Did you have any brushes with fame?

[pkrfanatic]

Have met many athletes. One of my most recent and memorable was AJ Foyt at a little country bar i hang out in. The guy who sponsors(abc supply) his team is from my area. They were here for a race in Milwaukee. We had a couple of beers together and talked racing for 1/2 hour or so.

[mincey]

My first brush was meeting Loren Janes, a prominent stunt man, in grade school. He came to school for an assembly.

Then in high school, I had a class with Abra Coleman, the step-daughter of Ken Howard of the White Shadow. She was not a nice girl so we were not friends. At that same school though, I became good friends with Jennifer Wilson, daughter of the Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. I never got to meet Dennis in person, but got to speak with him on the phone when Jennifer was staying with him. Several years later Dennis drowned. Near the end of my high school years, I had a job working concerts at Compton Terrace in Tempe, AZ, which at that time was owned by Jess Nicks, Stevie's dad, and I worked for her aunt and uncle, Gene and MaryLou Nicks in the food concessions. When Stevie Nicks was doing a concert, MaryLou took several of us backstage, and we got to visit with Stevie. Really sweet!

I met Richard Page of Mr. Mister briefly. My aunt used to be the accompianst for the Phoenix Boys Choir, and Joyce Page was one of the directors. Joyce was Richard's mother, and when Richard was a youngster he had been in the choir. I met Richard when he was in town visiting his parents.

I guess I knew more relatives of the rich and famous!!!

As an adult, some more faint brushes with fame. While waiting for my stepdad to deplane (back in the days when we could wait for arriving passengers at the gate) I saw Willard Scott come off the plane first. I smiled and waved at him, and he grinned and waved back. I had to tell my aunt about it because years earlier, when the Phoenix Boys Choir sang at a White House Christmas event, Willard Scott was a guest and my aunt got to meet him and got a hug.

My husband was a musician years ago, and he had a few brushes. He had briefly dated Alison Kraus, and he worked with Mark O'Connor on some recordings. Mark O'Connor was one of the violinists featured in the Meryl Streep movie Music of the Heart. My husband was around a lot of Bluegrass in the N. GA mountains. My husband also met Zell Miller, former GA senator and governor, many times in Zell's hometown.

Some obscure brushes, but brushes nonetheless!

[Stephen G.]

My only time that I can remember was when my cousin and myself where at the airport in Wilkes county N.C. looking at airplanes when a very pretty homebuilt plane landed and taxied in. There was not many people around so we walked out to drool over the plane. The door opened and out come Bill Elliott of nascar fame and his girl friend. We said hello and he smiled and said hello back. Lol we walked on by him so we could see the plane better. The track they where racing at was the Wilkesboro Motor Speedway. They don't race there no more. It was a major blow to the local economy.

[dmb90260]

I guess I had an unfair advantage, I worked at ABC TV for 25 years. Saw most of the big stars one time or another but I generally ignored them. They were at work and did not need my attention. In all that time I only asked for two autographs, one each for my niece and nephew, from Linda Carter (Wonder Woman) and Steve Garvey (wonder womanizer). In an odd quirk of fate, some time later a woman I was dating dropped me (very gently) for Garvey. Can't say I blamed her and we are still good friends.

I have worked at many jobs for golf tournaments and met most of the pros, big names and small. Most of them are very nice in person and happy to talk during pratice rounds. None of them and I mean none are as nice as Arnie. There is a reason people love him. I watched him bury a shot in some very deep rough, about 3 feet tall, and still look over to the side lines and ask how someone was doing. He never kept to the middle of the fairway, away from the crowd. He was always making eye contact with the fans and often talking to them. The Class Act.

Until I blew my knees out I ran a lot of foot races 5K to marathon. I met most of the big names and had a beer with most of them, Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Greta Waitz etc. None of them had ego problems.

One of the funniest "star" incidents was pre-ABC when I was working in a grocery store while going to college. This store was in Toluca Lake where Bob Hope and others lived. Never saw Hope but Jonathan Winters came in often. One day he was cornered in the produce section by two women. He started making motor noises and pushed them aside with his cart, never to be seen by them again. Craig Stevens of Peter Gunn came in a lot and one day a new younger clerk asked for his ID for his check. He smiled and complied. Hans Conried came in a lot during a period when he had no work, he had a poor attitude, wearing flip flops and shiny serge pants all the time. I think he came out of Europe after WWII and had it hard then so he was very tight with his money and bought the cheapest brands. One Christmas Eve he waited too long and came by the store after we closed trying to buy a marked down tree. Doors were locked and cash counted, sorry Hans not that year. Later he got a big job at the LA Music Center, his clothes and attitude improved.

Then there was Oprah, the year she signed with ABC, there was a big party at the beach for her. This was one of the few publicity parties I was ever invited to. I kept looking at this woman and asking "What's the big deal about her??" Duh!!!

[kajamelu4]

I guess living in Oklahoma all of my life means that I don't run into many stars! However, we did meet Charlie Daniels in OKC several years ago. He is a very nice man, waited while we got some of his CD's out of the car so that he could sign them. At the time, he was our youngest son's favorite singer, and he was just wonderful to our son. Took a bunch of pictures, talked for awhile, and signed autographs. Really made our son's day!!

Our daughters have met a bunch of musicians, and have the pictures to prove it. I can't tell you any names, I don't listen to that kind of music!

[IraRat]

I shook Bobby Kennedy's hand the day before he was assasinated.

Wow. I forget: was the ballroom he was shot in in New York or California?

[toypusher]

I played golf with Tiger Woods

Of course he was only about 10 or 12 years old at the time. He and his dad played a the same military course in southern CA that I used to play when I was stationed in LA. A Navy run course called the Destoryer, in Cerritos.

BTW: He played alot better than I did!

[Guest]

I shook Bobby Kennedy's hand the day before he was assasinated.

Wow. I forget: was the ballroom he was shot in in New York or California?

LA, CA.
Former Ram's great, Rosevelt Grier tackled the shooter Sirhan Sirhan.
Kennedy stopped in and gave a nice speech at the Eureka Inn the day before his fateful stop in LA. I shook his hand and afterwards, serveral of of us kids played catch with him, passing a football back and fourth. He had a pretty good arm and was quite charasmatic.
When my mother woke both my brother and I on that fatefull day, her waking words to the both of us were, "You boys might not want to wash your hands for a while, becuase your hand shaking buddy has been assasinated." (Over the years... Her words have remained crystal clear, as if they were spoken yesterday)

[IraRat]

What's ironic Dean is even then, I was a flag-waving LIBERAL, and even at the age of 12, I was following his campaign and was watching it live that night.

And yes, I remember Rosie Grier, who liked to knit.

I'm not a big one for conspiracy theories, but I could never understand this one. It wasn't like Kennedy was an AVID supporter of Israel or anything. Don't really remember, but maybe Sirhan just struck at whoever was convenient.

As far as his athletic skills, there have been some great books written about the family. I read one co-authored by a housekeeper, and I believe most of what i read.

Joe Senior was a total nut, the family was dysfunctional, and he demanded that his children compete against each other VICIOUSLY. Losing just wasn't an option.

The man even had his daughter lobatomized for no real medical reason.

[Guest]

That's right... He did a lot of knitting. (I would have never remembered that)
This has been a very fun thread, sure has got the 'ol brain strolling down memory lane.
I had some other notable meetings come back to me, but I've shared more than my fair share already...
I have few "negative" one's too, but maybe those should be kept for a different thread...

[vinoscooter]

After moving to seattle a age 12..we lived in mostly black neighbords..Lots of music being played.Soon begain playing the drums..Our band won the teen fair top honor's in high school,drawing alot of media attention...Met most of the radio & tv media..On alot of radio shows...At age 18 was the 1st minor muscian playing in bars legally in the state of washington..Played illeglly at 17 yrs. A lot of attention on all media stations,& papers..Met so many famous folks..To many to mention...Joined a band in 73,covered all the west coast,alaska,& western canada...Backed many country stars,Grandpa jones,string beans,Most of the HEE HAW intertainer's...Met Roy Clark,Charlie rich,Susan ray,Buck owens..etc...After that my brother & myself formed The Whiskey River Band..Had great 23 yr run...Met Waylon & Jessie,Marshall Tucker band,Lorrie Morgan,Freddie Hart,Freddie Fender,Ronnie millsap,Elvin bishop(still my favorite besides Waylon..Just alot lot of fine intertainers,...In the 90's health,& the death of our lead lady singer JJ in 2000, & our favorite lead picker smokey joe...Took it's toll.We retired the band in 2002..Had a great run..No regrets..What a party..Worked my ass off, Many stories to tell..My only fame for myself I feel, is just being a father of a couple of great kids.. vinoscooter

[IraRat]

Soon begain playing the drums.

Well, from one of the very ends of the country...to another of the very ends of the country...

If our TDs ever get together, I'll have my ax, so we can jam.

[cracker39]

I'm almost embarrassed to mention my brief brushes with fame, they were so long ago and most of you may not even recognize the names. When I worked at Silver Springs, FL from 1956 to 1963, Lloyde Bridges was there filming underwater scenes for the TV Seahunt series. He only did a few closeups underwater and stunt doubles did all the real diving for him. Bridges was an a**hole in my opinion. He didn't have time to talk to any locals. One of the underwater stunt men I knew, Ricou Browning, was the Monster From The Black Lagoon in that movie. Ricou worked with fresh water dolphins at SS and later went on to being the producer for the Flipper TV series.

I also met and talked to Arleen Francis at SS (she was filiming her TV show there for a week and was on What's My Line in the 50s and 60s) who was a wonderfully friendly lady who would stop by and chat with us. I took souvenier pictures on the glass bottom boats to sell to the tourists. Two of our customers I photographed and sold pics to were the famous flamenco dancer Jose Greco and comedian Morey Amsterdam, who had grey hair as he was between seasons of the Dick Van Dyke Show and didn't have it dyed black at that time. One of my uncles had a bit part as a soldier with Gary Cooper in the movie Distand Drums filmed partly at Silver Springs. He was supposed to have been wounded and Cooper threw him over his shoulder and carried him to safetay.

My ex-wife was a waitress in a large hotel in Orlando in the late 60s and served meals (at different times) to Chad Everett (movies and TV series) and legendary actor Lionel Barrymore. Around 1956, a friend and I sneaked under the fence at the local livestock pavilion where the Jimmy Rogers Snow country band was playing, to try to meet some girls. They had a new singer touring with them that I never heard of. He put on a really good show and everyone was talking about him at school on Monday. It seems his name was Elvis Presley. Some years later we had Elvis in one of our local banks filming scenes for a movie, Follow That Dream, filmed in Florida.

One of my co-workers in the early 70s, got to drive a formula Vee in the Daytona 12 hour endurance race and spent some time talking to James Garner who had a car running there that year.

I think I had a couple of other brief brushes, but they won't come to mind right now.

[Ranger Rod]

I once lent John Denver a pair of shoes. They were filming a "Man and Transportation" special when I worked at Wright Brothers. They had Denver dressed in a period Wright Brothers costume, but they didn't include shoes. He was wearing Birkenstocks. I lent him a pair of shoes from our Beach Apparatus Drill costume stash for the filming.

I did a grip and grin with Al Gore when he was VP. I met lots of musicians when they played at Fair St. Louis & I ran the operation there.

My wife has been an extra in a couple of movies "Good Ole Boys" with Tommy Lee Jones and Sissy Spacek whom she said were very nice. She was in "Texas" with Stacey Keach who was a real A$$.

I've met a lot of other celebrities over the years, but can't recall who now. We used to run across Stephen King frequently when we were in Bangor.

Rod

[asianflava]

One of my co-workers in the early 70s, got to drive a formula Vee in the Daytona 12 hour endurance race and spent some time talking to James Garner who had a car running there that year.

I never confirmed the rumor but a guy I went to high school/ elementary school with was related to James Garner. His last name was Bumgarner which was James Garner's name before changing it.

I worked at Silver Springs, FL from 1956 to 1963, Lloyde Bridges was there filming underwater scenes for the TV Seahunt series.

I'll never forget the Silver Springs Commercial "Look, did you see that?" It bugs my wife that I can remember old commercials.