Oh wait. One more that @musicprnt post reminded me of. I met Bill though a work function ( the terrorist Obama purportedly palled around with) . I did NOT meet Obama through him.
Anyway I think his political views are bizarre and dangerous ( I’m a liberal but wow ) but he was super funny and charming. If you’d just listened to him talk that night ( I was in a small group standing around before a bigger meeting ) you’d think he was the most conventional person you’d ever met. The first discussion was about taking kids to college and he was practically misty eyed on the subject, though his kids were out of school at that point. Then the conversation turned to babies because two of the women were pregnant and he was going on about his grand kids and how much he loved having babies around again. And then it came up that he and his wife had been together more than 40 years, and he made it pretty clear he was still madly in love. I was with a friend who didn’t realize who he was and is super conservative and after when I told him was like " Are you sure. I dont think that could possibly be him!"
At a Columbia U conference of the '68 protests, I actually got to meet Mark Rudd as he was a featured speaker and a friend of a researcher friend there.
Randomly got introduced to one of FDR’s descendants as he’s a neighbor of the same researcher friend.
Briefly said hi to Henry Kissinger at some random university event off-campus as another friend was interviewing him.
Randomly met Jackie Mason in an exceedingly dressed down mode on a hot summer day after finishing a restaurant week meal at the Russian Tea Room a few years back. Business was still such that they relaxed the dress code so folks wearing t-shirt and shorts like yours truly or loose pajama wear like Mason were more than welcome to dine there.
I am not that comfortable in crowds and tend to find some out-of-the-way corner. I was with a female friend at a Broadway theater waiting for “Starlight Express.” Billy Crystal came in with his wife and one of his daughters and headed for the same corner, keeping an eye on me and my companion. Normally I would have said something, but an evening out with his family seemed to be the type of event it would be kinder not to interrupt. He did graciously sign a few autographs though we could tell her would rather not be bothered. We ended up sitting right in front of him in the theater, scrunching down to let his D get a decent view.
S2 literally ran into a tall man at a basketball game, coming around a corner…guy reaches out to keep my 20-something from falling and we look up and realize it’s Denzel Washington. He just smiles and puts a finger to his lips “shhhh…I’m just a dad, today” and off he goes.
My little boy read and re-read about Jane Goodall, and we had the opportunity to meet her after a lecture. She had a receiving line that took forever…and when it was his turn, we saw why. Adults got a friendly handshake, children were getting an extended conversation. She talked to my son for about 5-10 minutes, (what did he like best, did she talk too long, was he going to be a scientist,did he know he was important to the future,) and signed his dog-eared copy of her biography. Still has it.
@DonnaL, my son’s good buddy is nephew to Jenny Finney Boylan.
I have seen several celebrities as they have been either VIPs seeking treatment or charitably paraded through my place of employment; many first ladies, Joe Theisman, Ben Bradlee, Doreen Gentzler, Mr. Rogers, to name a few. I have never been one impressed by celebrity so, unless a direct interaction is required, I just let them be.
I met George W Bush at a small-town festival before he was involved in politics. His dad was President at the time and W was part owner of the Texas Rangers. We talked about baseball. He was really nice and down to earth.
If you didn’t know TED Koppel was famous, you wouldn’t guess. He was so nice and low key but so well informed about so many topics. I could have talked to him all night but we didn’t want to monopolize him.
Well, there was the time several years ago at an outdoor concert where I spied Lena Dunham a few rows ahead of me (it was her boyfriend’s band). At the urging of my friend and a couple of strangers who liked the idea of egging me on, I walked over to her to express my appreciation of Girls. And because nonsensical babbling goes with meeting famous people like peanut butter goes with jelly, I said something about probably being the oldest person at the show, as if she would care. Then she obligingly let my friend take a photo of the two of us, but since it was an incredibly hot, humid summer night, I looked like a meth addict on a particularly bad day–wild, frizzy hair, melted makeup, literally dripping with sweat–and I’ve never had the guts to show the photo to anyone.
My son met Anatol Yusef (yes, I know, who is he?) on the street in NYC. He played Meyer Lansky on Boardwalk Empire. My son walked up to him to tell him how he enjoyed his acting on the show and the guy’s response was,
“F*** you, I’m trying to hail a f***** cab, don’t f***** talk to me, f**** you”. Lovely guy.
I made costumes for a certain law professor (now senator) when she was involved in Gilbert & Sullivan productions at DH’s law school in the late 80s. Gave me advice on marriage, kids and balancing it all. Also talked about her daughter’s college search and going for accepted student visits!
Raven Symone on an airplane - I talked to her and she was really nice. I actually just thought it was just someone who looked like her - she was travelling very inconspicuously, no makeup or anything and sitting on the floor in the waiting area, but it ended up being her - so I chatted her up for a minute - my girls were mortified.
Larry Holmes and Sugar Ray Leonard in the airport at Boise, ID. They were sitting behind me at the waiting area at the gate. I got their autographs and both were very nice.
My daughters had sports clinics with John Wall, and Brianna Scurry. At the John Wall Clinic, my daughter was selected to do an interview for the local news and they asked her “Are the Wizard’s your favorite team?” and she said, “no we’re actually Thunder fans”. LOL
Judge Reinhold went to our church in Albuquerque.
We saw Neil Patrick Harris at a fundraiser event also in his hometown of Albuquerque right after his Doogie Howser days.
My husband got to be kind of a guide for Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes for a feature he was doing on western wildfires. My husband kept telling Scott to wear his hardhat while on active fires, but he refused.
Oh, and last but not least, I lived across the street from Blake Shelton when I was young (he was younger). He was a little kid when I was in college and he helped me collect insects for the insect collection I had to complete for my college entomology class. When he was older and in living in Nashville before he made the big time, he would always come over to visit with my Dad when he came home - he liked my Dad a lot.
@moninva:
Ben Bradlee always sort of disappointed me, after seeing Jason Robards portray him in “All the Presidents Men” I expected this gruff voiced, tough appearing kind of guy and Ben Bradlee when I saw him on talk shows and the like he came off as soft spoken and mild mannered (course, who knows what he was like in the newsroom lol).
@greenbutton:
“My little boy read and re-read about Jane Goodall, and we had the opportunity to meet her after a lecture. She had a receiving line that took forever…and when it was his turn, we saw why.” I love Jane Goodall, and I loved the story Gary Larson (he of “Far Side” fame) told about one of his strips (a pair of chimps, the wife saying to the husband “a white hair? you have been hanging out with that Jane Goodall tramp again!”), where someone who claimed to be head of the Jane Goodall society or some such sent a letter threatening a lawsuit, that he defamed her by intimating she had sex with chimps, etc…anyway, when Jane Goodall saw it she roared with laughter (and apparently the person who sent the letter was seperated from the group, hopefully forcibly). She said she had her ‘revenge’ on Larson, he and his wife visited her camp in Gambia, and they chose to sleep in a tent and apparently that night an adolescant ape (can’t recall if it was a baboon or orangutan) decided to climb over their tent and it collapsed, leading to chaos smile.
I sat next to Seal on a cross-country flight. Nice guy.
John Nash in the Princeton Math/Physics building (when he was still schizophrenic). James Baker, Henry Kissinger, Tommy Koh, Bruce Wasserstein at university events; Pete Peterson, Steve Schwarzman in their office; Elizabeth Warren at political fund-raiser; Jim Simons in his office. Paul Samuelson, Ken Arrow, Stephen Jay Gould in seminars. Played pickup football in HS with Willie Wilson (KC Royals but was probably the best HS football player in the country – was like Christian McCaffrey except bigger and faster). Played pickup basketball a few times with Tony Hill (Cowboys) – amazing athlete (because I was close in size, they asked me to cover him, which was way beyond my skill level) but Wilson was even more so (you can find some of his HS football highlights on youtube).
The two most memorable? Eric Clapton early one foggy morning on a park trail. I was running, he was walking his dog. It was so foggy we were both startled to see the other one emerge out of the soup. I didn’t realize who it was until I was past. The second was a well known pro basketball player who lived in my neighborhood (won’t say who or you’d know where I live). The kids had been telling me he lived here and how they were going to trick or treat at his house. I thought they were just telling stories; no way he lived here. Then I was out running in the neighborhood and there he was, putting his young children in the car. That, too, just about stopped me dead in my tracks. He waved and nodded.
My daughters and I ran into (not literally) Jonathan Winters on the street in Santa Barbara.He was coming toward us with a large man on either side and I said to my daughters, " is that Jonathan Winters?" And they both said, “who is Jonathan Winters?”. He saw me looking and was very kind about saying hello and telling me how beautiful my daughters were-a very nice man.
My daughter sang at a Dodger game maybe 10 years ago and the escort kept telling us about the guy throwing out the first pitch- neither of us had ever heard of him. When we were seated afterwards, he and his body guards were next to us and the game was very disrupted by kids and young men seeking his autograph. Turned out it was cage fighter Chuck Liddell. Both of our sons were very impressed, but he didn’t seem like a very nice man. My daughter talked to one of the body guards about his gold jewelry.
I met James Garner when I was in high school working at a fruit stand/gift shop on a highway between Los Angeles and the beach. I recognized him from “The Great Escape” but didn’t know his name. He was very nice and tipped me for helping him pick out some items for a friend.
My DS2 was the little brother to Katherine McPhee in a musical she starred in not too long before she was on American Idol. She was very down to earth and very nice to him.
My DD2 was working retail at the Grove in LA and one of the valets was watching her car for her while she ran back in to get something she forgot. Before she left, a young man in a very nice car had been trying to talk to her, but she was kind of ignoring him. When she came back, the valet gave her a parking stub with a note to call him to “hang” and a phone number. It was rapper Lil Romeo- she was not impressed.
I’m really bad at recognizing famous people. One time I was at an event and one of the Baldwin brothers was speaking to my friend and I knew he looked familiar but didn’t know why. I still can’t recall which one it was.
My kids used to get a kick out of one of the adult males from Full House used to come to our local beach.
I also have a semi famous neighbor a few lots down who I have never seen. Nor have I ever sighted his wife who is also in the movie business.
We have quite a few celebrities who live in our small city. Even if I see them I give them space. I figure they must get tired of people always coming up to them. My D rode and was friends with a brother and sister whose Dad was a popular singer back in the day. He wasn’t friendly but his wife at the time was friendly as was his Mom.
@greenbutton were you at a Penn basketball game when you saw Denzel? My wife was thrilled when she spotted Julianne Moore at a Davidson bball game, but she didn’t speak to her. Maybe next season. I think she goes to all the games.
I left out a few of my favorite athletes because they weren’t random meetings/sitings. Met Steph Curry at a “meet and greet”. Don’t remember what pleasantries were exchanged. I probably wished him luck in the NBA. How did that work out? Shook hands with Greg Olsen (Panthers tight end). He might have said, congrats or good job, I don’t recall, as he handed me my age group award at his 5k race. Same deal with Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR driver).
Oh, and I almost forgot because it was so long ago - almost 40 years ago - in graduate school, I was interested in real estate so attended a talk by a hot young jet-setter real estate developer. He came with his “hot” model wife, and afterwards I briefly met Donald Trump.
Dikembe Mutombo. My daughter has just been released from the hospital and I was picking up pictures at the Safeway (remember when you had to have pictures developed? I think it was 21 years ago today, as she was release from the NICU on 4/23.) We were standing at the counter and he said “Dat a teeny baby” I really wished I had had a camera because he easily could have held her (4 pounds) in one hand with room to spare.
My wife was thrilled when she spotted Julianne Moore at a Davidson bball game, but she didn’t speak to her. Maybe next season. I think she goes to all the games.