It’s so funny. When I first read the question, I had a lot of trouble coming up with examples. I then I realized, “Oh. That’s why.” There’s a whole part of my brain that has simply occluded all thoughts of JFK, Jr. since his untimely death. But when I was still a relatively young lawyer workinng in Lower Manhattan, he was a familiar figure. He not only worked a few blocks from where i did, but he also lived a stone’s throw away. It was kind of surreal: one of the most easily recognizable faces on the planet; never drew a crowd; was always alone - never surrounded by security. It wasn’t just that he was hiding in plain sight; I think it was because so many of us felt that we knew him from the day he was born that there was a collective, silent agreement to let him live as “normal” a life as possible.
Anyway, it was inevitable that we would eventuallly grab lunch at the same Chinese restaurant (I couldn’t even tell you which of a hundred it could have been), but yes - he did catch me staring at him - and believe me, you only needed to catch that look once and you went right back to whatever you were doing.
I used to take the airplane shuttle from NYC → DC → NYC frequently for work.
Once, waiting in DC, the Reverend Al Sharpton was there with a huge entourage. This was before he became a vegan and lost gobs of weight. The man was absolutely HUGE.
Then there was the time I got on the plane and started to sit down – because it was the shuttle, you could just get on and choose any seat. Of course being in the front was best because you got off first. I started to sit down and a man told me that seat was taken. Then I went to the next row and he told me that seat was also taken. This happened a few more times and I was getting really annoyed – until I realized Jenna Bush was sitting in the second row, in a window seat, and the people around her were all secret service. I was able to get a seat a few rows behind on the opposite side and watched and evesdropped on her chat on the phone with her mother before we took off. When we arrived in NYC, they wisked her away to a huge black SUV and that was that.
I saw Jonathan Banks walking out the local Albertson’s grocery by my house in far NE part of the city carrying a huge pack of toilet paper.
I recognized the face, but had to look up exactly who he was.
While Breaking bad was filming in ABQ, the actors from the show were always around the NE part of the city. Bryan Cranston rented a really nice house near the UNM campus and he was frequently seen eating dinner nearby.
The vacant hospital next to my workplace was regularly used for filming The Night Shift and my colleague and I used to joke about going to crash their hospitality table because when they filmed, their tents & equipment used to block one of the 2 exits out of the fenced parking lot to our building. Because the hospitality tent was so close by we’d often walk outside at lunch time and see the actors from show. Saw Eoin Macken, Brendan Farr, etc. several times.
Actually, ABQ isn’t that big of town and there have been a lot of movies and TV series filmed in the area. Celebrity sightings were fairly common.
Another celebrity sighting in the oddest place. My husband was backpacking in Paria Canyon–a remote area on the Utah-Arizona border. On his hike out of the backcountry, he and the rest of his friends walked to Lee’s Ferry. At Lee’s Ferry was movie set where they were shooting Maverick. He saw Mel Gibson waiting to film a scene that the stunt people were setting up. His only comment was that Mel Gibson is very short.
well, the funniest movie situation I was personally involved in was the night I had gone downtown to local theater to see “Menopause, the Musical” with a girlfriend. When we came out of the theater around 10pm, the whole area around the theater had been closed down to film a scene from some sort of action or horror movie. There were green plastic coverings on the second story & up of the facades of all the buildings and there dozens and dozens of huge paper mache pieces of building rubble and broken concrete. So there are 100 or so “women of a certain age” all pumped up after the show and we’re all picking up and hefting these giant fake boulders over our heads and taking pictures. The set designers were beside themselves trying to make all these women their mothers’ and grandmothers’ age leave the props alone.
Breaking the rule, but many years ago I was approached at G. Fox by a Columbo impersonator who was in character. He was very good-- really looked like Peter Falk/Columbo, the same posture etc. He said he did parties and was handing out his business card.
The offices of the law firm where I worked were used as a location for the movie “Working Girl”. I vividly remember the crowd of secretaries at the edge of the set, hoping for a glimpse of Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith, but I don’t remember seeing them myself. (So probably shouldn’t have posted this, lol)
Funny - my wife just said the bookstore downtown is set up for filming for a movie with Kelsey Grammer and Jana Kramer. Will they be there? Who knows? Well, I’d only know Kelsey…
We were at a dinner years and years ago seated with Al Hirschfeld. He must have been bored with the presentation because he drew sketches of all the guests around the table on his napkin. Another person grabbed it before I could get my hands on it!
Have met:
Steve McQueen, Carol Burnett, Telly Savalas, Louise Lasser (who is old enough to remember “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”?), and spotted nearby: Dollie Parton, David Spade, and a few others that escape me at the moment.
I almost forgot about this but I also met and talked to for quite a while Michael J Fox and his wife at an admitted students orientation session on campus . I had talked to her first because we were at the same hotel and she heard me asking for “car service” from the bell stand, and then asked me if I knew if the car service was just SUV’s or were big ol limos because “my husband can’t really walk to the activities but my daughter has threatened to pretend not to know us if we pull up in a stretch limo again…she suggested we call a cab, but a regular SUV should be fine.” I said, yes, that’s is what I had obtained from the airport. She asked me where we were from and if we were going to any other schools and then the next day with MJF there said “you guys are going to the Wash U thing next week, from Chicago right? Do you fly or drive?” And we had a whole conversation about that including if I had any suggestions for dinner for one night near NorthWestern when they were in the area.
Baseball player Jose Abreu at Cubby Bear bar on Salsa night when he first joined the White Sox. I chatted with him, introduced him to a couple of dancers, and my wife danced with him. I had no idea who he was - the DJ and organizer introduced him as Jose, who had just moved to Chicago. Only when I got a FB friend request from him the next day did I learn who he is. We’re still friends on FB.
Dave Grohl - in line to get Thrasher’s French Fries on the boardwalk at the beach.
Ryan Zimmerman (for the Nats fans out there) in the grocery store parking lot… and I noticed him because I was parked next to his much nicer car as I realized mine had a flat. He came out while we were struggling with it and was so friendly and stayed to help my son put on the spare (kid was strong at 16, but not strong enough to loosen the lug nuts, and neither was I. Zimm on the other hand…)
That reminds me, I forgot I spent an afternoon on the Williams’ soccer sidelines during an ID camp with a well known – though not to me! – TV actor. So unknown to me that I’ve forgotten his name! Friends I was with recognized him, and were part of our group. As we walked, people we passed did whisper and do double-takes. All of that was lost on me!
That JFK Jr. memory was sort of like bursting a dam because all of a sudden I realize that as a lifelong New Yorker, of course I probably have a hundred memories of celebrity sightings over the years. Not counting all the elevator rides I shared because I had an afterschool job in the same building as the Wm. Morris Agency, nor the charity events where there was a designated “Guest of Honor” (some are approachable; some aren’t), I would say the most quintessentially New York experience is to spot someone riding the subway. Most subway riders avoid direct eye contact so it’s unusual when someone actually meets your gaze and is able to hold it for the length of a stop. This happened when i spotted William Dafoe sitting across from me. He smiled and the smile never left his face until it came time for me to change trains.
