Celebrities who are positive to meet at shows thread

[hedrap]

^Those are awesome stories.

I've met a number of NBA players. I was waiting for Doc Rivers once and in walks this small guy in a cap. It's George Carlin. I was like 15. We start talking about his old comedy albums, which I loved at the time. Very nice unassuming guy.

In Vegas we were having lunch with my dad's friend, and a few minutes into it he waves Jerry Lewis over to join us after his racquetball game. I forgot about that happening for years. All I could talk to him about was Hardly Working. My brother said I asked him if he was friends with Bud and Lou. Funny in retrospect.

Tommy Tune is as if Ted Cassidy became Liberace. Brightest Teeth I have ever seen.

[Wee67]

None of these are from Cons, but they are just some fun stories around cool celebs

Julie Andrews taught me how to make coffee.
I was an intern at ABC News and came in early to our bureau to set up a remote interview for Good Morning America. Ms Andrews asked for some coffee, but I was too embarrassed to admit I didn't know how to use the coffee maker (I didn't drink coffee. Still don't). I poured the water directly over the grounds in the filter (I thought maybe it was like tea) and they went everywhere! Just then, she peaked in the kitchen and saw the mess I had made. She was amazingly sweet when I admitted I had never made coffee before. She grabbed some paper towels, helped clean off the counter and then showed me where the water goes versus the grounds. I couldn't believe how kind she was.

The Beastie Boys
Just before they hit it big, I got to interview them for my little 110-watt college radio station. They were a lot of fun. Fast forward to the post-release of License to Ill. They are now touring with Run DMC and playing The Spectrum (Philly's pro hockey/basketball arena). At the radio station, we were used to getting on guest lists for small underground band shows, but we decided to try for the Beasties. Their management said sure but when we went to pick up our tickets there were no tickets. There were backstage passes. The band remembered us and said how thankful they were that we gave them promo "back then." I asked Mike D what it was like to go from "back then" to having a number 1 album. He said it's f*&%ing awesome! Let me show you. He had me and my friends grab an armful of concert t-shirts and go with him out to the crowd. We spent the next 10 minutes just throwing free t-shirts to the crowd. D said this is what it's like!

Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers
I used to book shows for my university and then handled hospitality. We booked RHCP back in '88 when they were only big on college radio. I had to go meet the band in town to guide them to the concert site. They were in a big RV. As we got close to the location, Flea was driving when he spotted two girls on the street and said, "Look. Blondes, just like California." I thought he was being a jerk when he pulled over and asked them where is Parks Mall. They told him just make a right and then another right. He said, "Thanks, my bands playing. You should come see us." We drove on but rather than take the 2nd right, he circled back around to the girls and asked again, "Do you know where Parks Mall is?" This time they ignored him and he answered their silence with, "Thanks, my bands playing. You should come see us." He thought this was hilarious so went around the block again. This when asked for directions, one of the girls responded "F*&% OFF!" To which he said, "Thanks, my bands playing. You should come see us." The girls left by the 4th time we went around.

Bernadette Peters
She was apparently good friends with legendary New York anchor Bill Beutel. When he passed away, I charged with producing his memorial and started collecting interviews with his friends. Peters came to our station for the interview but news broke out and all of our photographers were on the streets. Rather than complain like she would've been within her right to do, she sat in our newsrooms for hours, waiting for a photog to free up. She felt Bill was too important to her not to say something in tribute. I used my coffee-making skills to keep her caffeinated and sat with her when I could. She couldn't have been more understanding. Plus, I will admit a bit of crush back in the 80's.

[enyawd72]

Ben Chapman...got to meet the Creature twice and he was just super nice.

Erin Gray...lovely woman with lots of stories to tell.

Joyce DeWitt....another lovely woman who actually hit on me! LOL

Adam West...got to talk to him for about fifteen minutes. SUPER cool guy.

Henry Silva...very charming and was so happy that people remembered him.

Don Stroud...helluva nice down to earth guy.

John Saxon...another super nice down to earth guy.

Mark Goddard...friendly and genuinely happy to meet his fans.

Butch Patrick...was slightly drunk, but hysterically funny. Was telling stories about trips to Vegas strip joints.

Michael Rosenbaum...super cool guy who just wants to hang out with you.

[phil]

I haven't met many celebrities and sadly most are no longer with us.

Buster Crabbe-a very nice guy.

Richard Kiel-I think he was having as much fun as his fans. He obviously enjoyed posing for photos that emphasized his height or acting menacing.

Forrest J. Ackerman-a great guy. He was like talking to any other fan.

Martin Landau-a true gentleman who appreciated his fans. I was able to have a nice long chat with him about his career and I felt like he would have been happy to talk even longer.

Caroline Munro-an extremely gracious lady and another person who truly appreciates her fans.

[RonnyG]

I have to second (or third) Yvonne Craig as one of the nicest celebrity encounters I've had, and I wasn't even in line to buy her autograph. I was just passing by her table, and she was alone, so I mentioned I saw her on TV the other night on an old Family Feud Celebrity Edition rerun, and she told me some backstage stories from that show, and we went on from there and had a nice little chat.

[MysteryWho]

I don't think I've had a truly bad experience with a celebrity. Some amusing and awkward moments, particularly with guests who are "checked out" as you said.
My best experiences were with...
William Shatner... I asked him about Incubus, a strange little film he made in the late 60s, and asked him to autograph my figure in Esperanto(Incubus was filmed in Esperanto), which elicited a smile.
Lee Majors... he shook my hand and was genuinely friendly. I mainly discussed his participation in the stuntwork on SMDM, which he seemed to enjoy.
John Saxon... also very pleasant and genuine. Talked a little about the Gene Roddenberry pilots.
Keir Dullea... really nice guy, I talked to him about a couple of little Canadian films he did, including Welcome to Blood City and Paperback Hero.
Ken Foree was also pretty nice, everybody else I can think of right now was just going through the motions or worse.
I was going to avoid mentioning deceased people, but there are two people that I have such great things to say about. First George Romero, who, despite being stuck at the Con and missing the baseball game (although I did give him an update on what I saw on TV when I was out at lunch) he chatted about sub-text in his films and as I walked away shouted "Thanks for noticing!" in a really genuine, appreciative way. Second, Yvonne Craig was very sweet to my friend's daughter and gave her a lot of attention.

[Nostalgiabuff]

i don't go to cons, but when I get a chance to see a show at Daryls House, the artist usually comes out afterwards for meet and greet. every one I have met so far has been appreciative of the fans and very gracious
Denny Laine
John Sebastian
Kip Winger
Tommy Heath (Tommy Tutone)

[PNGwynne]

^I've seen footage of him at cons, he seems to be having a ball.

[Werewolf]

I've heard nothing but good things about Alan Oppenheimer. A genuinely nice person.

[powersthatbe]

I met Sam J Jones a couple years ago and he was nice and funny..A guy behind was getting a Spirit DVD signed and he recognized it as a bootleg.Marina Sirtis I met.Patrick Stewart was literally in my neighborhood at a bookstore when he was here performing "A Christmas Carol"

[PNGwynne]

I've only been to one convention, where I met Jim Steranko. He was very generous with his time, we had a great conversation about The Shadow and Kavalier & Klay. A reasonable autograph on my Shadow paperback, too.

I'm pleased to hear well of Van Williams. I'd love to meet Jackson Bostwick.

[Marvelmania]

Ditto on Jackson Bostwick
Best celeb I ever met was Yvonne Craig. Super nice and thankful that people stood in line to meet her. She seemed genuine and actually spent time talking with each person

[Hector]

The most memorable one was Marina Sirtis hugging me way back in 1988, Los Angeles convention, the first one involving the Next Generation...I wanted to marry her right there on the spot, lol.

[Bruce Banner]

A few names (of celebrities still living) that immediately spring to mind are:
Bruce Boxleitner
Dave Prowse
Jeremy Bulloch
Garrick Hagon
Brian Blessed
Herbert Jefferson Jr.
Anthony Daniels

[EmergencyIan]

I think that I am forgetting a person or two, but I have really not many celebs, in any form.

Here is a small list of some more notable celebs that I’ve met and observations:

Randolph Mantooth: Extremely nice. I enjoyed meeting him.

Robert Fuller: Great guy. Very generous with his fans.

Michael Jordan (1989): Quite friendly. Very giving of his limited time. It was a great experience.

James Taylor: Couldn’t have been nicer. He’s also very attentive and accommodating with his fans, from what I saw. Additionally, he seemed very down to earth. You didn’t get the idea that he has ever been “Hey, I’m James Taylor!”

Jackson Browne: I met him at a Barnes & Nobles in 2002. We had a great conversation. I certainly was not disappointed. From what I observed, he was very generous with all of his fans. Before this meeting, I read that he collected footage of his old performances. It so happened that I was able to get a couple of VHS Master copies from a show he did, in Chicago, of PBS’s series “Sound Stage” from 1976. He really appreciated that.

- Ian