Brushed with Celebrities

M

Murphy'sBoy

1,000+ Posts
I usually start this thread once a year; it seems fun and goes like this:

Best celebrity I ever met: Gillian Anderson (as sweet as could be), early Black Sabbath (Ozzy gave me a beer), Willie always cool

Worst Celebrity: Believe it or not, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Daughter and I ran into him at the space needle in Seattle. He was such an *** he made my eight year old daughter cry. I thought about punching him but my daughter had nowhere to go. He then had the gaul to ask if we wanted to take a picture of him. Heard he got hurt on Dancing with The Stars and it made me very happy!!!
 
I met Mickey Mantle and he autographed a baseball for me in Dallas at the Mickey Mantle Bowling Lanes. I think it was on Harry Hines Blvd. It was probably 1958 which would have made me about 12. Pretty cool for me and my friends.
 
Ben Johnson. In Longview at the motel restaurant where I was staying, doing oil and gas lease work. Film in the area. This would be late 70s I think.

James Mason, Dyan Cannon, in Good Earth restaurant, Palo Alto. Filiming of Heaven Can Wait in area.

Jack Lemon, Billy Wilder, in Palo Alto, at Sranford Theater, at a special showing of Apartment and Some Like it Hot.

Charleston Heston in Santa Monica, coming towrad me walking thru lobby of hotel were I was attending a screenwriting workshop ( unrelated to that).

George Foreman, walking toward me in passing at New Orleans airport. (that keeps happening for some reason... walking toward me)

Joe Montana, Jim Plunket, different shops in Menlo Park, during 90s.

George Shultz, who was on our corp board, (Cupertino, late 80s) and I handled some admin duties setting up his address. He was the most impressive person I ever met, comparable to multiple Iron Man winner, Dave Scott, I met once in San Jose, when I was doing the sport. Both of those men were very centered and looked me right in the eye as I was the only person of importance to them in that moment of time. Dave out of calm focus and total self-reliance. He had weeks before won another Iron Man as we'll.

I always thought former Sect of State Shultz simply made it a habit of being fully aware of anyone in his presence. As a matter of necessary statesmanship, and a sense of personal security.

That purposeful look in the eye I also got from Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary, when I met her at Back Bay Theater in Boston following a concert.

Silliest thing I ever did was hand a book to Debbie Reynolds in San Fran, following a stage show of hers. I did better with books getting an autograph from Richard Bach at a San Francisco national book convention (I had a booth there ).

Walked in passing toward Bette Midler in Mt. View, CA, at the close of attending a pre-screening of a film.

I shook Bill Clinton's hand in Cupertino at my company when he gave a talk there before his first election. Same place where I met Shultz..

At a Houston Rodeo I shook part of a hand of... some won't appreciate this one... Roy Rogers!! Okay, one more,... during rodeo week in Jasper... met, at a restaurant, another cowboy film start, Wild Bill Elliot.

Good friend of mine has had a special tie to Mike Renfroe (Oiler and Cowboy receiver), and one time when I was visiting their home in Ft. Worth I was put in Mike's old room. Well that sounds creepy.

On sightings there are also the famous near misses. I was in a hotel in Carmel checking in for Big Sur Marathon (which I only attended as I pulled a muscle training and didn't run) and was told that Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell had just checked out and left the lobby right before we got to the guest counter. But had other events in Carmel when my wife and I met Yoko Ono at a reception she was holding, and my wife bought a couple of her art prints. We were in New York some years before that, walking down a street, looked up in a restaurant window that was shoulder high...and there sat Yoko Ono at a window table. Guess we were destined to meet. After we met with her in Carmel and got the prints, we passed her (coming toward us .. AGAIN that happened) on a side street later in the afternoon taking a stroll.

Met Earl Campbell at Cisco's not long ago. And met Darrell Royal and Jamal Charles after a banquet the season of the championship.

A few years ago, before he passed away, met the late Harry Browne -- libertarian presidential candidate -- at a backyard patio evening dinner party in Pheonix, attending a financial conference. Sat beside him, and he explained how and why he would sit up all night when he worked and wrote. Said the wold seemed so quiet all those hours. It came up because I had gotten into the same habit and had had a hard time breaking it, often working til 8 in the morning.
 
I Mr. Peppermint at a birthday party when I was a kid. Twenty years later, I met his son, Gibby Haynes, in San Antonio. A few years later, Gibby became the frontman for the B***hole Surfers. Two generations of Texas showbiz royalty, sort of.
 
Waited tables for years and because I watched very few movies and no television, the management would usually have me take the celebrities who came in because they figured (usually, correctly) that I wouldn't even know who I was dealing with. I remember Owen Wilson and Will Farrel coming in, the staff going nuts, and when I said "Who are those guys?" the owner told me to take the table.

Nicest / Coolest I met: Minnie Driver, Clint Eastwood, and Charles Barkley.

Worst: Lance Armstrong, hands down, total prick. Lady Bird Johnson was sweet but a bad tipper.
 
A friend of mine, the late Ric Williamson, then a state rep, called and told me that he wanted me to arrange meeting space for a couple of aspiring politicians that he said were going places. They were considering a statwide race and wanted to meet and greet some local folks.

The two guys were George W. Bush and Rick Perry. Both came across as nice guys and pleasant company. But I remember thinking -- Ric is the smartest, most focused, one among the three.. I should have asked why he had smaller political ambitions, because I'd really like to know.
 
Peter Buck and mike Mills of REM: Super sweet guys, Got backstage during the 87 show at the Austin Colosseum and they spent tons of time with all the fans. They were the toast of the hipster crowd at the time so it was surprising they weren't douches.

Joey Ramone at schultzes around the same time. Just sat down beside him and some girl at a picnic table. I idolized him so I had to do it. He was cordial but i guess he has crippling social anxiety so you could tell he wanted me to leave. I did.

Thats it... surprised those are the only celebs ive met. Im a huge music fan and have been to numerous autograph signings. I dont count those as even brushes with celebrity, but Carlos mencia, Alex Lifeson and Olivia newton john(with girlfriend) were all ultra friendly And initiated conversation.
 
I dated a past winner of the America's Junior Miss Pagent.

Also dated Steve Young's ex-girlfriend from his BYU days.
 
I met Cat Osterman once or maybe twice! Nice kid! She's really tall!
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I taught Sam Adams (of Aggie & NFL football fame), too! Fourth & fifth grade. Really great kid! Funny twist was that his mom coached Lostgirl in 7th & 8th grade volleyball & basketball a few years later.

Eating dinner once at Nino's in Houston, and this huge entourage walks in all wearing sweats etc, except for one old guy in a suit. Was Evander Holyfield and his gang, pre-earbite.

Fun reading about everyone's brushes. We are pretty boring here.
 
I've not met any Hollywood celebs, but I and my son met Earl C in Amarillo while he was promoting Skoal.
 
I was at the worst bar in history in Clear Lake (burb of Houston). I'd never been before and never went after. In fact we sorta went as a joke because neither me nor my friend really wanted to drink and we were sorta worn out from our usual hangouts. So we are in this cavernous place sitting at the bar and my buddy's jaw drops. He says "that's Tony Hawk". Just staring. I wasn't into skating but of course I knew who he was (this is about 2003 or so). The bar was dead. There were only a few of us in there and nobody recognized him. I was bored out of my mind so I just walked up and said what's up. I told him I was a big fan (not true) and figured I'd buy him a beer. He was super nice. He also seemed pretty bored and asked me if I wanted a shot. All the while my friend is still back where I'd walked over from. Next thing you know we're shooting pool. The bar is filling up and people are starting to gravitate to him. He just kept hanging out with us. It was pretty weird. H'ed go buy beers and/or shots or we would (by that time my lovestruck friend had joined). It got so chummy that when I wanted to leave I asked him if he wanted to go to a neighborhood bar I hung out at regularly. And he did. That was really hilarious.
I passed out on a table outside about 2 hours later.
Oh, he'd been in Clear Lake because he was doing some promo thing at NASA.
Also in Clear Lake I had a near brush with Bono. I was at a really good hole in the wall Italian restaurant the night Bono had been there.
 
Let's see... sat a booth over from Kelly Clarkson in the LAX Chili's. Same terminal (different day) saw Debbi Mazar waiting for a flight. Saw Jason Statham playing blackjack at Planet Hollywood and Jesse Jane in (appropriately enough) Pink Taco on the strip. (Don't pretend you don't know who that is...) Said "good concert" to the Gin Blossoms lead singer in the Mandalay Bay lobby the next morning. (Thought it was cool that they lug in their own stuff - I mean they're not huge but they were doing pretty well at the time.)

Got to interview a lot of current/former sports guys when I was in sportswriting, so I wouldn't count all those, but getting to meet and interview Randy White (post retirement) for about 30 minutes was cool, and got to chat with Rafael Palmeiro in the locker room for a bit before a game once. (Did my bad Harry Carey impression. "You know... Kruk spelled backward is Kurk!") The most fun one was Will Clark walking up to me during batting practice, looking down at my press pass and saying... "So Paul... how the hell are ya?"

Not sure if getting fanned by a Cowboy cheerleader with her pom pom during a time-out counts as a celebrity brush, but it was more fun than any of the other ones I listed so I'm counting it.
 
I Played HS football with Jerry Rhome (Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1964) in Dallas.

Met Don Meredith when he spoke at my HS football banquet.

Met sportswriter Blackie Sherrod when he interviewed my dad, who was a HS coach in Dallas.

Met The Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) and Tonto (Jay Silverheels) backstage in Dallas, when their 1956 movie came out.

I played one gig on bass with each of Chuck Berry and Freddie King at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas in the '60s.

Sat in with Johnny and Edgar Winter when they were the house band at The Act III au Go Go on Main Street in Houston in the late '60s.

I met Tony Hawk in Austin when my kid was skating the ramp that was on the NW corner of 183 and MoPac.

Met Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite at Horseshoe Bay.

Met Jerry Jeff Walker when his daughter and mine played a HS volleyball game.

Met Spike Dykes and Emory Bellard at fast food places in Marble Falls.

Lucky me.

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I met Wallace Shawn at the El Paso airport in October 2008. We were both on the same Delta flight to Atlanta. I actually sat down next to him in the gate waiting area.

Didn't recognize him until he spoke to his wife and his voice made me snap my head towards him. I guess he noticed my head snap because he looked at me and I blurted out "You're Wallace Shawn...you, you were Vizzini" he answered "Yes, I'm Wallace Shawn".

I was literally dumbstruck and my mind and mouth locked up. He was a very gracious man and I think he got a kick that I called him Vizzini. Moments later boarding started and I never saw him again.
 
IMO, "met" is different than "saw".

I've lived in Socal my entire life, so there's no shortage of celebrity sightings. Hell, eat at Nate 'N Al and there will be half a dozen or more in the very small restaurant.

I once almost ran over Peter Fonda. He was jogging, and I was driving in the Hollywood Hills, and he ran right in front of my car.

I met and chatted with Heather Locklear in her prime. She was very sweet and polite. And, I met the great Larry Flynt when he was interested in a property I was selling near his home in Doheny Estates.

My GF's a flight attendant for AA out of LAX. Practically a celebrity on every flight.
 
All very brief encounters. The worst was Rue Mclanahan....she was a biatch, but maybe she was having a bad day. The best was Ozzy because he couldn't hardly complete a sentence while sporting his gold painted "coke pinkie nail".

Ozzy, Harry Connick, Jr with Jill Goodacre, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Rue Mclanahan, John Travolta, Sissy Spacek, Juliana Margulies, Sandra Bullock, Mean Joe Green, Lance Armstrong, Drew Barrymore and the captain on the police academy movies (cant remember his name, but he was awesome and funny).

I didn't add the local athlete's and musicians because they are around so much. There are a couple more that I can't think of at the moment. I'll add to the list as I remember.
 
Fast Fred, when you say you "sat in" with Johnny and Edgar, do you mean you were playing with them? If so, what do you play?
 
Met Bill Clinton several years back at Austin Country Club. He was there for a wedding reception his daughter was in. Said he wished he were playing golf instead of the doing the wedding thing. Walked around with him looking at the course for about 10 minutes. Nice guy but the Secret Service guys were going nuts.
 
I don't think I have anything that counts as "met". When I was 14 or so and my sister was 12, we sat right behind a guy who looked a lot like Dennis Quaid at a UT game. We didn't want to ask him if he was because we figured if it is him, he doesn't want to get bugged by strangers, but later we wished we had done it just so we would know if it was him or not.
 
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