Story Time: Famous People You Found Yourself With

A6E Dad said:
also, got a chance to meet Pope John Paul II when our ship was in Naples. we took the train to Rome and had an audience with the Pope. i was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and was one of few that got to shake hands and make small talk.
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I hate to pull up the Poland card again, but Fall 1978 also marked the election of Karol Wojtyla to become Pope John Paul II. One early evening, I walked into the first floor of my dormitory which was jammed packed watching the only TV in the entire building. Live from Rome. No one on the planet saw this coming, least of all Poles of all stripes watching and reading state controlled media. There hadn't been a non-Italian Pope since "forever". And he was the Archbishop of the city we were in, Krakow.

The fact that it was Krakow made the whole thing all the more electric when he made his triumphal return in the Spring. My favorite story was when he held an "audience" at the Archbishop's residence. We were all jam-packed in the courtyard and out on the street to hear him speak. Afterwards, we left, but most of the crowd stayed behind and serenaded him with folk songs and patriotic songs. Finally, at something like midnight, he came back out on the balcony and told everyone to go home, that he couldn't sleep for all the noise. The guy was a mensch by any standard. This was the Cold War, Vatican intrigue, and Polish catharsis after 30 years of Soviet domination rolled into one 4-5 day event. Poland, Eastern Europe and the USSR were never the same since.

Mrs cb7893's Mother grew up in his hometown of Wadowice and her uncle went through grade school and high school with him, so all the pictures of him as a school boy also included Uncle Janek.
 
In a not so similar vein, I stumbled into two major events.

First was in 1981. Was taking my cousin to visit the Senate. We were in the balcony when they announced Reagan had been shot.

Second was in London in 1984. Was walking around the city and saw all these people looking to make a day of it. I asked a Bobbie what was happening. He said, “The trooping of the color.” I had zero idea what that meant so followed the crowd. Saw QE2, Diana, and the whole lot.
 
I was attending a pretty well known Pro-Am golf tournament a long time ago. I didn't know many of the celebrities at the time because I was about 10 years old. However, I did know Bill Murray. He was at the event golfing with some pro I don't remember the name of. Anyway, I watch him take his first swing on the hole, and he drills the ball right into a lady's face. She wasn't hurt, but of course he went over and apologized. To this day, when I think of Bill Hurray, I don't think Ghostbusters or Caddyshack, I think of a golf ball going into someone's face.
 
Hopeful Mid 2024 said:
I was attending a pretty well known Pro-Am golf tournament a long time ago. I didn't know many of the celebrities at the time because I was about 10 years old. However, I did know Bill Murray. He was at the event golfing with some pro I don't remember the name of. Anyway, I watch him take his first swing on the hole, and he drills the ball right into a lady's face. She wasn't hurt, but of course he went over and apologized. To this day, when I think of Bill Hurray, I don't think Ghostbusters or Caddyshack, I think of a golf ball going into someone's face.
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I sat next to him at a restaurant in NYC one Sunday am for brunch almost 30 years ago. An adjacent 2 top. We were in chairs and his friend/my GF sat across from us on the banquette. There was a mirror on the wall behind the banquette that he & I both had to look into. He was exactly the same in person as he is on screen. Same rap, same sense of humor. I was being the cool New Yorker and acting like it was no big deal to be next to him. I was pretending not to eavesdrop on his conversation, but of course I was. He was doing his best to catch me and get me to laugh at what he was saying. He finally did and then he looked at me in the mirror and winked.
 
Capt MJ said:
The enjoyable thing here is I suspect none of us would bring these encounters up in casual f2f conversations, unless it was a bar game of “who’s your most famous encounter.” Anonymously, though, we are opening up those attics and having fun. I do appreciate the wide variety of responses, while I admit to secretly thinking, “who ARE these forum members and where do they live/what do they do, to run into people like this????”
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You’re thinking that based on this recent post. Meanwhile, for months already, I’m here trying to figure out who the wise “Ancient Mariner” Captain MJ is!

I’d also really like to know who the accountant who knows all the famous folks is because I’m an accountant too. Let’s just say that my twenty five or so years of work hasn’t given me any interesting celebrity contacts!
 
Capt MJ said:
I do appreciate the wide variety of responses, while I admit to secretly thinking, “who ARE these forum members and where do they live/what do they do, to run into people like this????”
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I was thinking about this too :). I really enjoy to read this stories.
I only have one story to tell: a couple of years ago I was helping out (nothing special, just to help to find the seats, the restroom, the parking lot, etc...) at a conference where the main speaker was Elie Wiesel. After the main event there was a dinner for some special guests in an adjacent building, where I wasn't supposed to go. An old lady came to me and asked for help. She needed help with the direction and with the stairs too. I couldn't tell her that I'm not allowed to go to the venue of the dinner, so we walked together there. We were very slowly and so we had time to talk. Or precisely she talked and I listened. She was a Holocaust survivor who came back from Auschwitz. As we entered the building they asked me to stay and help with the coats, checking the invitations... So I had the chance to meet Elie Wiesel too. He was very humble and nice.
 
I have really enjoyed this post. The only bad part is I can't get Barbra Striesand's The Way We Were out of my head "Memories light the corners of my mind" Rooting around in the dusty corners I remember when I was taking some computer courses at Rockefeller Center. My wife came down for a weekend and we were entering the hotel through the revolving doors. My wife entered as a very large man was leaving and he shot her into the lobby. When I followed she said "did you see what that idiot did"? I told her to calm down and that she should have fallen so I could meet Larry Bird. I used to go early over to Rockefeller Center to get coffee in a shop in the complex. I noticed that there were a lot of beautiful women there every morning. Found out the Rockettes all stopped there. I went even earlier. I did get to see the Christmas Tree lighting that year. At Martha's Vineyard ate dinner in Edgartown one night a few tables over from Robert McNamara and met Vernon Jordan in a Bar in Oak Bluffs. Saw Spike Lee a few times taking a stroll and walking out to get his mail by the salt pond. Okay, who is humming The way we were?
 
The song is back! My wife's roommate married the former Captain of the UCONN Basketball Team. At the reception I got to talk with Coach Calhoun and most of the Big East Champions. My wife is kind of short and she told me it was the first time she couldn't find me at a function since a lot of the people there were my height or better.
 
Our first house after retirement and moving out of base housing was in what is now a million-plus dollar neighborhood. It was an older, original house in the neighborhood but a great place to live. The older houses were being replaced by McMansions and in one of those was Tony Snow. He was the press secretary for President Bush-43.

He died of cancer in July of 2008. I’m a geek for anything president, especially transportation. I was outside the day Bush showed up to pay his respects to Jill and the kids. The multi-vehicle motorcade rolled in front of me and the Beast pulled up at the house and the president got out and walked up the driveway. My daughter was home so I called for her to come out. We gawked until they left. The carrier of the football that day was an Air Force officer. My son was also home and got stopped by the motorcycle cop blocking the street. Terrible occasion but glad I saw it.
 
usna1985 said:
Since I've spent much of my life in the DC area, politicians don't count as celebrities in my book since they're a dime a dozen around here. :)
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I feel the same way about senior military folks. I served on two flag staffs (total 7 yrs) and then spent 5 years at the War College so was exposed to lots and lots of the major players of the time plus my USNA class produced well over 30 flags including four 4 stars. It has gotten to the point that I just don't find it that odd any more.
My road roommate on one of the staffs for three years was a major player in his state legislature and widely expected to be their next Senator. In addition to lots of travel in the US, we also traveled together in Europe and the Middle East and I saw him recognized and constantly cornered by folks and he was far from a national name. We attended a 3 week Navy course at Dam Neck and golfed at Oceana after class each day and even on the course where you'd think we were pretty anonymous, we did not get through even one round without him getting stopped. After spending a few years with him, I no longer envied the lot of the famous.
That said, I just got a traffic alert that we have a movie being filmed very close to me and if I want to, I can go out and meet "McDreamy" but I'm going to pass on it.
 
Back in the day I worked in Manhattan & took a Wednesday night course in the World Trade Center. Well, the former Iranian hostages were in town & scheduled to eat at Windows in the World. Everyone filled the balcony of the lobby & as they walked in, a tremendous cheer that went up!! I had such a great feeling...also late for class!
The class was on the 46th floor or so & when it was windy, the building creaked...a lot!
 
OK, since we are talking about military celebrities. Or are we? Anyway, I was stationed at BUMED when Adm Jay Johnson was CNO. SO WHAT? one might ask. The residence of the Vice CNO when he became CNO was on the grounds of BUMED and next to my building. Garland his wife didn’t want to move to the CNO residence at the Navy Yard so they stayed put and the Navy decided it was a great time to do a 6 million dollar renovation on the house.

The admiral had knee surgery and went to our gym to ride the stationary bike as part of his rehab. He is/was a very thin man and a runner. He wasn't snobbish but kind of stand-offish. I was the only one in the morning who would greet him. Everybody else kind of looked at him out the side of their heads.

Side note: The BUMED gym was in the basement of my building, the old observatory which the Navy called building 2, in what used to be an operating room or autopsy room or both and was at the bottom of a round observation area. It was kind of spooky and cool at the same time.
 
On the Bill Murray thread (one of the few celebrities that I would know and recognize --what does that say about my sense of humor ?), one of my friends played a Pro-Am with him a few years back, and says he was funny and great to play golf with. A real down to earth guy, and just naturally fun.
 
8th Wing Refugee said:
Best I can do - had dinner at Peter Luger's in Brooklyn across from George Steinbrenner - the Yankees owner. Both his table and ours ordered the bacon as an appetizer. If you ever make it there, you have to order it.
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Yes yes yes! When I traveled to USMMA for business, I’d always try to work in a visit there. I did not expense that meal, but oh it was worth it.
 
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