Any brushes with fame?

[Belia]

: Celebrity gossip is a hobby of mine. I love finding out what famous people are really like. : I know, I know- I'm a total loser.

So I just thought I'd ask.... do any of you know anybody famous? Or ever meet any famous people in an interesting way?!?!?

I'll go first-

I grew up with Robin Tunney, who has been in many movies and currently is on "The Mentalist." We went to CCD (Catholic Sunday school) together, and she sat next to me in HS Geometry. I can't say we're friends or anything, but if I saw her at the mall or something she's probably remember me!

My dad once shared an elevator ride with Cary Grant in NYC. *sigh* He said he was very nice, polite, friendly, and debonair.


OK- Your turn!!!

[Storm Bride]

I graduated with Francoise Yip (she's done a bunch of stuff, but aside from TV credits, the best known are probably Rumble in the Bronx with Jackie Chan, and Blade: Trinity). I couldn't tell you anything about her, though. We weren't really close or anything. She was always nice and friendly, and very smart - and that's about all I know.

[pixiepunk]

i used to work in TV production and have met a lot of famous and semi-famous people, and it just gets to be pretty normal. Someone who's currently really hot who i used to deal with a *lot* is Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs. He used to mostly do voice-over work, and i had to talk to him on the phone a lot to book him for voice-over sessions. he is pretty much exactly the same in real life as he is on TV - cute, kind of a cheese-ball, and a bit full of himself. but in general a pretty nice guy.

i've interviewed some pretty well-known folks (not necessarily all celebs) include a really influential Cardinal in the Catholic Church for a video for Catholic Charities, Eunice Kennedy-Shriver and her son (geesh his name escapes me) for a piece i was producing on Special Olympics, the guy who played Al on Home Improvement for a corporate video i was doing on garage door openers or some other stupid thing LOL... oh, Larry King came to do something in our studio once and i had to show him around the studio (he was weird). i'm sure there's about a zillion more, we used to have a lot of famous people in to do voice-over work, but i can rarely remember when i'm trying

[annettemarie]

When I was in third grade Olivia Newton John was eating dinner at a restaurant near my Nana's. Being a huge Grease fan, I kept riding my Big Wheel up and down the sidewalk until the owner came out and said I could meet her when I was done if I stopped. So, when I was 8, Olivia Newton John patted me on the head.

[boobybunny]

I was working as a bank teller in depoe bay oregon. (hated the job btw) and Brad Pitt came in. I guess he was looking into buying a small house in the area. He smelled really bad.. like five day funk.

[Jenifer76]

I saw Mario Van Peebles at the Ripley's Museum in Hollywood. My Mom and I were at lunch in Chicago and Marlee Matlin was also there. In college, I particpated in a student journalism program through Ford Motor Corp. We got to hang out with Jason Priestley. I even smoked a cigarette with him -- he talked badly about Tori and the lady who played his Mom. He brought along his then girlfriend (her character name was Emily Valentine on 90210) but she wouldn't talk to anyone.

[BookGoddess]

Usually I only see celebrities from a distance. I don't have the guts to make conversation with them. I see the cast of LOST a lot around town. Take last week, I saw Naveen Andrews who plays Sayiid on LOST. He was outside the Whole Foods Market talking to a pretty very skinny blonde with huge sunglasses. She wasn't famous. She was a nobody like me. I really wanted to go up to talk to him but I couldn't think of anything witty to say. He seems wiry and skinnier and fairer in person than on TV. I've also seen at the gym the guy who plays Desmond on LOST. He's really into his workout. He spends over an hour working out listening to his iPod. I know...I've timed him.

I've sat in front of Jack Lord of Hawaii Five-O fame at the movie theater. I kept turning around to stare at him that he finally grinned and patted me on the head. I was like 8 years old at the time.

I've seen Steven Segal at an airport in Asia.

[woodchick]

I've met a few famous folk:

Walter Cronkite, Ted Danson and Patricia Neal all banked at a bank I worked at (and came into our branch frequently)

I stood in line with Carly Simon for the midnight Pajama party release of Harry Potter (4, I think). She was directly behind me and we were both in PJs.

I shook Merv Griffin's hand once- just after he finished playing the Jeopardy theme on piano with the Boston Pops. I've also met Keith Lockheart (conductor of the Pops).

I've exchanged words with President, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton (while they were still in the White House), Mary Steenburgen, Art Buchwald, Roald Dahl's grandson , the guy James Taylor was singing about in "the Walking Man", Lady Bird Johnson, and probably other's I can't think of.

I asked Shel Silverstein to autography my copy of "A Light in the Attic" and he asked me to leave my book and come back later. I did and he had drawn a huge picture in the front cover page and a little personalized note and everything!

I've met Marc Brown (and have a poster sized drawing of Arthur autographed to me) and Norman Bridwell has autographed a Clifford book of mine.

I'm not a celebrity stalker or anything...I've just been in the right place at the right time, I guess.

[KiwiZ]

No my friends are the lucky ones!

One of my friends had a frozen yogurt stand at Wolf Trap and saw Julia Roberts (I can't remember if she bought yogurt or not?). He said she looked like anyone until she smiled and then she was just dazzling

A HS girlfriend saw Tom Selleck and Richard Pryor in Hawaii ('80s)

My brother had a friend from Australia who bumped into Olivia Newton John on a plane ('80s), he stammered out an apology, she smiled and he went quite weak in the knees LOL

My brother sat next to Gordon Peterson ("Inside Washington") on the Metro and they chatted awhile!

[jjawm]

I went to high school with Jason Mesnick from the Bachelor. I NEED to dig out my yearbooks!

[Belia]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

When I was in third grade Olivia Newton John was eating dinner at a restaurant near my Nana's. Being a huge Grease fan, I kept riding my Big Wheel up and down the sidewalk until the owner came out and said I could meet her when I was done if I stopped. So, when I was 8, Olivia Newton John patted me on the head.

OH. MY. GOD. This would have been my BIGGEST fantasy in third grade. I loved Grease.... I TOTALLY loved Xanadu and used to roller skate around my basement to the soundtrack... I even made my mom shop at Koala Blue (the store she started) when we visited LA.

I've been following the news about the Broadway show based on Xanadu, and I honestly don't get why the movie is ridiculed so much!

[Belia]

Originally Posted by Jenifer76

We got to hang out with Jason Priestley. I even smoked a cigarette with him -- he talked badly about Tori and the lady who played his Mom. He brought along his then girlfriend (her character name was Emily Valentine on 90210) but she wouldn't talk to anyone.

Now that's the juicy stuff!!! Who knew Mrs. Walsh was maybe a ?? She always seemed so nice when she would bake cookies after school for the gang or help Brenda with her makeup for the fashion show!

[Belia]

I have another one, but it's kind of creepy and gross.

John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer, did a lot of construction work for my dad's company while he was murdering those kids in the 70's. My dad says that he was the nicest guy and a GREAT contractor.... they used to meet for beers near the job sites to talk about how the construction was going.

Then my dad would hire him to work as the clown for the store openings when the construction was finished, and of course my sister and I would attend... yay clowns, right? Somewhere around here there is a picture of me and my sister in matching 70's orange outfits with John Wayne Gacy the killer clown.

Sorry if that's too macabre for anyone....

[hipumpkins]

I waitress and have waited on:
Molly Shannon from SNL. she was very nice. she was having dinner with her sister and they laughed the whole time. It reminded me of the way my sister and I would be.

The Pathmark man. (A supermarket commercial character) Also nice

Joe Piscopo. He was in with his family. His father paid the check. When they left Joe Piscopo came back in and handed money to me saying, "I know how my dad is"

Also I met George Carlin in an airport. My 2 friends and I were going home after vacationing in Vegas. We were whispering about seeing George Carlin.
And then...He came over to us. He put his finger to his lips and and said, "shhh"
then he talked to us asking us where were from and where we got the weird hats we were wearing. He told us to come see his show in NJ.
Then he boarded. when it was our turn to board we passed him in 1st class and he said, "Hey NJ" to us It was really exciting!!

I met Cyndi Lauper but that was for an autograph.

[annettemarie]

I met Madeline L'Engle when she came to lecture at my college. She wasn't very nice.

[eclipse]

I met Allen Ginsberg briefly at his poetry reading. The guy who played Q on Star Trek shopped at the store I worked at regularly when he was doing a play down the street. He was really a nice guy.

[Pinoikoi]

I have met tons of famous people.. I used to work in Alaskan art stores, and they would come in all the time to shop.. The comedian/actor from In Living Color, I don't remember his name..

I met the guy that did that really horrible movie about Alaska where there is a train, and he rides a horse, and he beats down the horrible oil people.. S something.. what a ljlklhjoij. (segal?)

Alaska is pretty layed back about famous people though. I suppose that is why so many vacation here.. we don't mob people..

My father is a famous writer- he won the Bram Stoker award, and through him we have rubbed elbows with some famous writers quite a bit.. Stephen King signed books for my mother and wished her well in her pregnancy (with me), they used to double date with George RR Martin and his wife..

Scotty Gomez owns a house in the neighborhood we used to live in.. and my son attended the school where he learned to play hockey.

My mother had the lady stay with her that wrote Indian in the Cupboard.. she is pretty old..

I don't get all hyped about it though.. if my dad's movie deal comes through for that OTHER book, though, I might end up being the somewhat famous one (although the time period was such that I was very small so not like I could play myself, kwim?) As it is, I sometimes get an odd email that will be are you such and such's daughter??!! (yep, sigh) You ever play that 6 degrees game? Apparently I am one degree from Madonna if that at all counts on this thread.. She was interested in the screenplay of one of dad's books at one point, so..

[Belia]

Originally Posted by eclipse

The guy who played Q on Star Trek shopped at the store I worked at regularly when he was doing a play down the street. He was really a nice guy.

Now, you see, I know him as Eugene from Days of our Lives in the late 80's.

[Mamafreya]

Originally Posted by Belia

I have another one, but it's kind of creepy and gross.

John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer, did a lot of construction work for my dad's company while he was murdering those kids in the 70's. My dad says that he was the nicest guy and a GREAT contractor.... they used to meet for beers near the job sites to talk about how the construction was going.

Then my dad would hire him to work as the clown for the store openings when the construction was finished, and of course my sister and I would attend... yay clowns, right? Somewhere around here there is a picture of me and my sister in matching 70's orange outfits with John Wayne Gacy the killer clown.

Sorry if that's too macabre for anyone....

: OMG. That is so icky.: I can only imagine how your parents must've felt when they found out what he did.

Okay, I have a story that's sort of funny. I'll preface it by saying that my dh is a horrible whisperer. He thinks he whispers but he really doesn't. It's really just talking quietly.

When I was pregnant with my first dd my dh and I were in line at Toys R Us one day getting something. I was paying and Dh was standing next to me but with his back to the people in line behind us. So we're standing there and Arnold Schwartznager and his kids get in line behind us. His kids start to ask him questions and stuff and he keeps answering them by saying "Yeah". At this point my dh leans forward and says to me (keep in mind he thinks that he's whispering), "That's the worst Arnold impression I've ever heard." I literally thought I was going to die. The checker and I both turned bright red and I quickly paid and dragged my dh out of the store.
The funny thing was that dh didn't believe me when I told him it really was Arnold. We ended up pretending to wait for the bus (bus stop right in front of the store) so that he could see him when he came out of the store. He was mortified when he saw him walk out of the store though.

I've met Tom Petty and he was really nice. Very down to earth.

I had a co-worker who was a very good friend with Daryl Hannah and one year I cave my co-worker a loaf of zucchini bread for the holidays and he later told me that Daryl wanted to know if I would give him the recipe. I thought that was sort of cool.

[Jenifer76]

Originally Posted by Belia

Now that's the juicy stuff!!! Who knew Mrs. Walsh was maybe a ?? She always seemed so nice when she would bake cookies after school for the gang or help Brenda with her makeup for the fashion show!

He said she wasn't mentally stable. She would talk to her food.