Ever meet a celebrity "casually"?

[Gorn Captain]

What I mean is: did you ever get to talk to a "famous" person you just ran into, and who didn't have a "I'm famous" attitude?
And I don't mean at conventions, because they are there for the fans anyway.

Years back, our main movie theatre wasn't that strict with celebrity security, so you could just walk into the back rooms where the movie people hung out.

I sat next to Peter Jackson (pre-LOTR), who was having a beer at the bar. Back then, I was too shy to strike up a conversation.

I got to talk to Melanie Griffiths, who was really sweet, and we smoked a cigarette together. Well, each our own, of course! Later on, I snuck into the Q&A for reporters, and asked her a question. Our national newspaper ran an article on her, and the only question (and answer) they printed was mine!

Peter Ustinov was a really gentle man, and even spoke some Dutch.

I got to talk to Max von Sydow and his wife, really down to earth people.

You know, conversations like that mean more to me than "can I have your autograph and a picture moments". A lot of these movie people just want to be treated like...people.

[kingdom warrior]

I met Ricky Martin when my cousin and i went to see the movie courage under fire back in the mid 90's he was doing Broadway at the time and he sat right in front of us.....my cousin looked at me and said isn't that Ricky Martin and i said yeah i think so.....so I tapped him and said aren't you Ricky Martin,He turned and said yes and we began a conversation that lasted till the movie started. Very humble and cool guy nothing stuck up or arrogant about him.......left a big impression.

[Mikey]

Hmmm,
The ones I can think of at the moment is ....

I met Bernie Williams (NY Yankees) in Newark airport.
We were both waiting in line ... He was cool.

I met Virgil/Vincent from wrestling in a restroom at a bar in AC.
We were both washing our hands and I said, hey are you Virgil ?
He said, "yea" ... I said "that's cool" ... and I walked away

This one is going waaaaaaaaaay back.......
I met Kitty Carlisle in NYC back in the 70's.
Me and my buds were trying to get a taxi and Kitty was trying too

[palitoy]

I met Virgil/Vincent from wrestling in a restroom at a bar in AC.
We were both washing our hands and I said, hey are you Virgil ?
He said, "yea" ... I said "that's cool" ... and I walked away

That's all you're gonna get out of that guy for free. I don't care for Wrestling but that guy is EVERY comic book convention.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I've run into a bunch at work. We get lots of live shows and you see them wandering the gaming floor sometimes. The Beach Boys freaked me out 'cos they're HUGE! The one dude's gotta be over 7 feet tall!

Don C.

[megojim]

A landscaper we do some work for wanted me to go look at this house he took care of. A big estate out in the country. He said "just go check it out", don't bother the home owner. No big deal as he was my customer. So I get out there, park the car and start walking around just looking things over. I see someone come outside and start walking my way. As he gets closer it's Ed Belfour!! Hockey great!! being a huge fan I said to him, and i quote, "you're Ed Belfour" . . . DUH! anyway super nice guy and still a customer but now direct, so i get to see him 2-3 times a year. Very private though and protective of his family.

[megoapesnut]

Bruce Willis handed me a T-Shirt once. He said "here's one just for you" as he handed it to me. Does that count as a conversation?

[wolfie]

I partnered Sam Torrance Europe's Ryder Cup Captain in a golf tournament, i casually bumped into all sorts of golf's stars that week.

[megoapesnut]

Here's an autograph moment, but it' a very cool story. I still dabble in football cards, mostly autographed, but many years ago I was heavily into collecting them. I had a Tony Dorsett rookie card that I had displayed in my case. Soon after he retired, he was in Hershey, which is a few towns over from me, as he was the honorary captain for a big football game they play at Hersheypark stadium every year. I found out that he was at a card show that Saturday at the Hershey Lodge and he was signing autographs, but I only found out after the show was over. I was devastated that I didn't get to meet him and get the rookie card autographed. I decided to call the Lodge and see if he might be staying there. The hotel answers the phone and I ask "I don't know if you can tell me this or not, but is Tony Dorsett staying there" and they say, "yes, do you want us to ring his room?" Well, heck yeah, if you can do that. So the phone rings and TD answers and I explained what happened and he says "come on over to the hotel tomorrow morning and look me up, room 425". Holy hand grenades he gives me his room number and everything! So, my wife and I go there and it's really busy there, people walking around all over the place. We knock on the door and Tony answers in shorts with a towel over his shoulders (he just got out of the shower) and he chats with us for a few minutes and his phone rings, and he leaves the door open and says he'll be right back. I turn to my wife with a huge grin on my face and see that 15 people have formed a line behind me! Tony comes back and signs my card and chats another minute or so. We leave and he starts chatting with the next person. How many people would have done that for somebody? That was the highlight of the decade for me.

[toys2cool]

I got to meet a few celebs where I worked at as a personal trainer
Glen Rice(sweetest dude ever!) even played ball with his son
Penny hardaway cool guy
Kenny Anderson pretty cool
Tim Hardaway(biggest jerk ever!)
Placido Polanco very nice guy
Albert Pujols,Really cool but full of himself
Christian Castro very cool and has a super hot wife!
Vanilla Ice very cool

[MIB41]

I've met scores in my convention work. But on the street I believe I have only met three. Me and a good friend of mine ran into Eric Carr (deceased drummer for KISS) at the Seelbach Hotel back in '84 after one of their concerts in Louisville (promoting the Animalize album). A quiet, reserve guy, but very nice. Nothing terribly deep. When I worked at Kroger back in the early 80's, Jonathan Harris (aka Dr. Smith) came into the store. He carried a suitcase that held his money. Odd. I only saw him once but many of the guys who worked in there saw him all the time (he had a favorite nephew who lived nearby so he was in periodically). He kept to himself and was kind of standoffish.

But the funniest person I ever met "in the wild" was Tiny Tim (also in Kroger). Some of my friends saw him and pointed him out. I'll never forget this character. He looked like a short version of Alice Cooper with long stringy, and quite oily, looking hair. He wore a blue sports jacket and a yellow dress shirt tucked into these white and red plaid pants with white sneakers (Brick would be proud ). He was a sight to behold. Everyone was afraid of him because of his appearance. So a buddy of mine said, "I'll give you five dollars if you can get his autograph." I laughed and said, " Of course. What's the big deal here?" So I walked up and politely introduced myself and asked if he Was Tiny Tim. And here's the funny part... This little man (who you would think would have some tiny, raspy voice) turns around and out comes this bold and professional voice, "Why hello Tom. Nice to meet you. And here is my agent. Jack why don't you shake Tom's hand." It was kind of surreal. But honestly, as a person he was the very antithesis of what you would anticipate him to be if measured by appearance only. I certainly got a good lesson in never judging a book by it's cover that day. And I got my autograph too. Don't know what I did with it though...



In retrospect I think I should have gotten $20.00 for the effort.

[Brazoo]

Uhh - here's probably one of the coolest ones for me - but maybe doesn't count because A) he might not be a celebrity to most people and B) it was at a show to see his band...

Me and my buddy (both very awkward teenagers) at a small venue to see the band Firehose and we were in there very early. Mike Watt (the singer/songwriter/bassist - also from the punk band Minutemen, a solo career and he's in the current incarnation of The Stooges) was walking around, kinda just waiting for the opening band to come on.

My fiend and I were both excited to see him just out in the crowd instead of hiding backstage - and my buddy asked me "should we buy him a beer?" and we both thought that was a really cool thing to do - so we bought the beer and the bartender called him over - and we were expecting him to just take it and leave, but instead he came to our table and hung out. He sat there asking us about what kind of music we liked and stayed with us while he drank his beer.

We kinda didn't even know what to do - we were barely use to adults actually having a real conversation with us, let alone a guy we both kind of idolized. It's a really great memory.

[mitchedwards]

When I was a kid my dad traveled quite a bit. Which meant my Mom and I spent alot of time in the airport waiting to pick him up. So one day in the early 70's Mike Connors (Mannix) walked right past us. I got to get his autograph. He seemed like a pretty nice guy.

In the 80's I met David Prowse (Darth Vader) quite by accident. He sat right in front of me at church one Sunday. All I can say was my view was defiantly blocked. He was quite down to earth.

In the late 80's Sean Hannity was getting his start in radio in Huntsville AL. He walked past me on his way to a speaking engagement. Someone had to tell me who he was.

Paul SR (American Chopper) drove his hummer past us when we visited Orange County NY. He is much smaller in person than he looks on TV. We also saw Paul JR in one of his sports cars burn rubber and go about 80-90 mph down the road.

[Adam West]

Celebrities that were not at conventions or anything.

Mark Moseley-Redskins field goal kicker. He owned a travel agency after his football career that my previous employer used. I happened to manage the travel department, met with him a few times, went to lunch, even invited me to the Redskins luncheon.
John Riggins-"The Diesel". Just a teenager in the catering business (he was at the height of his career) and he walked over to us and talked with us for about 15 minutes for no particular reason. Super nice guy.
Last weekend and this is going into quasi celebrity is Sam Calagione (owner/founder) of Dogfish Head Brewery that was featured on Beer Masters on the Discovery channel. My wife and I attended a beer tasting/vinyl swap festival at the brewery and he walked right up to us and started a conversation with us. We had someone take our picture with him but again super nice guy. I know he has a reputation for being a bit arrogant and full of himself but we found him to be a very nice down to earth guy. My wife who is not a beer drinker and didn't really want to go commented what a nice guy he was and we were super impressed at how clean the brewery was inside.

[boss]

I played booster/youth soccer with Mia Hamm.