Did you ever meet anyone famous?

JeeperDon

JeeperDon

Member
Location
New Mexico, USA
Just curious if anyone spoke with, shook hands etc., with anyone famous over the years. My short list is ... I once talked with Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick at a restaurant in CT. I also sat next to Danial Baldwin on a flight from NYC to Toronto. On another plane I spoke with ice skater Scott Hamilton. Though not really a meet, when I was 14 yrs old in 1960, I was standing on the street curb at a corner with my mom and JFK's motorcade came buy and made a tight turn at the corner. He was in his usual top down convertible only 6 feet from me.
 

A few but the ones I find significant probably wouldn't be to others. My number one was Jungian analyst and author James Hillman but I also met the poet Robert Bly at the same institute of depth psychology in San Francisco in the early 80's.

More ho hum for me, a year after 9/11 we met presidential historian Michael Beschloss, Colin Powel, George W Bush and his wife at an event to honor the artists and the organization which places artwork in US embassies around the world. We were expecting to get on a plane to DC on 9/12 but of course everything was put off a year. Oh and Henry Kissinger was just ahead of us at a luncheon for this event. Guess the guy needed a free lunch?.

On a side note the Mr Rogers of children's television came to my school. The kids went nuts but I didn't have a clue who he was.
 
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JeeperDon said:
Just curious if anyone spoke with, shook hands etc., with anyone famous over the years. My short list is ... I once talked with Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick at a restaurant in CT. I also sat next to Danial Baldwin on a flight from NYC to Toronto. On another plane I spoke with ice skater Scott Hamilton. Though not really a meet, when I was 14 yrs old in 1960, I was standing on the street curb at a corner with my mom and JFK's motorcade came buy and made a tight turn at the corner. He was in his usual top down convertible only 6 feet from me.
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Does Jim Eisenreich from the KC Royals count? It wasn't for long. He signed a card and baseball for me. Would not shake my hand. I wasn't impressed.
 
While in college in the 70s-80s, I attended presentations by Jane Goodall, King Charles (he was Prince then), and Francis Crick of the famous Watson, Crick, and Wilkins (1962 Nobel Prize Winners for DNA). I still remember their talks forty-plus years later. During those times, I also met a famous Greek actor and a famous Greek singer (I tried to interview the singer for college, but he wasn't available). More recently, I met Yianna Aggelopoulou, a Greek lawyer/politician who headed the Greek Olympics in 2004 and wrote a book about it (her agent had contacted me to write a review of her book), and she personally thanked me at a book signing in Florida. There are more, but these come to the forefront.
 
These are not major celebrities today, but here goes...

I met Twiggy. She was the godmother of one of the ships owned by the company I worked for. I was invited to a cocktail party she attended aboard the ship and was approached by my boss to say more people needed to talk to her. I had just seen a documentary on her and had heard some funny excerpts, so I asked her about them and we had a good laugh. It was 2010. I think she was 60 at the time and was still beautiful.

I also met Lorna Luft (Liza Minelli's sister) in 2016. She was performing aboard another ship that we introduced. I met her at the gangway. I said, "Oh, you're performing tonight. She said, "No, it's tomorrow night". I didn't argue the point. She WAS performing that night and had just flown from the US to Europe so her voice was shot. I really felt bad for her because her set wasn't good, yet she attended the show the next night like a trooper.

I was on a Star Trek charter aboard a ship in the 80's. I was seated at dinner with Majel Roddenberry, Gene Roddenberry's widow. I couldn't wait to pick her brain about Gene's inspiration for Star Trek. It was fascinating. I also escorted George Takei and his mother to their cabin. He was so gracious, just like he appears when interviewed. I met Nichelle Nicholes, who sang aboard the cruise, as well.

My role in the cruise industry gave me lots of opportunities to meet interesting people and travel to fascinating places, so I feel very fortunate.
 
MarkD said:
A few but the ones I find significant probably wouldn't be to others. My number one was Jungian analyst James Hillman but I also met the poet Robert Bly at the same institute of depth psychology in San Francisco in the early 80's.

More ho hum for me, a year after 9/11 we met presidential historian Michael Beschloss, Colin Powel, George W Bush and his wife at an event to honor the artists and the organization which places artwork in US embassies around the world. We were expecting to get on a plane to DC on 9/12 but of course everything was put off a year. Oh and Henry Kissinger was just ahead of us at a luncheon for this event. Guess the guy needed a free lunch?.

On a side note the Mr Rogers of children's television came to my school. The kids went nuts but I didn't have a clue who he was.
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No ho hum on my part. My partner was manager of a retail store in an exclusive area of Dallas. He told me a story about how black SUVs pulled up to the store and Laura Bush entered. He greeted her and said she was delightful. After all, she is a Texas Southern lady!

To me, it is a big deal that you got to meet Colin Powell, George W Bush and Laura Bush. I would like to meet some in the political arena as well, although not so much in today's environment.
 
dobielvr said:
Steve Miller, rode the elevator with Michael J Fox, hung out with Shields and Yarnell long ago, that's all I can remember.
Got up close to King Tut.
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Were Shields and Yarnell doing mime when you hung out with them? :ROFLMAO: I remember them from the 70's!
 
When I was in high school, I would go with my boyfriend (now my DH) to his friends house. Sometimes his friend's cousin would come by and the guys would play basketball. Afterwards, we would all sit around and hang out.

The "cousins" name was Richard Marx, and he would talk about how he was trying to get into the music business!!!

So, he wasn't famous yet, but.....
🎵🎶🎵🎶🎤🎵🎶🎤🎵🎶🎵
 
seadoug said:
Were Shields and Yarnell doing mime when you hung out with them? :ROFLMAO: I remember them from the 70's!
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Yes there were!
We were down in the Beverly Hills area, after a show, if I remember correctly. I think it was after seeing King Tut.
We ran in to them, and my sister knew the guy Shields? from somewhere before.
This was in the mid 1980's.
 
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seadoug said:
No ho hum on my part. My partner was manager of a retail store in an exclusive area of Dallas. He told me a story about how black SUVs pulled up to the store and Laura Bush entered. He greeted her and said she was delightful. After all, she is a Texas Southern lady!

To me, it is a big deal that you got to meet Colin Powell, George W Bush and Laura Bush. I would like to meet some in the political arena as well, although not so much in today's environment.
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She was charming for sure but I would have traded her in for a chance to meet W’s mother.
 
Beezer said:
I met Canadian hockey star and Senator Frank Mahovolich in an elevator downtown. Talked with Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter at a ballgame in San Diego. Those are my two brushes with great old sports athletes.
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Lol, got to skate and play in a practice game at our local arena, where Papa worked.

The whole NHL Montreal Canadians Squad as they were in 1964. Jean Béliveau was my favourite player. They told Papa that for a girl I was a total tomboy hockey player. Got the souvenir stick with which I scored into goal from blue line.

10 years later, after Papa died, our signed hockey stick was sent away to charity along with many precious souvenirs. I was devastated...

My 15 minutes of skating fame...
 
In the 1970s, with a school friend, we went to a local bar where unknown to us the singer for the weekend was Jean Nichol. Got to sing three songs with him on stage. The YouTube video is the song I sang by myself, standing next to him. Whoa!

Never met these famous people to shake hands with but...

Standing next to a RCMP Officer (he saluted and I went into my ballet full curtsy) when the Queen and Prince Phillip's car drove passed us, and received two Royal waves.

Was in crowd with baby daughter and hubby where Sarah and Andrew, Duke and Duchess of York were visiting National Art Centre.

Got a close-up pic for relative of the Pope in his Pope mobile.

Was in audience where a floating light bulb descended into my lap during a Blackstone (Harry Jr) magic performance. Got to return it to him on stage...
 
Sam Waterston from Law & Order.
He was walking his dog down by the docks in the next town over. We were the only ones there because it was so early in the morning.
We chatted, I never mentioned who he was, just two guys talking about the weather.

James Spader. He was at one of our town meetings. Looking to stop some work being done in the bay near his home. I joked, asking if we were on his Black List.

Geraldo Rivera, Also at a town meeting. Got a little heated. It was about his dogs not being on a leash. He made such a scene that he ended up donating to the local theater. Then there was a 'dust up' on him flying his helicopter to his property at all hours of the night. That stopped.
 
I’ve never met anyone famous, but my mother met Donald Trump at a book signing back in the days when he was just a real estate developer. The book was probably The Art of the Deal, published in 1987. As he signed her book, my mother babbled that she had been to one of Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City. He asked her how she liked it, and my mother told Trump that it was “fabulous!”

(Please note that my mother was always an embarrassment to me.) 😩
 

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