<p>I took care of a lot of famous people when I was a nurse at Sloan Kettering. Professional ethics prevents me from saying more. :)</p>
<p>I had a drink with Joe Piscapo when he was working at a comedy club in NYC.
A friend of mine met Robin Williams in a airport late at night. She asked for a kiss and they ‘made out’ for a while.
When we lived in London, I went to pick my daughter up at her tennis lesson. Pete Sampras was practicing in the very next court - he was playing at Wimbledon the next week.</p>
<p>booklady - remeber when Jeremy Irons played claus von Bulow?? My husband’s grandmother was in the same nursing home as Sunny Von Bulow. Although we saw her frequently, she wasn’t exactly talkative at the time…</p>
<p>I also saw Yoko Ono taking her son to school every morning - flanked by 2 bodyguards.</p>
<p>I’ve met Whitey Herzog. He is good friends with the grandpa of one of my friends growing up. One night I was at my friend’s birthday party and everybody was sitting on the the driveway talking including Whitey.</p>
<p>Louie Agiuar was a kicker in the NFL for ten years. He was one of my high school football coaches within a couple years of getting out of the league. He is now a family friend of ours and my sister babysits his kids sometimes. He does a lot of charity work and bike rides and he has taken my sister on some of their family trips so she can babysit on the road…</p>
<p>We’ve met Mark Suppan. My brother won a thing with the Cardinals Kids Club several years ago and got to go interview Suppan in the dugout. We got to go with him. My dad said he saw Suppan out on the street or in a bar or something a few years later and talked to him and Suppan remembered by brother!</p>
<p>We met Ozzie Smith at his restaurant when I was little. </p>
<p>I’m sure there’s probably more I’m not thinking of…</p>
<p>I don’t care about celebrities, but my favorite remains the Detroit Pistons center Bob Lanier. He was famous for his incredibly big feet - as well as having a terrific jump shot. He was friends with a terrific golfer who - and this was the funny thing - was maybe, maybe 5’3". They’d ride in a cart together and Bob’s clubs would be 2x as tall. But the reason I liked Bob so much was he’d give kids rides on his feet. That was hilarious and he was incredibly nice.</p>
<p>The Detroit Lions practiced at my school so I not only saw them but saw them towel-wrapped or naked in the locker room. Only a few of them gave us the time of day.</p>
<p>I idolized Gordie Howe. The only athlete I idolized. For my birthday one year I bought a bunch of signed stuff from him. But actually meeting him was no big deal. Nice man. </p>
<p>A bunch of Detroit Tigers lived near us. That was when they made good but normal money. They were completely normal people with normal kids. </p>
<p>I was more impressed with the girl who became a Playmate. Before the internet, that was really something. Naked girls. A naked girl you actually know, even if only slightly. Holy cow!</p>
<p>Never cared about movie stars or actors. Some are interesting, some not. One of my kids works in the business and, fortunately, isn’t impressed with celebrity either. I think the only people I would have been flustered to meet would have been The Beatles back in the day. It’s difficult to even put in words how big their celebrity was or how much their music and its subtext filtered through all of society. It dwarfed what Michael Jackson became and you could pretty much stick all the other big celebrities, from Madonna to George Clooney together and they wouldn’t tough that level of fame and influence. Elvis is the only comparable. I am he as you are he as you are me as we are all together. Now I think of Ringo as the Conductor from Shining Time Station.</p>
<p>Lance Armstrong and I were on the same master’s swim team in Dallas in the 80s. Yes, he is arrogant, but very talented (obviously).</p>
<p>Frank Shorter (Olympic marathoner) is a personal friend. So is Kenneth Cooper, the originator of the concept of aerobic exercise for cardiovascular health. And Roger Staubach (quarterback)</p>
<p>I have a great picture of me with Bobby Knight. He is VERY tall.</p>
<p>Sat with BB King on a plane to Las Vegas. He is very nice.</p>
<p>I spent an evening with Bill Walton, the basketball player, in the mid-70s. That’s all I’m sharing about that. :)</p>
<p>Had drinks with George Plimpton in an airport bar at O’Hare Airport while we were both waiting for flights. He was very nice and we talked sports for about an hour or so.</p>
<p>I asked him what year he graduated from Yale - Oops!</p>
<p>So, is it just as impressive to meet a famous athlete as a famous movie/tv celebrity?? This is up for opinion of course…in our family, I think athletes - especially those of good character, rate as high or higher than screen celebrities.</p>
<p>I notice that many of you mention athletes - do you think they are more accessible or willing to be among the public???</p>
<p>I may have mentioned this before on a similar thread, but Marvin Gaye kissed me on the cheek, after he was interviewed at the radio station where I was interning right after college. (He saw me singing along as they played one of his songs during the interview. Fortunately I was on the other side of sound proof glass, so he couldn’t hear me.)</p>
<p>I trick or treated at Frank Shorters one Halloween, he gave us apples. My H’s cousin is a future hall of Fame pitcher but wouldnt like it if I mentioned him by name. My neighbor is frieneds with Aerosmith band members. So they drive up and dwon my street. However I see my life is pretty pathetic LOL</p>
<p>Lergnom—I will PM you. I think we grew up at or near the same school?!?
I knew that playmate. BTW–she is now on a reality TV show.
Tigers, Lions and Gordie Howe ROCKED.</p>
<p>In 1987 I lived on the Big Island in Hawaii, and worked at a resort. Ed Bagley Jr., his (first) wife and 2 kids came into the cafe I was working in at the resort. (The TV show) St. Elsewehere was super hot & he was most recognizable from that show, however I LOVED This is Spinal Tap, and even though he was only in the film for 16 seconds (as one of the drummers who spontaneously combusted), I walked over to him, smiled, and in my best deadpan said, “Good morning, Mr. Bagely, I’m a huge fan of your work…I loved you in Spinal Tap.” He burst out laughing and said that was the best “I’m a fan” statement to date. Over the next week we chatted lightly. He was charming, somewhat handsome, and very funny. Several times he asked for my suggestions on what to do with the kids that was off the beaten path. </p>
<p>In 1986 I helped Tom Hanks organize a surprise 30th birthday party for his (then) girlfriend, Rita Wilson. We became quite chummy and he called me by the nickname my family calls me. He was absolutely precious. Nice, funny, cute, and nice (yes, said twice on purpose).</p>
<p>I sat next to Maria Shriver and a couple of her kids, sharing a banquette at a diner in Rockefeller Center about 15 years ago. She was very devoted to her kids and very friendly, we shared the ketchup kind of thing. But I must say (and I’m not being catty) that she was very well put together, but not in the least a pretty woman. Actually, she was so emaciated and her facial bones so prominent that she was actually grotesque, like a skeleton with a wig on. I was very surprised by that because she photographed very differently.</p>
<p>Anne Hathaway filmed her first professional TV commercial at my house in 1997 when she was 14. I spent most of the day talking to her mom. (the shoot took from 7am-5pm). I was still on maternity leave and S1 was just a few months old. He tells everyone that she held him and said he was cute, which I think is true!</p>
<p>Mary Lou Retton. Our kids were competing at the same gymnastics meet (GAGE dragon meet, in case any of you were wondering) . </p>
<p>Dh just met Colin Ferguson (sheriff John Carter on Eureka). They were on the same flight leaving Haiti after spending some time doing mission work. Dh’s parents were US embassy employees, so he’s met presidents, Miss America, Bob Hope, and any number of people who would have toured with the USO during the 60s and early 70s. Of course, he was just an embassy kid running around the compound. He also once interpreted for the president during the Clinton administration</p>
<p>“I was more impressed with the girl who became a Playmate. Before the internet, that was really something. Naked girls. A naked girl you actually know, even if only slightly. Holy cow!”
:)</p>
<p>Nj2011mom…great commercial…great house too.</p>
<p>I sat next to Bruce Jenner on a Coast to Coast flight. When I told my friends, their reaction was " Bruce Jenner sat in coach?" No, I sat in first class which shocked them more. I tried to be low key and made small talk and about halfway through the flight found a news article on the Olympics and asked his opinion, which was my way of saying I know who you are but I respect your privacy. My wife is still disappointed that I didn’t ask for an autograph but I told her that guys don’t generally do that type of thing…</p>
<p>We live fairly close to NYC, so there are locations scouts all over the place. They had picked the house next door as the ‘selling house’ and then placed flyers in the doors of houses within a 1-2 block radius that had steps that would work for the rest of the shoot. The flyer had a phone number to call if we were interested. They were thrilled we called, as they wanted our house, given the proximity.</p>
<p>Anne was great - nailed her lines every time. The boy, not so much…</p>
<p>I remember speaking with one of the ADs that said he thought she would go far, as she was a natural. </p>
<p>We have a video with the directors cut of the commerical. I didn’t realize it was Anne Hathaway until 5 years ago when I read an article in our local Sunday paper that mentioned the commerical. I ran into the TV room with the video and popped it in and said to the kids to look carefully and tell me who it is. I’m thrilled our house is famous!</p>
<p>The commerical aired seemingly non-stop in the fall of 1997, especially on CNN. I remember seeing it in hotel rooms around the country when I was away on business (also several times during Princess Di’s funeral), which was weird.</p>
<p>What always surprises me about celebrities, is how tiny they are.
I am not that big, but they often seem bird like.
( most athletes are much taller of course, I had my picture taken with Detlev Schremp-6’10" & Dan Wilson-6’3" at a benefit, such great guys. The sister of a high school friend was Bill Russells 6’9" 2nd wife)</p>
<p>Alan Arkin lived in Seattle for a while ( his granddaughter attended Ds school) & worked with the middle school kids on their writing. Swoon. </p>
<p>I also saw James Earl Jones riding a bike through my neighborhood. ( he was in town for a series)</p>
<p>People involved in the arts, musicians,writers,actors…at least when away from any sort of entourage seem so happy to meet others interested in their craft, and if you don’t catch them at a bad time, some of them will just talk and talk.</p>
<p>The only time I have asked one for an autograph, was when that was what I came for, like when Alex Rodriguez was still with the Seattle Mariners and had written a children’s book.</p>
<p>I would have loved to ask Alan Arkin for an autograph, but I was trying to be “cool” :o</p>
<p>Went to college with Doc Rivers. He was a general Business major, but took Business Law 2, which is typically only for accounting majors. The professor was associated with the basketball team. The curve was “Doc gets a B”.</p>