Have you met or seen a famous person up close? If so, who was it?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tommy999
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I forgot to mention (actually I just remembered it - forgive my aging brain 😌) that I got singer BJ Thomas’s autograph and shook his hand (Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head and Hooked on a Feeling) when he was at my college bookstore back in the late 1970’s after he had a Christian spiritual awakening. He wasn’t as tall as I thought he would be but he seemed to be a nice person.
 
Last edited:
It’s not braggy, Bear! Well, I am glad I read it when I did then! 😉
 
I forgot to mention I saw Ronald Reagan and Nancy pass in front of me in a
motorcade when they were in Phoenix to visit Nancy’s mother who lived at the
Biltmore at the time. I was holding my 2 yr. old son and President Reagan
waved at us.

I also saw Pope John Paul II when he visited Phoenix in 1987. We were standing
in the plaza and the Pope was on the balcony of St. Mary’s Basilica. There is a special kneeler inside the Basilica where he knelt and prayed. I try to sit near it
when I attend Mass there.
 
Thanks to all who responded to this thread. I’ve enjoyed reading your “close encounter” stories and pictured some of them in my head by your descriptions, like Todd Rundgren putting on Tis_Bearself’s hat on stage for a bit and then giving it back. Thanks a bunch for sharing, everyone!
 
Last edited:
stpurl said:
Then within the last couple of years Johnny Gilbert (a terrific guy!) and Alex Trebek, an even MORE terrific guy! Cannot say enough good about him.
Click to expand...
Me too, January 2018.

Even though it was in the context of a sporting exhibition, I include: The time my father took the family to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I think Dad was the only person in the concourse of the arena to recognize Meadowlark Lemon in street clothes before the show. We spent quite a bit of time chatting with him and not another soul noticed.

And one of my favorite openings to such a relationship: Half a lifetime ago I was acquainted with a young lady through campus ministry and a group of us went to see the movie Stand By Me. “Oh that’s based on one of my uncle’s stories” she sez. “Really?” sez I, “I thought it was a Stephen King story?”

🤨

🦶➡️👄 🤦‍♂️

A few years later I met Uncle Steve at her wedding.
 
I was once at a Bruce Springsteen concert. We weren’t close, but it was memorable because he kept forgetting the words to a song and had to ask his wife. I guess we know who the real Boss is! 😂
 
I was once the guest of a camera man for the TV show 24 and got to visit a studio were it was filmed. We walked past Keifer Sutherland several times but I never actually got to meet him. And I was standing right next to Mary Lynn Rajskub but didn’t get to speak to her either because they were getting ready to film. I didn’t even know who he was at the time but I was introduced to John Boyd who is now on the television series FBI.

Cody Kasch, who was a child actor on the television series Desperate Housewives, used to come over to our house to play video games with my son.

When you live in southern California you are occasionally in the same place as various famous and semi-famous people. But most people I know try to give them their space unless someone makes a point of introducing them.
 
Last edited:
My brother was driving in New York and stopped at a red light and Alan Alda walked past and smiled at him.
 
Roy Scheider jogging on Park Ave NYC. Smiled at us watchers.
Yul Brynner in NYC
Jay Z coming off plane in NY. Stopped for pictures with travellers.
Just missed John Lennon and Yoko on Park Avenue. Friend saw them.
Ethel Merman on Broadway. She waved.
Don Ameche midtown NYC
Sherman Hemsley on Park Ave.
Jackie Onassis Kennedy on Park Ave.
Maximillien Schell in elevator in NYC
Darren McGavin NYC going into restaurant
Mark Bavaro of NY Giants in my health club
Dom Deluise in NY Health Club
Robert De Niro filming in Grand Central Station
 
Last edited:
In the “did not meet but saw close-up”, I was in Manhattan one day in 2000, in the outside lane on a street. Suddenly came upon a photo shoot right there across the curb next to my car. Could have reached out the window and touched folks.

The model was Sarah Jessica Parker. She was so beautiful, I was stunned! In fact, I circled the block 3 times (this was pre cellphone camera days).

I once was at an event with Mike Huckabee. His hands are lady soft, it was a very odd handshake!
 
I had forgotten.

Years ago I saw Steve Martin filming a film. He was standing quietly. Not so wild or crazy. Maybe because Dan Ackroyd wasn’t there. 🤓
 
As a younger man I was really into wrestling, and I’d often meet wrestlers after B-list shows. Amazingly, some of the guys with the worst reputations were the nicest people. Buff Bagwell, who gained a bit of bad publicity when he was in the WCW, was one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Hacksaw Jim Duggan, a guy who was pretty big in the 80’s, was another super nice, down to earth guy. I’ve also met John Cena Sr at a show in Massachusetts. Great guy, really funny too.
 
When the Neville Brothers played in Portland, Maine, sometime in the 1990s, my wife and I went around the building after the concert hoping to meet them. We saw two or three of the brothers walking into their hotel. In the lobby, we found Cyril Neville and shook hands. He’s the percussionist and his hands are rough. He seemed cheerful about the unexpected encounter.
 
Lee Marvin actually knocked on my door was stuck in the mud hunting, several of the Neville family a singing family that I worked with on stage and other musicians
 
Secular figures: Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush, Dan Quayle, Bobby Kennedy

Not secular figures: some Polish guy named Wojtyla, Fr. Benedict Groeschel
 
Yes, I worked awhile for author Richard Bach and his (at the time) wife Leslie. This was in their home so I knew their habits and how they lived.
 
When you say “famous” …please explain…actors and actresses and the stars are not Famous…they haven’t acquired any statue…only acted or copied others. They are idolized by many…so sad! They strive for attention and will do anything for it! Yes I have seen a famous person…but not close…Prince Charles!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top