Story Time: Famous People You Found Yourself With

I used to work in NYC, in the performing arts, so finding myself with famous people was just a part of my job. Too many stories and names to list. Plus, you just encounter recognizable people riding in elevators, walking down the street, on the subway, etc. in NYC.
 
usna1985 said:
General Omar Bradley -- in the Kennedy Center box next to ours at Reagan's first inaugural
Julia Louis-Dreyfus -- went to h.s. with her
Erik Estrada -- on airplane
Michelle Kwan -- at pool in Hawaii
Sonny Jurgensen (HOF QB for the team formerly known as the Redskins] -- next-door neighbor of family friends

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 swear, i think everyone has met Eric Estrada
 
sanman said:
Being a Brit mine are probably not recognizable.

Ralph Schumacher - Michael’s brother and also a F1 driver for a time.
Juan Pablo Montoya - F1 driver and an ignorant sod.
Frank Bruno - Heavyweight boxer.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - TV chef, we featured on one of his TV programs when we ran a community farm and he then invited us to his house for a meal. Really nice guy.
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I'll add one that's a good story but for anyone that's not a Brit, or like me spent their youth in Britain at the correct time...

I spent much of my youth in the UK; Suffolk and Norfolk to be precise. I, like all young boys, learned football as soon as I could walk. This was in the early '60s until 1970. My coach in our village had played for God's Team, Manchester United in the '40s and '50s. He was a taskmaster! Imagine being a 7-year-old and having to run to the pitch, set up the net, then run to his home in the village and run back with him: total distance, about two miles each way.

One week he says "lads...this Saturday we'll have practice...I'll have some friends to help with ball handling; be early!" Okay...

So on Saturday...we go through the litany and then he's not at home! His wife says "oh, he drove to the pitch with his friends; they're waiting for you lads. So we run back as fast as we can. When we get there, the coach is ready and calls his friends over.

Bobby Charleton, Nobby Stiles, and a young guy named George Best.

We had died and gone to Heaven!!

Needless to say, that practice is forever emblazoned in my brain. And the autographs and pictures are nice too! My father still has those.

Sir Bobby Charleton, Kt., CBE, is now 83 while, sadly, Nobby and George have passed.

Steve
 
O.K. I remembered another very minor “brush with greatness” as I like to say.

Remember the actor who played the prisoner with the mouse “Mr. Jingles” in The Green Mile? The actor was Michael Jeter. Before he made it as an actor, he was in secretary in my office and I worked with him on occasion. He later became a very successful character actor.
 
flieger83 said:
I'll add one that's a good story but for anyone that's not a Brit, or like me spent their youth in Britain at the correct time...

I spent much of my youth in the UK; Suffolk and Norfolk to be precise. I, like all young boys, learned football as soon as I could walk. This was in the early '60s until 1970. My coach in our village had played for God's Team, Manchester United in the '40s and '50s. He was a taskmaster! Imagine being a 7-year-old and having to run to the pitch, set up the net, then run to his home in the village and run back with him: total distance, about two miles each way.

One week he says "lads...this Saturday we'll have practice...I'll have some friends to help with ball handling; be early!" Okay...

So on Saturday...we go through the litany and then he's not at home! His wife says "oh, he drove to the pitch with his friends; they're waiting for you lads. So we run back as fast as we can. When we get there, the coach is ready and calls his friends over.

Bobby Charleton, Nobby Stiles, and a young guy named George Best.

We had died and gone to Heaven!!

Needless to say, that practice is forever emblazoned in my brain. And the autographs and pictures are nice too! My father still has those.

Sir Bobby Charleton, Kt., CBE, is now 83 while, sadly, Nobby and George have passed.

Steve
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I have met a few footballers both in my native Sheffield and also in my place of work in the Cheshire stockbroker belt. Some of them you will have heard of.

Derek Dooley an absolute Sheffield Footballing legend who lost his leg due to infection after a tackle.

Jack Charlton - enough said and managed by beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

Dwight Yorke
Rio Ferdinand
Wayne Rooney
David Beckham who for a while lived opposite my workplace, this was at the time when news of his affair broke in the newspapers. The site facilities management had to tell us not to report to work as the road was completely blocked by journalists.
Peter Crouch an unfeasibly tall and lanky striker who gave probably the finest answer to an interviewers question I have ever heard. As stated Peter looks like a humanoid stick insect but is married to a gorgeous lady called Abbey Clancy (I actually met both when Peter was buying the engagement ring)

Interviewer “Peter what would have been if you hadn’t made it as a footballer?”

Peter “A virgin”
 
sanman said:
I have met a few footballers both in my native Sheffield and also in my place of work in the Cheshire stockbroker belt. Some of them you will have heard of.

Derek Dooley an absolute Sheffield Footballing legend who lost his leg due to infection after a tackle.

Jack Charlton - enough said and managed by beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

Dwight Yorke
Rio Ferdinand
Wayne Rooney
David Beckham who for a while lived opposite my workplace, this was at the time when news of his affair broke in the newspapers. The site facilities management had to tell us not to report to work as the road was completely blocked by journalists.
Peter Crouch an unfeasibly tall and lanky striker who gave probably the finest answer to an interviewers question I have ever heard. As stated Peter looks like a humanoid stick insect but is married to a gorgeous lady called Abbey Clancy (I actually met both when Peter was buying the engagement ring)

Interviewer “Peter what would have been if you hadn’t made it as a footballer?”

Peter “A virgin”
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That Brit humor. Classic.
sanman, did you miss my call out to you over in the Bacon thread about your professional Brit opinion of a bacon butty?
 
sanman said:
I have met a few footballers both in my native Sheffield and also in my place of work in the Cheshire stockbroker belt. Some of them you will have heard of.

Derek Dooley an absolute Sheffield Footballing legend who lost his leg due to infection after a tackle.

Jack Charlton - enough said and managed by beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

Dwight Yorke
Rio Ferdinand
Wayne Rooney
David Beckham who for a while lived opposite my workplace, this was at the time when news of his affair broke in the newspapers. The site facilities management had to tell us not to report to work as the road was completely blocked by journalists.
Peter Crouch an unfeasibly tall and lanky striker who gave probably the finest answer to an interviewers question I have ever heard. As stated Peter looks like a humanoid stick insect but is married to a gorgeous lady called Abbey Clancy (I actually met both when Peter was buying the engagement ring)

Interviewer “Peter what would have been if you hadn’t made it as a footballer?”

Peter “A virgin”
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That’s a great answer to a sports interview question.


My all time favorite:

After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got destroyed in a football game their coach was asked “coach what do you think of your offense’s execution?”

Answer: I’m in favor of it.
 
I
QA1517 said:
"As an adult, I was solo at a VVIP private reception for the annual big USO Gala fund-raiser in DC, representing one of the big sponsors. I was in line at the crowded bar, and the man in front of me turned around and asked what he could get for me. It was Chris Isaak. He later sang “Wicked Game” during the show. "

I've been enjoying reading these but in a response to Capt MJ's original post:
My wife and I saw Chris Isaak perform a couple of years ago at Belly Up in Aspen, reserved seating it holds about 260 people max. One heck of a performer and entertainer. His band is awesome. I figured in a place that small the sound would be over whelming but it was perfect.

Anyways, we had meet and greet back stage passes to meet him. I have a picture of my wife looking at him like I never even existed in her life. I have to admit that at 60+ he looked pretty damn good. Very funny guy, does a spot on Jay Leno impression. He told us of a time on a USO tour that he and Dwight Yoakam played back up for each other. He said they absolutely sucked. I doubt it though.

I have also met a few former pro baseball players, many live in our area and are active in youth organizations.

As a teen ager we were in Kansas City watching a college basketball tournament and the Oakland raiders were in town to play the Chiefs, rode in an elevator with their QB Ken Stabler.
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I'm jealous. I love Chris Isaak. He sounds so much like Roy Orbison.
 
I travel a lot with my job and often get complimentary 1st class upgrades. I have sat next to quite a few - Waylon Jennings, Charles Barkley, Derek Jeter, Tom Petty - I never start the conversation - but Charles Barkley was the most engaging and entertaining. We talked SEC football, golf, guns (he actually is/was a gun enthusiast). Airports are a great place to people watch - you see all kinds going in all different directions.

I have also been on many flights with soldiers coming home from deployments - what a sense of joy on those trips knowing what awaits them.

I have also been on several Honor Flights - to me these are the most memorable.
 
Devil Doc said:
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.
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Tony Snow was a class act.
 
Capt MJ said:
That Brit humor. Classic.
sanman, did you miss my call out to you over in the Bacon thread about your professional Brit opinion of a bacon butty?
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Just responded but for some reason my answer is awaiting moderator approval!
 
Humey said:
I swear, i think everyone has met Eric Estrada
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I haven't, yet. :(

NJROTC-CC said:
O.K. I remembered another very minor “brush with greatness” as I like to say.

Remember the actor who played the prisoner with the mouse “Mr. Jingles” in The Green Mile? The actor was Michael Jeter. Before he made it as an actor, he was in secretary in my office and I worked with him on occasion. He later became a very successful character actor.
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He was amazing in Grand Hotel on Broadway, for which he won a Tony. He was also Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street!

@Capt MJ - Your 10 person undergrad seminar with Maya Angelou wins. Hands down.
 
In the 70's, I worked as a floor supervisor in a L.A. Department Store. There I met:
  • Suzanne pleshette - really attractive and charming in person
  • Brenda Vacarro - great voice.
  • Linda Blair - Pretty cute, post Exorcist days
  • Al Stewart (Year of the cat) - filled out a credit application - nice guy.
 
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My favorite Mr Noodle moment came years ago when I was home from work watching the kids for an afternoon and Elmo came on. The segment starts as usual, Elmo shrieks "Hey Mr Noodle!" and the guy responds "Nope, Mr Noodle couldn't be here today. I'm his brother, Mr Noodle." Not being a regular viewer, I didn't find out until later (from my sister, who was a pained but regular viewer) that it was the same actor just messing around.
 
parentalunit2 said:
I haven't, yet. :(



He was amazing in Grand Hotel on Broadway, for which he won a Tony. He was also Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street!

@Capt MJ - Your 10 person undergrad seminar with Maya Angelou wins. Hands down.
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Grand Hotel was his big break. Before that he was a starving actor with a day job as a secretary in a law office. Tommy Tune cast him in the part in Grand Hotel and after the Tony, his ticket was punched and he was never without work again.
 
AROTC-dad said:
In the 70's, I worked as a floor supervisor in a L.A. Department Store. There I met:
  • Suzanne pleshette - really attractive and charming in person
  • Brenda Vacarro - great voice.
  • Linda Blair - Pretty cute, post Exorcist days
  • Al Stewart (Year of the cat) - filled out a credit application - nice guy.
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boy you are dating yourself
 
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