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benj clews 
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 Posted - 22/07/2004 : 08:56:21
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I once gave Udo Kier directions (and freaked him out with my once and only time I've gone all fanboy) on New Oxford Street.
I also once gave Tracey Ullman and her kid pointers on inline skating backwards in Hyde Park. (That was truly bizarre, because I actually had to excuse myself and leave (a pub session with a mate beckoned)- it wasn't like she was in awe of my company, but never once did I drop that I knew who she was, so it was really cool and just like a couple of strangers chatting casually).
As for non-accidental stuff, a couple of weekends back I met Tony Hawk at my local skate park... but it was a promotional tour, so it was kinda' expected.
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GHcool 
"Forever a curious character."
Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 09:13:28
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As a film student in L.A., I've had a lot of brushes with fame. I've met Tim Burton, David Copperfield, Cuba Gooding Jr, James Earl Jones, Frankie Muniz, Leonard Nimoy, Edward James Olmos, The Rock, Ben Stein, Kevin Smith, and various others. But my brush with fame story I like to tell most is my night at the Alex Theater, because I met so many famous people that night.
I remember it like it was yesterday. When I was in seventh grade my friend Max and his family was took me to to see Show People, a silent comedy starring Marion Davies, at the Alex Theater in Glendale, California. Max's father was John Landis, the director of The Blues Brothers and his mother, Deborah, was the costume designer on Raiders of the Lost Ark.
When we got to the theater, we met with Kevin McCarthy and his wife. Mr. McCarthy is a very good actor who has been in a lot of good movies. We told him how much we liked UHF (remember that movie? ... McCarthy played the bad guy) and he repeated his "I want a rolex" line for us, to which we chuckled. Then we asked him how they shot that scene in Innerspace when he was shrunk to the size of a dwarf and put his hands over Martin Short's eyes as Short was driving a car, and he gladly explained it to us (it was a big puppet Martin Short head).
Then on our way into the theater, we saw Leonard Maltin, that film critic who's on that crappy TV show and who's always coming out with those annual books of movie review anthologies. Max and I told him how much we liked his cameo in Gremlins 2: The New Batch to which he got into a conversation with us about how when they made trading cards for each of the characters in Gremlins 2, they also made one of himself. I remember him talking about his trading card for an exceedingly long time and Max and I really didn't care very much.
Then we got into the theater, took our seats (I sat next to Kevin McCarthy), and waited for the film to start. Rob Reiner (director of Princess Bride) introduced the film. The film was wonderful (I even wrote a fwfr about it ... http://www.fwfr.com/display.asp?id=1541) and we all went home happy. |
Edited by - GHcool on 22/07/2004 09:17:41 |
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bife 
"Pearly King meets ZZ-Top"
Singapore
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 10:43:58
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My father has worked for many years in outside broadcast television/broadcasting. Got to be honest, I have never really known what he does, but it was something technical! He started out in the 80s covering football matches for ITV (doing something with the 'slo-motion replays' - remember them?). He then spent a number of years covering pop/rock concerts (doing something to get pictures onto big screens at the side of the stage), and lately he has been working on daytime studio shows (He worked on Weakest Link, and is now doing something for Channel 5 - it's terrible but I don't even know what it's called!). He toured with Bruce Springsteen for a year in the 80s, and apparently got to know him quite well.
All this gave me and by brother and sister a lot of opportunities to meet really cool people growing up. My dad used to take me to a lot of the football matches, and I'd get to meet a lot of the players afterwards. I also got backstage passes to a lot of concerts, and got to meet a lot of the bands.
Most of these were only fleeting meetings, though. You know, 'hello son, nice to meet you' type stuff. There were three occasions that really stick with me though:
Tiswas
Yes, I was on Tiswas. I didn't do anything, or say anything, but I was there, flan in hand, sitting next to Spit the Dog! I was 10, and I loved it!
Strangely enough, it was a couple of weeks after my grandad came back from a trip to Holland - so I was there on TV aged 10 wearing a Dutch football top. Maybe the rest was just fate .....
Live Aid
This was my moment of glory. I managed to get work at the London Live Aid concert (via my dad, obviously, and unpaid, given it was live aid). I was on stage for the first 6 hours, in front of 80,000 fans, with bands like Queen, U2, Status Quo, the list just goes on and on. 15 years old, and life just doesn't get better than that day. The job was nothing - I had headphones on linking me to the van controlling the big screen pictures, and I had to count the sound guy in every time an advert was due to go up. Still haven't really figured it out, but man it was cool
Warlock - Donnington Rock
Backstage at the Donnington Rock festival, late 80's, in the catering tent, me and another guy also about 18 years old. We're working the gig, rolling cables and doing whatever the techies tell us, but it's not hard work and we're having a good time, we go out front each time a band comes on, spent most of the time joking around, meeting famous people, even took a photograpgh for a German rock magazine.
Anyway, like I said, we're in the catering tent, getting a cuppa, when we spot the most gorgeous looking girl, maybe a couple of years older than us, but soooo hot. Well, in we go, trying out a couple of very poor opening lines, she just looks at us like we're dirt, doesn't even honour us with a response. Oh well, it's happened before, it'll happen again.
30 minutes later, next band is up. It's a band called 'Warlock', never heard of them before or since, but we figure let's go watch anyway. Yep, you've guessed it. Who should be the lead singer, but said 'hot chick'. Yep, I felt dumb.
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aussiecanuck 
"Australian, Canadian Drama Doctor."
St Jamestown, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 13:15:43
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quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
Max's father was John Landis, the director of The Blues Brothers
You don't know me very well yet, but those who do will not be surprised when I say this part of your story makes you the winner. Hands down. Check out the review page for this film if you need clarification on what I think of this movie...
Winner!
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Conan The Westy
"Four warned, four armed,"
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 13:21:41
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Wait for my book due out any day now called "Famous People Who Have Met Me".
The highlight was sharing a urinal with Tony Greig at the Sydney Airport when I was about 10 years old. He was captaining England but they were still shell-shocked by this sheila, Lillian Thomson.
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aussiecanuck
"Australian, Canadian Drama Doctor."
St Jamestown, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 14:13:46
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quote:
Originally posted by Conan the Thespian
Wait for my book due out any day now called "Famous People Who Have Met Me".
The highlight was sharing a urinal with Tony Greig at the Sydney Airport when I was about 10 years old. He was captaining England but they were still shell-shocked by this sheila, Lillian Thomson.
Having grown up in the 80's it took me three reads to figure out who Lillian Thompson was... But I've gotcha now. My dad has a similar story about David Boon, but in his he got Boonie's autograph on his hat while still standing at the urinal. That never seemed gross to me until just now...
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MguyX
"Pearl Queen Gets Revenge!"
United States
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 17:30:48
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bife's story reminds me of another, which is fairly brief (what? you don't believe me?)
It was approximately 1985 and I was in Santa Monica at a small reggae club waiting for the crowd to show (I had gotten there early with a girl friend). As a nigh-on starving college student, I was wearing my ususal uniform: dirty blue jeans, a white tee shirt an unbuttoned fitted shirt with buttons, and well-worn Vans tennis shoes (slip-ons, all white, except for the dirt thing). I was reeking with that particular charm of the getting-educated but financially-challenged. I was poor, but happy, as they say (yawn).
There were only about seven people in the place at the time (remember, the crowd had yet to show). Being a young man with the ability to procreate, I, like most young men with such ability, start scoping the place with an eye toward spotting as many gals I can find with whom to share this magical knowledge. Pretty average fare until suddenly I spotted this fairly hot looking gal across the room (remember, there are only a few people there anyway). My thoughts? "She's pretty good looking, I mean nothing spectacular, but she looks kind of familiar. She could be the lucky lay-day tonight." I angle over toward her, real unobtrusive-like, thinking "now's the time" since there were precious few other males present and certainly none as debonair as I (in a scruffy kind of getting-educated and financially-challenged kind of way), surely none!
I tried several times to catch her attention (and I was an avid gum-chewer in those days, so it wasn't a mint or piece o lemon thang, if you know what I mean), but she is having none of it. I spoke. She ignored me. I spoke again. She ignored me again. This gal was just not interested! So I leave her alone and angle away, in a debonair, scruffy kind of ... well, you know.
I comment to my girl friend , "Jeez, she's sure seems to have an issue."
My friend says, "That's probably because she's Vanessa Williams."
"Oh." 
Well, at least if I had been nervous, it wouldn't have been hard to visulize her in only her underwear, thanks to Penthouse Magazine. 
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Edited by - MguyX on 22/07/2004 17:37:25 |
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Cheese_Ed 
"Grilled Cheese"
America's Dairyland
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 18:21:15
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I can write a lot of words too, Mguy... but I'll probably say less with them.
While I have had a couple celebrity sightings here and there (Jennifer Connally and Paul Bettany, Dawn Wells AKA Mary Anne from Gilligan’s Island, Jerry Springer, Will Sampson AKA Chief from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) there was never any interaction with any of them, hence no real story.
So here’s as close I get, It’s not exactly a brush with celebrity, I guess it’s a combination brush with a pseudo celebrity and a brush with BEING a celebrity at the same time.
In the late 70s my Dad worked for a chain of stores in Wisconsin that were sort of like the smaller Super Wal-Marts of that era. It was also the zenith of the Star Wars craze, and being cagey capitalists, the marketing gurus from headquarters decided to hire Darth Vader to come in and do several appearances at various stores and bring in some extra customers, sell some extra action figures, etc. I don’t know how they found this guy, there was probably a company in LA sending hundreds of them out to every corner of the country, but Darth was flying in and my Dad was going to be his corporate escort. We also found out he needed a kid to play a character in his little show, I was 7 years old at the time and an absolutely rabid Star Wars fan so I was a shoe in.
The guy’s name was Tom Callahan, and the story that he gave us was that he was a Hollywood stuntman and that he was actually the man on screen (as opposed to David Prowse) every time Darth did anything vaguely physical, the example I remember him giving was when Vader lifts one of his underlings up by his throat. I’ve read the Star Wars credits and I’ve never seen any Tom Callahan listed, and if David Prowse wasn’t there to do anything physical I’m not sure why he’d be there at all, it’s not like he’s some fantastic physical actor, he was just big. So, I’m quite sure Mr. Callahan was not in Star Wars, but he was tall and had a nice Vader costume and I didn’t care if he was a pseudo celebrity or not, I was having a blast.
For a couple days we drove from store to store, he’d don this heavy, impressive Darth outfit and he’d brought me this shredded brown burlap hooded robe, and a black gauze face covering with a couple little light bulbs stuck to it – I was a Jawa. We’d go out on a little stage and he’d say a few words explaining why the Lord of the Empire was appearing at a central Wisconsin retail outlet and then we’d sign autographs and shake hands with the throngs of kids that showed up. There’s probably still some black and white Jawa 8x10s floating around out there with my 7 year-old scribble on it that reads “Frick”. Good times.
We did the same tour a few years later after The Empire Strikes Back. This time we got some other tall guy who didn’t make any claims about being in the movie. I was a much taller Jawa at this point, obviously. “Darth” told me that next time he came he’d have to bring a storm trooper outfit for me instead… I’m still bummed that never happened.
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MguyX
"Pearl Queen Gets Revenge!"
United States
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 18:42:28
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GREAT story CH'Ed! 
And am I mistaken or did I detect a fan of "Strangers With Candy"? I am in LOVE with Amy Sedaris!
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Cheese_Ed
"Grilled Cheese"
America's Dairyland
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 18:54:52
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quote:
Originally posted by MguyX
GREAT story CH'Ed!
And am I mistaken or did I detect a fan of "Strangers With Candy"? I am in LOVE with Amy Sedaris!
Thanky MGX!
Actually you are mistaken. I've seen a few minutes of it, but I never got into Stangers With Candy. I'm curious, what led you to think I was?
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MguyX
"Pearl Queen Gets Revenge!"
United States
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 19:15:00
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"Good Times" is a phrase the Jerry Blank character would often say. A "Strangers" movie is in the works, though I wonder how the format will fare in a longer medium. 
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Conan The Westy
"Four warned, four armed,"
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 22:36:28
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quote:
Originally posted by AussieCanuck
My dad has a similar story about David Boon, but in his he got Boonie's autograph on his hat while still standing at the urinal. That never seemed gross to me until just now...
But you work in Urine town! 
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randall 
"Wisecrackers fill book? Unreal!"
NYC, USA
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Posted - 22/07/2004 : 22:46:32
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Working in the book business brought me close to lots of celebs, but one brush I will always remember. I was at a sales conference which was getting primed to publish Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf's autobiography -- he's the man who led the *actually* allied forces into the first Gulf War. The [by then retired] General came to speak, posed for pictures with each of us, and [to the consternation of some overly snippy suits, and in violation of VIP sales conference protocol] hung out with the grizzled sales reps in the hospitality suite with a beer in his hand. It was a little awkward: he was a genuinely regular guy, but possessed of immense personal charisma, the almost regal bearing of a person who could actually inspire soldiers to battle. We had already been instructed that no matter what he said, we were to address him as "General." No matter that he'd introduce himself as "Norm," which of course he did.
Well, after dinner, speech, couple beers, a few of us were in the bar, trying our best to play Trivial Pursuit, newest edition. It was getting hot and heavy; one of our number was a four-day JEOPARDY champion, thus the game, and I was actually standing this guy down, so a crowd gathered near the end. A question was read to me. No, only partly, because the reader suddenly halted and looked over my head. So did everybody else. I turned, and the General was standing behind me, beer in hand, figuring out what had drawn the crowd. Somebody said, "General, want to sit down and play?"
He said, "Not fair. I might be one of the answers."
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MguyX's story absolutely rules as a celeb spot.
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To the Landis fan: I worked in my advertising career with a close relative, George Landis. There's even a family resemblance. At that point John was still the black sheep of the family.
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Edited by - randall on 23/07/2004 10:47:42 |
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MguyX
"Pearl Queen Gets Revenge!"
United States
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Posted - 23/07/2004 : 06:27:56
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That's a cool story Randall. 
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Al Swearengen
"Sneaking in an extra word."
USA
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Posted - 23/07/2004 : 06:54:06
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If there's anyone cooler than the Violent Femmes, it's Doug Sahm. On two separate occasions, I shared some beers with Joe 'King' Carrasco, who is not quite as cool as the Femmes, and nowhere near as cool as Doug Sahm. I talked to Dee Dee Ramone over a beer once too. I also once saw both John Goodman and Colm Meaney in the same tiny Irish bar in Sherman Oaks, CA (albeit several hours apart), but I didn't talk to them or anything.
Is it just me, or does it seem that beer is involved in all of my stories? I think that's a cry for help.
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