The Famous or Infamous You have Met

[HawkeyeLinus]

I met Fred Rogers. He was not an actor; he was exactly the same person that you saw on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. He really did love everybody regardless of who they were.

I also met Clyde W. Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto. One of the sharpest minds I've ever met.

When my sister lived in Pittsburgh she lived in Fred’s actual neighborhood.

 

[telescopes]

Johnny Whittiker and Brandon Cruz (Family Affair and Courtship of Eddie's Father) were both guests at my 9th Birthday Party. At the time, I didn't think anything of it and had a hard time figuring out why they were there.

I met Arnold Schwarzenegger at a coffee shop/bar (Peabody's) in Palm Springs and shook his hand. I was impressed with his cowboy boots. All hand tooled and very well made.

I've met other celebrities - I was impressed with George McGovern who told me that he was indeed a "Bleeding Heart Liberal" as well as Kirk Douglas who I got to tell him that I was named after him.

Living in Palm Springs, it's not uncommon to see celebrities - I mostly go out of my way to ignore them and give them their privacy.

I picked up Maxine Waters at the airport once and drove her to the school where I was a principal. After meeting Newt Gingrich, I stopped being impressed with politicians at all.

Overall, I tend to think and believe that celebrities should mostly be impressed when they meet me and not the other way around.

 

[OzPiper]

I actually went to college with Brian Shaw. Our social circles overlapped, so we ended up at the same “events” (*cough cough parties) often.

 

[telescopes]

Weird but true, when I was in first grade and going to Parkwood Elementary, Brad Pitt was attending Kindergarten at the same school. He lived in the neighborhood for about a year. It's our elementary school's claim to fame.

 

[Streeper541]

Overall, I tend to think and believe that celebrities should mostly be impressed when they meet me and not the other way around.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[mikethompson]

You had juice with the Juice!

I was visiting Los Angeles with my dad when he went there on business when I was maybe 15 or 16. I forget what hotel we stayed at, but one morning he had an early meeting, so we had an early breakfast at the hotel. We were the only ones in the dining room, which seated maybe 50 people? Anyway, about halfway through breakfast in walks OJ with about 3 guys. They take a table at the back and have breakfast. So almost immediately after my dad gets up and leaves for his meeting. I finished my breakfast with OJ and left.

Later the waiter said that he often came there and had breakfast in the early hours.

 

[hall222]

Billy Barty & Billy F. Gibbons...now only if I had met Billy Carter and got some "Billy Beer"

 

[PA Piper Mike]

Billy Barty & Billy F. Gibbons...now only if I had met Billy Carter and got some "Billy Beer"

You met Noodles MacIntosh?

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

I went to high school with former basketball player Paul Davis and pitcher Andrew Goode.

Played backyard football once or twice with Brad and Brian Keselowski, who are both race car drivers.

 

[woodsroad]

In my former career as a newspaper photojournalist for a large daily paper, I met a lot of people who were well known. Few of them impressed me excessively, beyond the quite admirable ability to do something exceptionally well, and to have the self-confidence to turn it into a rewarding career. I photographed all the presidents and former presidents during that time period. And several of the wives. Most of the presidential and VP candidates. Many, many musicians and actrons.

But the people that impressed me the most were the people that you've never heard about and never will. Dairy farmers, flood victims, cancer survivors, animal rescuers, firemen, policemen, exotic dancers and war vets. These amazing people are all around us. We pass them in the supermarket aisle and honk at them when they drive too slowly. The collective Strangers. Take a minute and strike up a conversation with a stranger the next chance you get. Ask them about themselves. Interview them a bit. Listen to their story. It may not be as fine-tuned and polished of a story as all celebrities have, but it will be a real story, and probably one that will touch your heart.




SJOHNSTOWN-B Philadelphia Inquirer Photograph by Dan Z. Johnson/Staff Photographer. Shoot date: Mon 7/25/05 Location: Home of Debbie and Brian Reighard. Debbie Reighard holds a photo of her son, Brian, who is in Iraq with the 876th Engineers. His favorite cat, "Magellan" watches from a window.

 

[sablebrush52]

In my former career as a newspaper photojournalist for a large daily paper, I met a lot of people who were well known. Few of them impressed me excessively, beyond the quite admirable ability to do something exceptionally well, and to have the self-confidence to turn it into a rewarding career. I photographed all the presidents and former presidents during that time period. And several of the wives. Most of the presidential and VP candidates. Many, many musicians and actrons.

But the people that impressed me the most were the people that you've never heard about and never will. Dairy farmers, flood victims, cancer survivors, animal rescuers, firemen, policemen, exotic dancers and war vets. These amazing people are all around us. We pass them in the supermarket aisle and honk at them when they drive too slowly. The collective Strangers. Take a minute and strike up a conversation with a stranger the next chance you get. Ask them about themselves. Interview them a bit. Listen to their story. It may not be as fine-tuned and polished of a story as all celebrities have, but it will be a real story, and probably one that will touch your heart.


View attachment 285043

SJOHNSTOWN-B Philadelphia Inquirer Photograph by Dan Z. Johnson/Staff Photographer. Shoot date: Mon 7/25/05 Location: Home of Debbie and Brian Reighard. Debbie Reighard holds a photo of her son, Brian, who is in Iraq with the 876th Engineers. His favorite cat, "Magellan" watches from a window.

Absolutely! Remember a couple of years back, when there was a proposal to create a monument on the White House grounds honoring American heroes? I looked at the suggested people and wrote in several newspapers that the REAL American heroes should be those "ordinary" people who perform unsung service to others, like firefighters, police, teachers, nurses, farmers, and parents, etc, people who fulfill their responsibilities even in the worst of times, People who persevere.

 

[woodsroad]

People who persevere and never seek attention, people who are ok with anonymity and the occasional attaboy.

 

[sablebrush52]

I met the Apollo 11 crew when I was a kid. Actually quite a few Astronauts. My uncle worked in Mission Control

I met some astronauts as well. My father helped engineer life support on the Gemini and Apollo programs and my uncle trained the astronauts to collect geological samples from the moon to be used to document its history. When my uncle retired from his his position as chair of the Geology department at CalTech, several of the astronauts who walked the surface of the moon, came to share stories about how Lee ran them almost to death in the New Mexican desert, teaching them how to gather and document samples.

 

[TN Jed]

I grew up in Nashville were everybody is either famous, infamous or soon to be one or the other, myself included

 

[renfield]

Deke Slayton, Jimmy Carter while he was President, Sylvester Stallone ( I was an extra in a movie he was doing), Thomas Dolby, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons, Hoot Gibson, many space shuttle astronauts when I worked at Johnson Space Center, Michael Collins, Harrison Ford. An odd list and I hadn’t set out to meet most of these.

 

[DesertDan]

Bob Hope
Roger Staubach
Gene Rodenberry
Frank Herbert
Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle
Robert Asprin
George R.R. Martin
Billy Cox
Carmine Appice
Pat Travers
Rudy Sarzo
Frank Marino
Corky Laing
Will Calhoun
Marc Storace

 

[georged]

Here's a weird one:

I tried to beat the crap out of a soon-to-be famous guy once.

He went on to win an Olympic gold medal, then became the heavyweight world champion a couple years after that.

Did I manage to beat the crap out of him? Of course not. Was I an idiot to try? Absolutely. Was I drunk or otherwise impaired? No.

It came about because I was the "BEQ courtyard champion" of my unit at Camp Lejeune, and allowed myself to be talked into trying out for the Marine Corps boxing team via the 'walk on" route. An open cattle call sort of thing. Just sign up and give it a go.

I managed to beat my first two opponents fairly easily (but they were also walk-ons), so was feeling OK.

Then I got matched with a current team member: Leon Spinks

A bit of dancing, then some feints, and I managed to land one decent punch

Which pissed him off.

Ka-boom.

The same right hand that he flattened pretty much everyone with paid me a visit.

Bleeding teeth and a brutal three day headache convinced me of the folly of my ways, and I never touched a glove again.

 

[warren]

I delight in telling folks the Pope napped a bit, leaning on shoulder, as he weathered the goodby speeches at the foot of the airplane stairs after a full day of speeches and blessings. The poor guy was doped up to allow sleep and then they gave him something to awaken him according to one of his Swiss Guards, the inner circle. He was on a torturous trip around the world. I felt great sadness for him and the grind his people kept him on.

US Presidents are often treated in the same manner by their handlers when traveling long distances with many speaking stops. Air Force One crews go to great lengths to make his travel comfortable but, once the body's clock gets out of kilter. only time will heal such.

 

[sablebrush52]

Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle

I met both of these writers. Pournelle used to come to meetings of a ScfFi club I belonger to in L.A. years ago.

I met Niven at a convention in Pasadena and told him a story regarding trying to get Dream Park made into a feature when I was working at Disney. Both Cardon Walker, son of Disney CEO Card Walker, and I were avid fans of the book and we pitched it to Disney. They turned down the idea with a single sentence reply:

"We are not interested in making a movie about a murder in a theme park."

Niven thought it hilarious.

 

[Sigmund]

Ive also met some infamous ones... small and big time criminals and a couple of serial killers. They arent important enough to name and I dont brag for knowing them. They were Just loser narcissists. Tv glorifies them but they are best off forgotten behind bars. Being forgotten is the best punishment for a narcissist.