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Have you ever met or seen someone famous?


mommyoffive
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Yep, and probably more I didn't recognize since I don't usually learn famous people (not my interests).  I wouldn't know most singers, actors/actresses, or sports folks if I were right next to them.

 

But I saw Ronald Reagan IRL when he was President.  That should count.  We didn't meet personally though.  I was playing in a band at a dinner he gave a speech at.

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Yep, and probably more I didn't recognize since I don't usually learn famous people (not my interests).  I wouldn't know most singers, actors/actresses, or sports folks if I were right next to them.

 

But I saw Ronald Reagan IRL when he was President.  That should count.  We didn't meet personally though.  I was playing in a band at a dinner he gave a speech at.

 

Isn't that the truth? 

 

When I read people magazine, I don't even know at least half of the people they have in there any more.   

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Isn't that the truth? 

 

When I read people magazine, I don't even know at least half of the people they have in there any more.   

 

And I have never even glanced at People magazine.   :coolgleamA:

 

I thought of another though.  One of the current professional football players was a student I taught in school.  I remember him!  :hurray:

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When we were kids my mom saw Kirk Cameron in the airport. This was when he was famous for Growing Pains before he became the vocal Christian Kirk Cameron we all think of now. She jumped into a phone booth and called our house and asked Kirk Cameron to talk to my little sister on the phone. He did and he was really nice. Really funny to think about because my mom was not interested in celebrities or very outgoing. The whole idea she would recognize Kirk Cameron and be forward enough to ask him to get on the phone is really funny.

 

My mom also met Timothy McVeigh about a year before the OK City bombing. A terrorist, not a celebrity but very strange.

 

I can't think of any brush with celebrity myself.

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My 2 "brushes with fame" are weird ones (lol):

 

Many years back, I worked at our local PBS station, and Jane Goodall (yes, the chimp lady) was in town and did a short promo video in our studio for our station. I directed the short video spot, and was introduced to her afterwards.

 

On our 25th anniversary, DH and I had breakfast with Dick Smothers at a Days Inn motel -- the self-serve continental breakfast in the lobby. We recognized him and engaged him in conversation, and had a super fun 45-minute chat with him about all kinds of things. He was staying there on a cross-country road trip from his home, while we had just arrived the night before from a late flight and would be driving on to our nice B&B location for the week-long trip. Just freak circumstances that we were staying overnight at the motel at the same time, and that I recognized him. :)

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I've met Jean in Newcastle.   :coolgleamA:

 

Oo! Me too! And I live a long ways away from her! She and her DD were so kind as to drive and meet me at a Denny's restaurant when I flew into the city in her area, and we had a very nice visit!

 

 

ETA:

Clearly, family restaurants and motels are the way to go to meet famous people. At least for me. ;)

Edited by Lori D.
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Oo! Me too! And I live a long ways away from her! She and her DD were so kind as to drive and meet me at a Denny's restaurant when I flew into the city in her area, and we had a very nice visit!

 

 

ETA:

Clearly, family restaurants and motels are the way to go to meet famous people. At least for me. ;)

It was so much fun!

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Davy Jones, Rich Mullins, Julie Miller (the singer).

 

I have a personal letter from Jimmy Stewart. He wrote back when I wrote him when I was a tween.  :)

 

I still want to know whom the celebrities are on this board.  :cool:

Edited by MercyA
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John Mellencamp, but it's not rare to have met him at a school football game back in the late 80's early 90's especially since I went to H.S. with his daughter and my Aunt lived down the road from him.  I also worked for Cellular One and he called a couple times and came in the office once.  Like I said not rare running into the old sourpuss.

Edited by foxbridgeacademy
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Oo! Me too! And I live a long ways away from her! She and her DD were so kind as to drive and meet me at a Denny's restaurant when I flew into the city in her area, and we had a very nice visit!

 

 

ETA:

Clearly, family restaurants and motels are the way to go to meet famous people. At least for me. ;)

 

She and I live a long ways apart, too.  She visited St. Louis and we met at St. Louis Bread Co.  Now I'm jealous that her dd wasn't with her!

 

Jean, didn't you get to experience a tornado siren the night before we met?  

Edited by Chelle in MO
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Lots of people.  My 2 favorites are when I turned around in an airport to bum a dime off someone so I could call my mom and the guy I bummed it from was Dick Van Dyke.

 

And the other was at a book signing for Dave Barry.  We talked a bit and he told me I was funny.  :0)  

 

And I swam in Maui with Bill Gates.

 

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No, but I'd be more likely to totally miss the famous person. My dd2 bumped into a vice presidential candidate when she was little. I registered that she had run into a kahaki wearing man in the activewear department at Target and did notice all the similarly dressed guys in the store with the earpieces, but aside from thinking it was odd, never really gave it much thought beyond, "Sorry, excuse us." As we're walking away, my dh says "dd2 just ran into so and so." She did? Huh? That was so and so?

 

A similar thing happened semi-recently. All these people showed up where I was and they were dressed all the same (khakis, polo and/or button down shirt) and it definitely stuck out as odd to me given the context, but it took a very long time before i realized who was there and why all those people were dressed that way. Oooooh, that's why they're all here. Lol, whew! I didn't miss the memo then about the new unofficial dress code.

 

So, yeah, I imagine there are probably famous people all around me that I probably obliviously walk past all the time.

 

Oh, except John Oliver. I saw John Oliver whilst protesting back in 2010, but I didn't get to meet him. Just as well, I wouldn't have been too keen to show up on TV. Then again, my dh was probably the one to point him out to me. *sigh*

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Several rappers and a couple comedians at bars. Some bands at festivals. I went to Junior high with one guy and surely did run into him, but tbh I don't remember him. One night when we were moving, dh went for a walk and the kids and I went to sleep in the hotel. The next morning, he told me he'd run into "some really nice guys" who turned out to be in a band that was pretty famous at one point.

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Jean in Newcastle.

 

Bill Clinton when he was president when I was in the Air Force. He gave a good speech and was very personable. Even people who did not vote for him, which is a fairly high percentage of the military, said he gave a good targeted speech and was personable. It was a fairly small event and we shook his hand and got group pictures with him in groups of a dozen or so.

 

When we lived in Germany (Air Force) I met several important people in Europe and Israel.

 

When we lived in Los Angeles for a year, I never saw anyone but saw a lot of really expensive cars that I did not realize were expensive, my husband would point them out so I would know.

 

I have never met any randomly walking around, but I might not recognize them, either.

 

Our neighbor in Germany had been the goalie when FCK won, which is a big deal there.

Edited by ElizabethB
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I had a great-uncle who was famous and mainly because of my connection to him, I have met more than my fair share of famous actors.  When I was in college, I did in-house staff at a large concert venue.  I didn't really get to meet most of the acts, but a few would want to thank the staff personally.  I've also met some politicians through work connections.

Edited by Audrey
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Well, if you count book readings--Alice Walker.  Actually, it should count.  It was at a tiny women's bookstore in San Francisco, so it was very intimate, not a theater or anything.

And Jane Dyer.  At a small children's bookstore in San Jose.

 

Killer miss:  That same children's bookstore hosted J. K. Rowlings when the first Harry Potter book had just come out and wasn't well known yet.  And I missed it.  !!!!

 

 

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When we lived in NYC we knew famous people from working in a private school and our church. I"m not so good at recognizing them on the street though. I remember a friend saying, "look again , it's Madonna!" haha  I was just telling my ds that I've lived in too many places for so many years now that I have all kinds of crazy stories. So I leave you with, KC of the Sunshine Band was a hospital patient of mine once long ago.  :lol:

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It depends on how we are classifying famous but I have met many famous scientists. As far as celebrities there has been a few... Mark Wahlberg back when he was Marky Mark, Steve Miller, Howie from the Backstreet Boys, a rapper from a while ago, not well known named Too Short I think his real name was Todd Shaw. I didn't even know who he was but he showed up at a party when I was a teen and I drank with him. The Drummer from Bad English was some how related to or dating the sister of my friend. I got my cassette tape signed when he was in town visiting since it was around the time "When I See You Smile" was playing every where.

 

My aunt danced with Prince in a club many moons ago. Her brush with celebrity is so much cooler than mine :)

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Yes. A bunch of them.

 

And once, at a conference, I might have had too much to drink one night (I went to a brewery for dinner but they were no longer serving food, oops) and a very famous person drove my car home for me, and walked back to his hotel. I had no clue he was a very famous person, but did find it odd that everyone in the brewery was staring at us while we talked. I'm not going to name him, but pretty darn sure even creekland would know who he is. (And lest anyone think otherwise, he's not interested in girls, so it wasn't that type of thing, at all.)

Edited by Spryte
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I have been groped by two "celebrities"

 

One was a professional hockey player.  I was at a fan shop, at the tall counter buying a pack of hockey cards to put in my husband's Christmas stocking and all of a sudden a large person stepped up behind me & started crowding me against the counter.  The cashier started talking to him over my head.  I pushed back to make him realize that he was actually touching me because I thought it must be an accident.  Until he actually put a hand on my butt & squeezed.  I elbowed him as hard as I could and because he was a very tall person & I am a very short person & I was aiming low I got him in the ...... well, I ducked out as he doubled over and fell against the counter wheezing.   I told the friend who was holding my baby outside the store for me and he said, "Did you get his autograph?"

 

The other one happened when I was a 17 year old at Disneyland for Grad Night with the rest of my graduating class.  We were allowed to roam the park all night and they had bands (Oingo Boingo) and people in their character costumes.  I decided I wanted my picture taken with Tigger.  Just as the picture was taken he dropped his hand in that big mitten to my butt and patted me.  The look on my face in the picture is pretty funny.  Because of my age I just walked away and only told my friends so they would stay away from the creepy guy in the Tigger costume.

 

Oh wait, I have one that doesn't have anything to do with getting sexually harassed.  My uncle went to high school with Kathleen Kennedy so when I was a pre-teen and Indiana Jones came out Harrison Ford was doing the publicity tour and Ms. Kennedy needed someone with a cool car to pick up Mr. Ford at the airport.  My uncle always had a cool car so she asked him.  My dad took us kids (in our not cool burnt orange Datsun) to the airport so we could be there and meet Mr. Ford.  It was pretty dreamy meeting Han Solo :)

 

Amber in SJ

 

 

Edited by Amber in SJ
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Tons. I lived and worked in LA for a season, so brushes with famous people were daily. I grew up in an LA suburb that was home to some less famous actors. Probably my closest proximity was Tina Yothers (Family Ties little sister) was my neighbor 2 houses down. They had a great haunted house on Halloween. I also was friends with Darius McCrary's younger siblings during the Family Matters years (he was the big brother).

 

The most famous person was Michael Jackson. My dad's company sold him some video games and I got to ride along for the delivery at Neverland Ranch. He wasn't there. Years later my dh met him and he autographed a Thriller CD. I never did see him.

 

Recently, I've run into George Lucas a few times. He lives just down the road from me.

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While living in Boston as a graduate student, I waited at the T stop (public transportation) with Michael Dukakis. This was in 1992, so just a couple of years after he lost the presidential election. Evidently, he was known back then for riding the subway, even though he was the former state governor. It was very early in the morning -- 6 am, I think -- and we were both on our way to the airport, which was about 45 minutes and three subway changes away. We were the only two at the stop while waiting for the first train, and he was friendly and chatty. I was glad when someone else showed up, because I'm shy, and I was glad that he had another passenger to talk to for the rest of the trip.

 

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DH danced with Brooke Shields. Briefly. At a college party. They attended the same university, and at a school concert/dance, she sidled up next to him, put her arm around his shoulder, and swayed for a minute or two, before disappearing into the crowd. Of course, DH's friends were not paying attention and missed it.

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Yes. Mostly events where I attended. Like I went to a music fest so Jared Leto was there. I was walking around and we walked past each other. He looks better with dark hair imo. He was sporting the blond.

 

Got my picture taken with a soap opera star when he was doing pics at the mall. At the time I did watch the show sometimes. Drawing a blank on name. He was very cute.

 

My sister won some Nickelodeon contest. Some famous musician played at the event. I was just a kid. He talked to me a second. My sister got to keep his drum sticks. Gosh, sorry, I don't remember the names lol.

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Im not into celebrities. I'm tired and don't want to look up IRL names. I have met Hodgins from Bones and Berta from 2 1/2 men (when she was on the show).

 

I have met several athletes and while not necessarily famous, various performers from shows like Cirque de Soleil. 

 

I used to work in a pharmacy in a large city, near many nice hotels. Most of the people I have met, have been from helping them there, but sometimes, like Hodgins, were just chance encounters. 

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I also met a lot of famous generals when I was in the Air Force like Colin Powell. Less famous but more interesting, the first female Superintendent of the Air Force Academy, I met her several times over the years. Also, less famous but more interesting, a few Tuskegee Airmen and various military authors.

 

Jean in Newcastle was also more interesting than your generic famous person or general!!

 

Oh, I almost forgot, a really sweet guy, humble, interesting AND semi-famous, the candy bomber, he dropped candy to children during the Berlin Airlift, it is a really cool story if you havenĂ¢â‚¬â„¢t heard of it:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Halvorsen

Edited by ElizabethB
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I want to know the unnamed people...I'm so nosy!

 

I've attended quite a few signings and hung around after concerts etc.

 

My only sighting in the wild was a football player named George Blanda. He was a regular when I worked at Walgreens. My dad was a fan so I worked up the nerve to ask for an autograph!

 

I met Ozzy once! I wish I still had the photo.

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My first famous-person meeting was Olympic ice skater Eric Heiden, who I met in Oslo when I was a child. He gave out the skating medals at our school's skating event, and we got to go to an event with him at the embassy.

 

Working in retail, I met a bunch of famous folks. The first actor I clearly remember meeting was Avery Brooks, who played Hawk in Spenser for Hire. He radiated cool. I saw Mark Wahlberg a few times (also, Dh went to school with him). Gabriel Byrne was shopping for ties at the same place I was. Julia Child was buying kitchen stuff from us after she donated her own kitchen to the Smithsonian.

 

There was also Imelda Marcos, in exile, shopping with an entourage. 

 

I have interacted with a bunch of politicians, mostly through working as a student reporter. Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Janet Reno, Gary Hart, and a few others. Michael Dukakis, while at the hospital with his wife.

 

I once organized a Nobel letter for my boss, so I had to call up various Nobel prize winners and get their signatures from them. So not movie star famous, but the folks who wrote my textbooks, so that was cool.

 

Speaking of textbooks, I met Richard Rusczyk, of the Art of Problem Solving fame, along with my child. That was kind of homeschool-cool.

 

I know there were more encounters, but these folks stick out for various reasons.

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I forgot Jerome Benton from the Time. Dh sat next to him on a plane, and recognized him, and Jerome invited us to the concert he was playing that night.

 

eta: ok, one more: I took a college class with Elizabeth Shue, back in the 80's. None of the boys could pay attention to the lecture!

Edited by slackermom
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I am a liberal feminist. I met Betty Friedan. She treated everyone around her terribly; she was excruciating to be near. She was unrelentingly negative and critical about everything. I think she was the embodiment of negative stereotypes about feminists. I learned not to assume that prominent people are decent people.

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My first famous-person meeting was Olympic ice skater Eric Heiden, who I met in Oslo when I was a child. He gave out the skating medals at our school's skating event, and we got to go to an event with him at the embassy.

 

Working in retail, I met a bunch of famous folks. The first actor I clearly remember meeting was Avery Brooks, who played Hawk in Spenser for Hire. He radiated cool. I saw Mark Wahlberg a few times (also, Dh went to school with him). Gabriel Byrne was shopping for ties at the same place I was. Julia Child was buying kitchen stuff from us after she donated her own kitchen to the Smithsonian.

 

There was also Imelda Marcos, in exile, shopping with an entourage.

 

I have interacted with a bunch of politicians, mostly through working as a student reporter. Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Janet Reno, Gary Hart, and a few others. Michael Dukakis, while at the hospital with his wife.

 

I once organized a Nobel letter for my boss, so I had to call up various Nobel prize winners and get their signatures from them. So not movie star famous, but the folks who wrote my textbooks, so that was cool.

 

Speaking of textbooks, I met Richard Rusczyk, of the Art of Problem Solving fame, along with my child. That was kind of homeschool-cool.

 

I know there were more encounters, but these folks stick out for various reasons.

Avery Brooks!!!!! Star Trek Deep Space Nine is my favorite!!!! He plays Captain Sisko!!

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Oh, I almost forgot, a really sweet guy, humble, interesting AND semi-famous, the candy bomber, he dropped candy to children during the Berlin Airlift, it is a really cool story if you havenĂ¢â‚¬â„¢t heard of it:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Halvorsen

I actually edited a story on Gail Halvorsen and the candy bombing in Berlin that was part of a network special on the history of the Air Force for CBS a long time back.

 

I never met him.

 

Bill

Edited by Spy Car
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