Famous Encounters

[kilz]

Anyone have any good stories about meeting someone famous?

 

[Crown Royal]

I walked past Courtney Love late one night in NY. I didn't get close though - I was afraid diseases would get me.

 

[silverbear]

Working the hotel biz these last 20 years, I have on occasion run across some celebrities, all of them minor celebs... Winchester is host to the Apple Blossom Festival in early May each year, and they bring in older TV stars a lot of the time...

This past year, we hosted Larry Hagman, of "Dallas" and "I Dream of Jeannie" fame, but I never laid eyes on him... we also had Richard Kiel, the 7 footer who was the villain in a number of James Bond movies, and also had roles in the original "The Longest Yard", and in "Happy Gilmore"... never saw him either...

We also hosted country music legend Lynn Anderson, who was a bit of an insomniac, so I DID spend a little time chatting with her over that weekend... she was surprised to learn that one of her lesser hits, a pretty song titled "Sea of Heartbreak" was covered by Jimmy Buffett on his "License to Chill" album (a duet with George Strait)... I called up a 30 second clip of that song on the PC in the Business Center, and she said that was indeed the same song... I was surprised at how little she was...

In years past, we hosted George Lindsay ("Goober" from the Andy Griffith show), who was quirky enough to be almost weird, but was a nice guy with the saddest eyes I've ever seen... he'd make a great bassett hound in his next life, LOL... we also put up Dick Van Patten, from "Eight Is Enough"... ol' Dick was obviously a student of Dale Carnegie, he was the kind of guy who made an effort to learn your name the first time you talked, then ALWAYS addressed you by name after that... the girls who work our continental breakfast just adored him... I thought he was a pretty nice guy too, his real life demeanor was quite similar to his onscreen persona...

Oh, and we entertained the girl who played "Cissy" on "Family Affair", many years ago... can't think of her name, but again, I was surprised at how tiny she was... she had her son with her, who I figured to be about 12, and she obviously doted on the lad...

But I think the most fun I ever had with "celebrities" was at the hotel I worked at prior to coming to this one, about 10 years ago... I put up a whole bunch of pro rasslers one night, they'd had a gig at Andrews AFB outside of DC that night, and a matinee in Harrisonburg (about 20 minutes down the road from my hotel at the time) the next day... problem was, it was one of those summer weekends where there were NO rooms around anywhere... I had 3, on account of a screwed up reservation...

First in was Buddy Landell, the other wrestler who called himself the "Nature Boy"... long, bleached blond hair, muscular build, I was pretty sure I recognized him, and when he signed the reg card, it was who I thought it was... as it happened, I had wrestling on the tube that night, and not 20 minutes before he showed up, I had seen a match featuring him... I told him so, and he was amused... he wound up sitting down in the lobby with me for the last 20 minutes of that show, telling me all kinds of cool stories about the wrestlers in those matches...

Not long after he went up, here came Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat"... a small guy, but real powerfully built, and if this doesn't sound gay, a handsome dude... very quiet and polite, but what struck me most about him was his REAL name, on the credit card-- Richard Blood... I told him I thought that would make a MUCH cooler name than the stage name he worked under... as I was finishing checking him in, he asked me for a piece of paper and a pen; I thought he was gonna leave a message for his buddies following behind them, to tell them one of them could bunk in his room when they got there... I had told him about the lack of rooms in the Valley that night, and he had a room with 2 double beds... it turned out that he wanted to give me an autograph, which I found kinda embarrassing, in that I have never asked anybody for an autograph in my life... but it was a nice gesture, so I thanked him, and gave it to my cousin who was far more nuts about wrestling than I ever was...

And then, about 10 minutes later, here came the deluge-- Dustin Runnels, Dusty Rhodes' son, Eric Watts, Diamond Dallas Paige (Paige was actually his first name, can't recall the last name on the card), and Mick Foley... I'm pretty sure those boys had been suckin' back some cervezas on the ride, they were wound up and really, really funny... I'm told the next morning, ol' Dustin tried REAL hard to pick up one of our waitresses... what's funny about that is she was incredibly homely and pretty hefty, you'd have to be half in the bag to flirt with somebody who'd look like that, but this was like 8AM... anyway, Mick Foley was the real nut in the bunch, and I became a bigger fan of his after meeting him...

 

[SuspectCorner]

book signing by lauren bacall. wow. i met bogey's "baby". too cool. (bogart is easily my favorite actor of all time. what a character.)

 

[Kangaroo]

I broke up Deep Blue Something party at my hotel. It was when the song Breakfast at Tiffany's was at the top of the charts


PS

Also Ted Coppel stayed at the hotel when doing a series on Texas Prisons

 

[Yeagermeister]

I have had a few brushes with celebrities.

I was once on the same flight as Joe Theesman, seemed like a real jerk, and I got great joy of watching him walk back and forth between the different luggage carosels trying to figure which one his bags were going to come down.

The second was Barry Switzer in the Little Rock airport as I was flying to Dallas. Now keep in mind this was the season after he was fired and Gailey was hired. He ended up on the same flight I was on. Now here I am with a Cowboys cap and sweatshirt on. One of the flight attendants noticed it and said you do now Switzer is on board right. I looked at him and said SO

The coolest one was Sherman Helmsley aka George Jefferson. I actually felt sorry for him because the skycap that helped bring his luggage to the gate kept pointing him out to people. He was very nice to everyone and signed autographs and took pictures. I respected his privacy and didn't bother him.

And of course being from Memphis I have seen Jerry Lawler a few times.

 

[Chief]

Most of the celebrities I've met have been athletes/coaches ... most of the top Cowboys including Aikman, Irvin, Staubach, Lilly, Drew, Hill, Jerry Jones, etc., Tim Salmon of the Angels, Sam Perkins (I had to check to see if he had a pulse), some of the Unser racing family and former driver Parker Johnstone.

I haven't met very many other celebs. Met Gloria Estefan in a hotel lobby. She was tiny and in very good shape ... great grip on her handshake. Her bodyguard/trainer was with her and her son. She was very nice.

I met the late actor, Richard Farnsworth, a couple of times. I can't imagine anyone in that line of work who is more down to earth and polite. Met Baxter Black the cowboy poet, country singers Earl Thomas Conley and Andy Griggs, and Western authors Elmer Kelton and Max Evans. I have a saved phone message from Patrick Wayne, John Wayne's son.

I don't get starstruck but the closest I've come is when I met a guy named Clay O'Brien Cooper. He's a world champion team roper now, but he was a child actor in the 1970s and starred with John Wayne in The Cowboys and Cahill and was in Roy Rogers' last movie, called MacIntosh and T.J. I grew up seeing him as a kid (we're close to the same age) and it was weird to meet him in person. He said John Wayne was the same guy away from the camera and that Roy Rogers was the nicest man he ever met.

I work with a guy who went to high school with James Garner in Oklahoma. Said he was the typical high school stud ... great football player, good looking, cool, the girls loved him and the guys all wanted to be like him. One of my best friends was Nancy Lopez's biologly lab partner at Goddard High School in Roswell.

A couple of the members of Maroon 5 tried to pick up on my daughter and her friend at a restaurant. Punks.

I've met four New Mexico governors ... and immediately felt the urge to wash my hands each time.

Oh, and I've met Dale.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Met Chicago's Mayor Harold Washington when I was a kid. My dad took me to some museum dedication back then and I just remember how hungry I was and he wouldn't let me stuff myself w/McDonald's chicken nuggets. They were being offered as appetizers. Even so, it was a pretty cool thing because the Mayor Washington was so popular at that time and being that I was a kid, he looked larger than life.

Now that I think about it, I was at UH w/Bo Outlaw when he was there. We didn't take any classes together. Saw him all the time tho.

I'm really not one to get all geeked over celebrity sightings. I might point out to someone that I've seen them or when i'm about to interview someone then I'll mention who I'm about to interview. That's about it tho.

 

[LaTunaNostra]

Met Chicago's Mayor Harold Washington when I was a kid. My dad took me to some museum dedication back then and I just remember how hungry I was and he wouldn't let me stuff myself w/McDonald's chicken nuggets. They were being offered as appetizers. Even so, it was a pretty cool thing because the Mayor Washington was so popular at that time and being that I was a kid, he looked larger than life.

Now that I think about it, I was at UH w/Bo Outlaw when he was there. We didn't take any classes together. Saw him all the time tho.

I'm really not one to get all geeked over celebrity sightings. I might point out to someone that I've seen them or when i'm about to interview someone then I'll mention who I'm about to interview. That's about it tho.

I met Mikhail Gorbochev (now there was a charismatic man)in August of 1985, as a delegate to an international gathering called the 12th Festival of Youth and Students, in Moscow. That was during early glasnost - pretty cool, and I got to see a little bit of Russia over a three week trip.

I hear ya about the celeb thing tho.

 

[blindzebra]

Since living in AZ: Sandra Day O'Connor, Bo Jackson, Dan Majerle, Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson, Danny Ainge, Richard Avedon, Mike Bibby, Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, NBA refs Ed Rush, Ron and Darryl Garretson, Tommy Nunez, Bill Kennedy, and Violet Palmer, and Gary Hall Jr.

In Kansas: Roy Williams, Danny Manning, Dana Stubblefield, Rick Berry, Greg Ostertag, Scott Pollard.


In Iowa: I went to school with Mark Steines of Entertainment Tonight and my best one...

Friends and I are at this little place called Pour Richards, think Cheers-like, kind of pub. The usual background music was classic rock, blues, Motown or good current stuff from the Police, U2, REM, etc...when all of the sudden they start playing Miami Sound Machine.

My friends and I are like *** is this crap to the owner behind the bar, when this group of very nicely dressed people get up and leave in a hurry.

The owner comes over and says, "Do you idiots know who that was?" Well it turns out that Gloria Estefen and the Miami Sound Machine played at the Fair that night.

 

[Juke99]

I got an autographed copy of Michael Winicki's book.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I got an autographed copy of Michael Winicki's book.

DING DING DING We have a winner

 

[Avery]

I met the kid who played Doogie Howser's best friend on the TV show. He farted on the set of a movie and then blamed it on someone else.

I'm seriously not making this up.

 

[Chief]

I met the kid who played Doogie Howser's best friend on the TV show. He farted on the set of a movie and then blamed it on someone else.

I'm seriously not making this up.

:laugh2:

 

[Juke99]

DING DING DING We have a winner

Thank you.

I'll sell it to ya for $3

 

[Juke99]

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds last Friday night.

They did a show here in New York...I am a blues harmonica nut job (my Juke name comes from Little Walter's signature song "Juke") and Kim Wilson is clearly, IMO, the best ever. I spent years trying to learn from his style.

We talked about music for about a half hour...he asked me what I play...I told him I record in all styles because I still havent figured out what I want to be when I grow up...he's a blues guy, through and through... he autographed this picture I created in photoshop for me

http://img100.*************/img100/1289/kimwilson1jt.jpg

 

[Yeagermeister]

Thank you.

I'll sell it to ya for $3

Too rich for my blood

 

[Juke99]

Too rich for my blood

OK...I'll throw in the SnoCone machine Winicki bought me for my birthday.

 

[Yeagermeister]

OK...I'll throw in the SnoCone machine Winicki bought me for my birthday.

You are way to generous

 

[Juke99]

You are way to generous

Well Yeager, I hate to do this but that was my last offer before I put the book up on EBAY.