8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Dec 1, 2013 9:08:25 GMT -5
I thought this might be a fun thread. Who is the most famous person that you have personally met -- as in at least exchanged hellos and a handshake.
For me, I think it was former President Clinton at one of his book signings.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Dec 1, 2013 9:54:22 GMT -5
Nancy Lopez. Her kids went to the same school as mine and played some sports (not golf). She is a very friendly person and would chat with everyone, and you would never know that she was a famous golpher. She was also a customer of my husband's business and was super nice. I would consider her an acquantance, chat if I see her out, but not to the point of being friends. Her husband, World Series MVP Ray Knight is not nearly as friendly.
Luke Bryan (country singer) - met him beofre he was famous. He used to play at a bar owned by a friend of ours. Chatted a few times.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2013 10:02:27 GMT -5
Johnny Bench. I lived in Cincinnati at the time and worked with a clerk-typist who was a real sports groupie. I think she slept with half the pro hockey team we had briefly in Cincinnati in the 1970s. She introduced me to him in a singles bar and he went back to playing pool with some blonde.
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Shooby
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Post by Shooby on Dec 1, 2013 10:08:03 GMT -5
My mom was a waitress and waited on Pete Rose. He autographed a napkin and I still have it. I really can't think of any stars I have ever met. Maybe some football players at a training camp where I shook hands or something.
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Dec 1, 2013 10:19:17 GMT -5
Leonard Bernstein. I was 16 years old. The New York Philharmonic was playing in Tokyo and I went with some friends. Afterwards we went around back where he was seated (i think there was going to be a press conference) and my friends and I went up to the table and I said, "Mr Bernstein, may we please have an autograph?"
He graciously autographed each of our tickets and asked us, "What are you kids doing here?". We explained that we attended a school for expats' kids, thanked him and left. It was a pretty thrilling experience for us.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Dec 1, 2013 10:32:19 GMT -5
Most recently, Bobby Flay. I've also met Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. When I was a child, I met Richard Nixon (my dad flew with him) and Marlo Thomas.
Richard Thomas sat behind me at a Broadway show. I later found out he was going to be taking the part of the lead over from Christopher Reeves.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2013 10:37:14 GMT -5
David Sedaris at a book signing.
My father has met Kirstie Ally, Jenna Elfman, Marisol Nichols, Danny Masterson...
I had the chance to interview Garth Brooks at the Bloomsburg Fair just as he was getting big, but didn't know who he was so passed.
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Dec 1, 2013 10:41:37 GMT -5
I think Tina Fey was the most famous, definitely the most amazing and awe-inspiring. The Free Library of Philadelphia has a great author series and she was being interviewed for our local NPR station (she was promoting Bossypants). It was so amazing. I stood in a long line afterward to get my book signed and I probably looked like Nelson Muntz when he saw Andy Williams.
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GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Dec 1, 2013 10:50:16 GMT -5
I used to live in the same town as Gregory Maguire (author of the Wicked series). We had kids the same age who went to preschool and school together and played on the same soccer team. Nice, normal, family kind of guy.
Jim Rice (retired Red Sox star) and Tom Ashbrooke (of NPR's On Point) shop in my store regularly. I try to pretend I don't know who they are so they can shop and pay in peace.
Both of my kids met Shaquille O'Neal a couple of times while he was playing for the Celtics. He lived in the next town and would do really normal things like go to the movies or for fast food and just chat with anyone and everyone. Nice, normal, extremely large, guy.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 1, 2013 11:16:45 GMT -5
Buzz Aldrin - he was the keynote at an engineering conference I attended a few years ago, and I happened to be on the elevator with him and he's wife later that day, so I got to say hi and chat. He's not friendly at all.
I also met Thomas Friedman (author of The World Is Flat, NY Times Columnist) at a book-signing after listening to him speak.
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constanz22
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Post by constanz22 on Dec 1, 2013 11:36:44 GMT -5
Stone Phillips- used to host Dateline or one of those crime shows. He was in town filming a local unsolved crime story, but it was right before 9/11 and the crew left and I don't think they ever finished or aired the story. He and his crew came in to eat at the fine dining restaurant I worked at at the time. We stayed open late to serve them. 3 of us stayed to wait on them. I think there were like 9 in their party and they left a $300 tip I met Nick Swisher and Joe Girardi a couple years ago at Spring Training but it was a "meet and greet" type setting.
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kilroy
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Post by kilroy on Dec 1, 2013 11:45:21 GMT -5
Well, I worked with a bunch of famous TV journalists for 14 years, people like Paula Zahn & Anderson Cooper. I was always amazed at how they could only remember my name if they wanted something. I regularly attend a crossword tournament that's hosted by Will Shortz, the crossword editor of the New York Times. To me, he's a rock star I remember being absolutely speechless when I was 9 or 10 and my mom introduced me to the author Lee Kingman at a Christmas party; Kingman wrote some of my favorite books & I couldn't believe I was actually in the same room as her. Now famous people don't impress me that much.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Dec 1, 2013 11:50:49 GMT -5
Christmas dinner with actor Charles Durning at his home.
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dannylion
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Post by dannylion on Dec 1, 2013 11:51:41 GMT -5
I worked in an upscale Beverly Hills department store when I was in college in the 1960s. I sold perfume to Jimmy Durante and hosiery to Greer Garson, Mary Tyler Moore, Deborah Kerr, Sam Jaffe's wife, and Alice Ghostly. They were all very nice.
When I was in high school, I met Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower. Oh, yeah, speaking of high school: I went to high school with Stevie Nicks, though I hasten to add that I was not nearly cool enough to be in her circle of friends, but she was definitely not a mean girl and was nice to everyone.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Dec 1, 2013 11:54:05 GMT -5
Also Larry O'Brien, Postmaster General and NBA commisioner, (as he sat in my dad's dental chair having some work done).
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Dec 1, 2013 12:00:02 GMT -5
the most famous person I ever met was Jimmy Carter. I have also met Jesse Jackson, and I saw Denzel Washington once.
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kent
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Post by kent on Dec 1, 2013 12:11:58 GMT -5
Glenn Seaborg* - lunch together a couple of times and a few private conversations.
*Nobel Prize in Chemistry, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Manhattan Project, etc., etc. He was an extremely nice man and quite down to earth.
www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/glenn-seaborg-obit.html
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kilroy
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Post by kilroy on Dec 1, 2013 12:16:40 GMT -5
Oh, and if anyone watches "Orange is the New Black", I went to college with the woman whose life it's based on. I never would have expected her to get involved in drug dealing, but I'm not surprised she's managed to get a book/TV deal out of it.
I accepted my high school diploma from George H.W. Bush, because I grew up in the town where they have their summer home.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Dec 1, 2013 12:18:44 GMT -5
Spiderman: Really though, I haven't met anyone famous I can think of. A state senator (ran for governor but had to drop out when his baby had a heart condition). My dad has met a lot of famous people though. Enough to get me several degrees closer to Kevin Bacon
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Dec 1, 2013 12:25:33 GMT -5
My dad has met a lot of famous people though. Enough to get me several degrees closer to Kevin Bacon Oh! Hubs is a few degrees from Kevin Bacon! His grandparents attended the same Quaker meeting as KB's parents.
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saveinla
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Post by saveinla on Dec 1, 2013 12:32:55 GMT -5
Mark Harmon from NCIS, Jay Leno and Josh Groban.
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Waffle
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Post by Waffle on Dec 1, 2013 13:03:44 GMT -5
Woody Harrelson - before he was famous. I met Shirley Chisholm when I was in college (I was a star-struck, tongue-tied idiot ). I also met William Windom once. I've been told that I "sparred" in a ring with the late boxing champion Jose Torres - but I was a toddler at the time and have absolutely no memory of it. I've seen Jerry Mathers sp? (leave it to beaver), but I don't think we were introduced - don't really remember - he was once married to a local woman.
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kittensaver
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Post by kittensaver on Dec 1, 2013 13:18:52 GMT -5
From my days as a student at UCLA: I shook hands with Frank Sinatra after the annual student music awards named after him. I took a master class from Martha Graham. I took a master class from Aaron Copeland. I got a saxophone lesson from Dave Brubeck. I took Music History from Paul Tanner (trombone player for Glenn Miller). John Wooden knew me by name . He was a wonderful, caring, genuine guy in a world of full-of-themselves "superstar" coaches. From my days in catering and events (lowly server for various caterers and lowly data entry clerk for a silent auctioneer at La La Land industry events and charity auctions) - I've shaken hands backstage, waited on and/or completed auction sales for): Donna Summer (RIP), Elton John, Josh Groban, Gerald Ford (RIP), Shaquille O'Neil, David Foster, Gavin Rossdale, Aaron Spelling (RIP), Vanessa Williams, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Janet Jackson, Terri Garr, Cindy Williams, Roseanne Barr, Penny Marshall (she's mean when she's drunk ), Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver, the guys from Earth Wind and Fire, Neil Patrick Harris, Meg Tilly and a few more I can't remember right now. Last spring I spent a week at a retreat spa where Josh Radnor (Ted on How I Met Your Mother) was also a guest. I thought he would ignore me because I'm an "invisible" middle aged woman, but he was actually chatty and pleasant with everyone. Of course the sweet young thangs jockeyed constantly to get near him, but he made an effort to be low key and nice to everyone. The other celebrities I've met at that spa: Alicia Silverstone (also VERY nice and low key) and the supermodel Karolina Kurkova (she came with an attitude and an entourage, and it was a nightmare for those of us who wanted a quiet week). I've seen (but not had interactions with) probably 100 or so more celebrities at events and just walking around town over the last 40 years or so. I live in La La Land, so they're everywhere. ETA: oh oh oh oh, how could I forget? At the same event where I met Maria Shriver I also shook hands with the Dali Lama. That was awesome - he is an incredible man.
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Martivir
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Post by Martivir on Dec 1, 2013 13:29:55 GMT -5
I met Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels when they were in the area filming Fly Away Home. My mom worked at the air base where they were filming. I ended up working as Anna Paquin's stand-in. It was a ton of just waiting around. And the few times they did need me it was hanging out in a snow suit in an 80 degree hanger. She was really nice. Jeff Daniels kept to himself.
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ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ
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Post by ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ on Dec 1, 2013 13:45:24 GMT -5
Aretha Franklin.
DH and I were staying at a hotel in another city attending company-sponsored Christmas weekend/party.
I was sitting in the lobby as we were being checked-in and she sat down beside me and started chatting. She'd done a concert in that city the night before and was staying at the same hotel - she was waiting while she was being checked-out of the hotel and her limo to arrive.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Dec 1, 2013 13:46:54 GMT -5
the most famous person I ever met was Jimmy Carter. I have also met Jesse Jackson, and I saw Denzel Washington once. I've seen Jimmy Carter also. He lives about 30 miles from here. First time I saw him was in the garden center at Lowe's. It was a hot day and I first noticed several guys in black suits with earphones (before the days of cell phone ear blue tooth). Then I saw Jimmy Carter walk by, and I realized that he had Secret Service with him. And my friend's neighbor was a secret service agent for Jimmy. I am also pretty good friends with Jimmy's niece (Billy's youngest daughter). She is a local journalist and has kid's my kid's ages. Knew her for several years before someone told my he was Jimmy's niece. I always thought it was odd that she had a daughter named Carter, now I know why.
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Regis
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Post by Regis on Dec 1, 2013 13:47:00 GMT -5
Peyton Manning at Phantom of the Opera in Indy.
Paula Abdul at a movie premiere in LA for "Swing Vote".
Billy Joel at a blues club in Indy after one of his shows.
Have had the opportunity to shake hands with every governor from Indiana since the late 70's.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Dec 1, 2013 13:57:30 GMT -5
Man - I don't get to meet anyone interesting. I met the mayor and our congresswoman, but they want my vote and they are both typical politician scumbags. My husband went to law school with the congresswoman, and they had a couple drag out fights - so it is always weird and totally fake when we see her. Other than that, Lynn Sue Cooney is our local news anchor - her husband got drunk and killed his friend on their boat, and their kid goes to my kid's school, and we used to go to the same church. Not really a thrill to ever talk to her. Her head is so big compared to her body in real life, she looks like one of those walking balloon people they put in the Macy's parade.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Dec 1, 2013 13:58:41 GMT -5
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grits
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Post by grits on Dec 1, 2013 14:09:24 GMT -5
If I told you, they'd have us all killed to hush it up.
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