropping her off at the wrong hotel last year, and didn't even work it into her material, which I consider a real sacrifice for the sake of friendship.

Arlo Guthrie passed thru here a couple years ago, and I have no memory of interacting with him at all, even though I know I did.

Richard "Dr. Kildare" Chamberlain was here for something I can't remember, and I broke him up with a pointed remark during the soundcheck.

Oscar-winning documentary director Alex GIbney used to be soemthing of a regular with us, and was very patient and understanding when our digital projection system went south during a sold-out screening.

Judy Collins sang on our stage about ten years agio, and opened a $65 a seat show with the worst clinker I've ever heard from a professional singer. She also made "George! Where's my limo!" a long-running joke among the staff.

Art legend Jamie Wyeth once tripped me by putting his long legs out in the aisle while I was running down to fix a microphone for a speaker. I used to see his dad occasionally in the line at our local hot-dog stand.

Jeff Daniels will be performing here on Thursday. As a country singer, yet. I plan to greet him by yelling "OH MY GOD THE SQUID AND THE WHALE!" just to see his reaction.

 

[ChiTownScion]

It was my mom, not I, who got to meet the most show biz types in our family. She was, early 1970's, hostess at a restaurant of a hotel that had a "theatre in the round" that attracted a number of actors. Her favorite was John Carradine: they'd commiserate together about their respective arthritis suffering. Don Knotts, Larry Storch, and Dom De Louise were also, per her, nice and very likeable guys. I had a very brief encounter with singer Johnny Cash there: seemed like a really nice guy but quite exhausted and distracted.


Her biggest score, though, was an autographed pic of Burt Reynolds, addressed to my kid sister. This was around the time that he posed au natural for Cosmopolitan magazine, and he was considered quite the hunk. Amazing what will gain a kid status in the sixth grade, isn't it?


My only other show biz celeb encounter of note was bumping elbows (literally) with the singer, Donovan, at the entrance of a Border's book store where he was leaving a signing. I was entering and had no idea who the hell he was until I saw the signs. I was much more impressed when I saw economist John Kenneth Galbraith walking through Harvard Yard on a trip to Cambridge: I really would have felt like a rube had I asked for that autograph.

 

[Annie B]

Since the last time this thread came up I've dealt with quite a few celebs in the course of my work. Some I really like as people -- the comedian Paula Poundstone is one of my favorite people in show business, and one of the most enjoyable just to shoot the breeze with. She has forgiven me for dropping her off at the wrong hotel last year, and didn't even work it into her material, which I consider a real sacrifice for the sake of friendship.

Arlo Guthrie passed thru here a couple years ago, and I have no memory of interacting with him at all, even though I know I did.

Richard "Dr. Kildare" Chamberlain was here for something I can't remember, and I broke him up with a pointed remark during the soundcheck.

Oscar-winning documentary director Alex GIbney used to be soemthing of a regular with us, and was very patient and understanding when our digital projection system went south during a sold-out screening.

Judy Collins sang on our stage about ten years agio, and opened a $65 a seat show with the worst clinker I've ever heard from a professional singer. She also made "George! Where's my limo!" a long-running joke among the staff.

Art legend Jamie Wyeth once tripped me by putting his long legs out in the aisle while I was running down to fix a microphone for a speaker. I used to see his dad occasionally in the line at our local hot-dog stand.

Jeff Daniels will be performing here on Thursday. As a country singer, yet. I plan to greet him by yelling "OH MY GOD THE SQUID AND THE WHALE!" just to see his reaction.

I enjoy listening to Paula on "Wait,Wait, Don't Tell Me" and am very glad to hear she is as nice and genuine as she seems.

 

[EngProf]

I had the honor - and it was an honor - to sit next to Theodore Bikel on a cross-country flight. He was intelligent, articulate, witty, and a pleasure to talk to for several hours.
I always think positive thoughts about him whenever I see "The Enemy Below", "The African Queen", or any of his smaller roles.

 

[MisterCairo]

In about 1987 my father arranged a backstage visit with Andrew Sachs, aka Manuel from Fawlty Towers, while he was performing in a Christmas pantomime at Hamilton Place, Hamilton Ontario. He played the character Manuel in the show, who was magically transported to the "era" of Mother Goose.

He was incredibly pleasant, and still wiping makeup off his face. He was staying with his sister who lived in Mississauga, immediately west of Toronto. He authographed our program and a copy of the Fawlty Towers record album we brought with us!

I will post pictures when I am home from duty.

 

[Fading Fast]

Living in NYC, I've seen a lot of celebrities over the years, but I never approach them as I don't want to bother them.

But I have met a few. I met Richard Gere back in 2011 (about then anyway) when he was doing research for a film on Wall Street. It was at a New York Stock Exchange breakfast celebrating the listing of an initial public offering my team had brought out.

Gere had asked to be invited to meet some "Wall Street" people and see some "Wall Street" events and meeting. Owing to that, he wanted to talk. I spent a little time with him and (to be honest) watched him a bit during the breakfast meeting.

He was as nice as could be. We mainly chatted about Wall Street, what I did and he had a few question. When we were saying goodbye, I told him how much my girlfriend and I enjoyed his movies. He offered to take a picture with me which I thought was very nice as he probably knew I wouldn't ask.

I've also met Terry Bradshaw twice, once in a bar, when he was with a group of people where one of them knew one of the people in my group. I was introduced and chatted with him for just a few minutes He, too, was very nice, but very Terry Bradshaw - loud, happy, back-slapping, etc.

The big impression I have of him is of how gigantic his hands are. Shaking hands with him is like shaking hands with someone wearing a baseball glove. His hands are enormous. And he's no small guy overall. Quarterbacks only look small next to the other gigantic players in the NFL; in real life, most of them are pretty big.