<p>Jym626, was your mom super-cool, or what?! Hangin’ out poolside with Kojak and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman at the newly-opened Caesar’s! Nevermind that you got to shake hands with Bobby Kennedy. :)</p>
<p>Momsdream: you have to take the bad with the good with Sir Charles. I recently heard the following exchange on a TNT NBA show that emanates from Atlanta:</p>
<p>Commentator 1: “Now, let’s talk about the evolution of a fabulous player…”</p>
<p>Commentator 2 (CB): “Wait a minute, we’re in Georgia. We have to talk about the creation of a fabulous player.”</p>
<p>OK I’ll play…many years ago, when I was single and cute, a girlfriend and I met Terry Bradshaw…we spotted him with a group in a small bar/restaurant in Texas and sent him a drink (ps - a never fail method to met a man!! LOL) …he came over,chatted, and signed a menu for my girlfriend’s dad who was a huge Steelers fan…very nice and funny.
Met Hardy Nickerson who played with the Tamp Bay Bucs and got autograph for son - also Gino Auriemma, coach of UConn girls basketball. Very handsome guy.</p>
<p>Also met Chris Berman (ESPN) in the Hartford CT airport - DH, DS and I LOVE him and watch him all the time during football season!!
I was on a pay phone and he came over to use the phone…he is big and has this deep, loud voice…said “hi” on the phone to DS who was thrilled…nice guy who probably thought I was a very weird woman because I was so excited </p>
<p>Also, met the brother of Walter Mondale in the airport in Houston - he was in town for the debates (many years ago-dating myself) - I gave him a ride to the Rice Hotel which was where the debates were…</p>
<p>Quick cute story about Jane Pauley - my sis-in-law and her sis were in NYC for a Princess Diana exhibit (her dresses I think) - saw this limo pull up so my SIL went to see who it was…Jane Pauley got out…my SIL said hello and was walking with Jane back to the entrance and telling Jane what a huge fan her sis was…Jane said “What is your S’s name” and as they got close , Jane started waiving and calling “Kathi, Kathi - how are you…great to see you” like they were friends…cute and funny - and Kathi was thrilled of course…</p>
<p>Many may not consider him famous, but Bruce Villanch lived on my dorm floor and was among the cadre of students who gathered in my room until the wee hours of the morning to solve the worlds problems.</p>
<p>For those who do not recognize the name. Bruce was the weird on on Hollywood Squares. He was(is) a comedy writer for Whoopie Goldberg, Bette Midler and was the lead comedy writer for the Academy Awards for a number of years. And yes, he was out of the closet way back when.</p>
<p>Most frustrating “almost”: I was staying in London, and when I got back to the hotel, the friend I was traveling with told me I’d missed seeing Princess Diana (in the post-divorce era) by 5 minutes. I assumed my friend was inventing this story just to tease me, so I asked the hall porter, who confirmed that the Princess had indeed walked through the lobby a few minutes earlier. The main thing my friend noticed was that Diana was very tall and blonde.</p>
<p>I’ve had business meetings with Bette Midler (charming, funny, modest), Doris Roberts (ditto), and Roseanne Barr (not modest, and whining about having to be up so “early”–around 11 am). At various points in my life (obviously this was some time ago), I’ve ridden in elevators with Rex Harrison, Claudette Colbert, and John Gielgud, but was too shy to say anything to them.</p>
<p>In Santa Monica, my then 12-year-old daughter spotted Jamie Lee Curtis in Urban Outfitters and basically followed her around (she thought unobtrusively) until Ms. Curtis very graciously smiled at her and asked where she’d gotten the hat she was trying on. The following year, while changing planes in Chicago at 6 o’clock in the morning, my daughter ran up to her sister and claimed she’d seen Superman (Tom Welling from “Smallville”) waiting for a plane. Her sister scoffed, but went back to look, and though Welling wasn’t thrilled to be recognized, he acknowledged that it was he. And last summer, the same eagle-eyed daughter saw Mike Myers in a grocery store, and reportedly ran up to him and said, “You’re Mike Myers! I love you!” before continuing on her way to use the restroom.</p>
<p>sluggbugg-
Wow! I never really thought of my mom as “super-cool”. That’s a new perspective! I did shy away from tootsie pops for a while after Telly Savalas scared the cr-p out of me!! </p>
<p>I almost forgot- I met F. Lee Bailey in his office in the Empire State building when I was in grad school. He was handling a class action lawsuit that I had to be interviewed for (had to do with a medicine that my mom took before I was born). Anyway, I happened to be dating a law student at the time, and he thought it was really cool to have F. Lee Bailey’s business card. Well, so much for that. Off it went, into his wallet, never to be seen again by me.</p>
<p>Oh-- and with respect to Robert Kennedy-- I skipped out on band practice to go over and see him during his campaign. That was probably the best decision I ever made in the 6th grade. There weren’t a ton of people there, so we all got to shake his hand and talk to him while he stood in the back of the convertible. What a great memory.</p>
<p>Editrix-
How’d you get to work with all those famous folks?? Are you in the industry?? I grew up with Alan Menken (wrote the Disney scores for Little Mermaid and all those)-- I didn’t know him very well, but his dad is my dad’s dentist in my home town, and his family was friendly with mine. He was always referred to as “little Alan Menken”.</p>
<p>Anyone remember Whitney Young, head of the Urban League in the 60’s?? His daughter was a friend of mine in Junior High and HS, and as our last names were very close in the alphabet, we were always in the same homeroom, and our lockers were always together. Tragically, he drowned in a freak accident off the coast of Africa- pulled by the undertow or something. I’ll never forget when they came to get Lauren out of class to tell her(we were in HS). Horrible memory.</p>
<p>Tony DORset, then Tony DorSETT, then (very briefly) Tony Dor-SAY. One wag called him “the proverbial player to be named later.”</p>
<p>momsdream and idler-
There was a funny line on Leno the other night, when Charles Barkley was on. He told “Sir Charles” that Tiger Woods had been on recently and referred to “Sir Charles” as “Sir-cumference”. He has <em>filled out</em> a bit. Momsdream, I am SURE you have aged much more gracefully :)</p>
<p>Idler-
That’s a great line from TNT. I live in the county where that evolution/creation textbook thing happened. It amazes me that some people haven’t quite made it to the 21st century. But, I have to also remember that there are still some people who refer to a very busy, very congested large state road throughfare as “the four lane” (said with a southern twang).</p>
<p>I almost ran over Jodi Foster when she was a student at Yale. I was about to go through an intersection when the light turned red, made an abrupt stop, and Jodi crossed in front of my car. I hadn’t seen her - was really relieved I didn’t run her over. Jodi, if you’re reading this, I was the person in the yellow Datsun B-210, the “Honeybee”. Sorry if I scared you.</p>
<p>I nearly ran into Dustin Hoffman as he left his hotel in downtown Philadelphia. He looked startled as I recognized him, so I just nodded and kept on going.</p>
<p>I forgot a couple more “sightings” - Bruce Willis at the craps table in Vegas - not friendly at all…Donald Trump at “21” in NY - long before ‘The Apprentice’ - he was waiting for someone in the “lobby” area when my girlfriend and I passed through on the way to ladies room - he smiled and spoke…and the guy who did the Ghostbusters theme (Ray something I think?) was my plane from Atlanta to Augusta GA years ago…</p>
<p>i saw monica lewinsky (sp?) in a grocery store in DC before she became “famous.” it had to be her, it just had to be. </p>
<p>my mom ran into dick clark at the airport in NYC</p>
<p>I’m not a parent, but this thread has been interesting to read =D Especially the “I almost hit Jodie Foster”, anyways, I shook John Edwards hand at the North Dakota Democratic Convention if that counts for anything =/</p>
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<p>If she was not yet (in)famous, why would you even notice her enough to remember her later?</p>
<p>i’m an observant person… and i remember things well. actually, when i saw her on television, the person i saw in the store is the first person i thought of…maybe it wasnt her, i dont know, but i like to think it was.</p>
<p>My mother-in-law has a good story about Dustin Hoffman. Around 20 years ago, when Hoffman was appearing on Broadway in “Death of a Salesman,” she and my father-in-law went to see the show on Mother’s Day. My mother-in-law was so impressed by Hoffman’s performance that she waited until he came out of the stage door, then she rushed up and gushed that she thought he was wonderful–“as good as Paul Muni.” Reportedly Hoffman stopped, looked carefully at this short little busybody who was all dressed up for a special occasion; then he smiled, said “Happy Mother’s Day,” and gave her a kiss on the cheek.</p>
<p>I like to lurk around the Musical Theater pages. I feel like there are a few “almost famous” people I almost met! :)</p>
<p>I came close to having a fatal car accident. I guess I almost met God?</p>
<p>I saw Morgan Freeman at the airport in Dubai, he gave me a hug because he didnt want to take pictures or sign autographs in public</p>
<p>I saw Willie Mays at a driving range hitting golf balls 20 feet from me. There was nobody near him. I didn’t have the guts to say hello, even though I was 40 and he was alone. He was one of my heroes when I was a kid. </p>
<p>I went to a game at Candlestick Park and screamed at him throughout the game. I wasn’t 40 then. 
I was screaming at him to hit a home run. Around the 5th inning…he turned around and looked right at me. </p>
<p>The next time up…Willie Mays hit the ball right to me. A home run! In the old days at Candlestick Park…fans would run toward the home run balls in right center field…I felt a mass of bodies coming towards me.</p>
<p>No. I did not catch the ball. :)</p>
<p>I am older now and I recently saw Mort Sahl in a restaurant and I did go up to him and told him he was great. </p>
<p>I stood 3 feet from George Lucas at a parent’s conference for 15 minutes and never said anything to him. I’m not a huge fan of his movies. That’s not why I never said anything to him. He’s quiet.</p>
<p>I was also stopped once and was asked, “Are you George Lucas?”. This was amazing because…I don’t look anything like George Lucas. :)</p>