Surprising celebrities you've met

[RandyS]

Does Kato Kaelin really qualify as a celebrity? I mean, it's been fifteen years since he had his fifteen minutes. Besides, his name sounds like something you take for diarrhea.

My one celebrity encounter was meeting Robin Curtis on my 24th birthday in 1994 at a Star Trek convention. My mom had arranged it in advance, and when Robin and I were introduced to each other, we spent several minutes talking before she went on stage. I wish I could remember about what, although she did say that she enjoyed meeting the disabled fans. Then later, at the autograph signing, she called me up on the stage with her (several guys grabbed my wheelchair and lifted me up there) and Robin led the entire convention in singing Happy Birthday to me.

Mark Goddard of Lost in Space was also there, but we didn't meet.

I met Mark Goddard at a comic book convention and found him to be a remarkably friendly guy. He was kind of in the back and at a table pretty much alone and I stood and chatted with him for probably a good 20 minutes. He was selling autographed photos but I don't buy such things and, to my surprise, he never even mentioned it. We talked about his show business career and he even reenacted a few scenes form an episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies" he'd been on after I mentioned it (just to make sure he knew I knew more about him than just his time on "Lost in Space"). He really seemed to enjoy talking about the good old days. He spoke kindly and fondly of Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith) and talked about how everyone associated with the show was so very surprised that it was still generating interest nearly forty years later.

I've read accounts of others meeting Mark Goddard and finding him an irritable or an unlikable personality, fixated on selling autographs and wanting nothing to do with "fans" if they weren't buying something from him. This was NOT the person I met. I found him a genuine, likable and even enthusiastic person who enjoyed reminiscing and who never even mentioned trying to sell me something. I talked with him quite long enough that I'm sure he realized fairly early that I wasn't going to be spending any money but he didn't seem to care. He chatted away quite happily as if we were old friends just the same. A VERY decent and nice man, in my experience.

Well, I can't tell you either way, because like I said, he was present but we didn't get the chance to speak.

 

[sbk1234]

A couple of years ago I was at a convention chatting with Gary Lockwood, who played Astronaught Frank Poole in 2001, and Gary Mitchell in TOS 2nd pilot; WHere No Man Has Gone Before. He was very nice. My friend and I were asking him more about 2001. He had a lot of interesting information about it. Neither of us were asking for anything to be signed, but he was still very happy to chat. Then a fan came up to ask for an autograph, which Lockwood gladly signed. The fan then asked about why, if Gary Mitchell had all those super powers could he be killed by Kirk dropping a big rock on him. Lockwood started laughing and answered, "Because it's a fucking TV show!" My friend and I nearly busted a gut laughing.
Obviously that made a big impression on me, as it became part of my signature here.

 

[OmahaStar]

I've met a lot of celebrities over the years, but a few that stick out in my mind:

Robin Curtis - At a con in Kansas City. Friday, I brought in a few scripts and cds for her to sign for Jan, and a few things for me. She personalized and everything, included quotes and whatnot. She had a rather long line. Sunday morning, I get in the elevator to go down to the con, and Robin's inside. She started chatting, saying how nice it was to see me again, Jan. Then said, "No wait, Jan's your friend with the scripts. So nice to see you again, Mitch." I had on no badge or anything with my name on it, but that personal touch days later, after all the other people she had interacted with, was awesome.

Max Grodenchik (part 1) - At another con in Kansas City, during the dinner on Saturday, various celebrities were wandering around, doing a sort of meet and greet with the fans. He was so drunk he literally fell into me. I helped get him to his feet, but he couldn't stand. So, for the next hour, he'd point and I'd help him get around, talking with people and basically being his support. Eventually someone came for him and took him back to his room.

(part 2) A year or two later, I went to my first Dragon*Con. They had a dinner on Saturday night, and not knowing better, I bought a ticket for it and went inside. Max was the MC and as we were munching away on rubber chicken, he started singing. Midway through his first song, he noticed me, left the stage and came across to our table. He said he was happy to see me again, and thanked me for the support in KC. Must have been there for five minutes. Then he goes back into his song, on his way back to the stage. Everyone at the table stares at me like "what was that?" ... I was surprised he remembered anything.

Charlaine Harris - At VisionCon, Springfield MO. I had not heard of her, but she was a guest. She said at opening ceremonies that her publisher was supposed to have sent her a box of books to sign, but they didn't, so she had nothing with her, but she'd be glad to talk about her books or sign programs. She gave off this friendly vibe. I went back and checked the websites for Barnes & Noble and Borders. Exactly one store in the town had one copy of one of her books, so I went and got it, and she was thrilled to sign anything. That was Saturday, and she said she hadn't had a single person stop by her table until then.

Back home, the book went on the bookshelf, until much much later. It wasn't until I read the first Sookie Stackhouse book for a book club that I made the connection between who I had met and the author of that book. By the next time I met her, I had actually read all the books in two of her series, and was starting a third series, and we were able to talk about the characters and her writing. She hadn't changed a bit, but this time I knew who she was.

The other one that really stands out was a local news guy. I was at a gas station with a friend, filling up the tank, when I saw him. Byron something, I don't remember his full name. Anyway, I said "Hey, it's that guy from channel 6" (or whatever station it was). The guy rolled his eyes, sighed, and said in a really snotty tone that he was far too busy and important and he wasn't about to sign any autographs.

I said that's ok, I wasn't going to ask for one. I collect autographs from celebrities, not from assholes. But if he ever got out of the Omaha market and was on a real network, to let me know. My friend, who hadn't said a word, proceeded to laugh his ass off.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I don't think I have ever actually met a celebrity. I mean not one I have talked to or anything. I missed having Stan Lee walk by me by 30 seconds at the Long Beach comic-con. Dylan McDermott from the Practice once sat in front of me at a restaurant(the only reason that is a good story is that my girlfriend recognized him and was exited about it, but she kept calling him Daniel Day Lewis). For some reason former NBA player Purvis Short was once at a little league baseball game of mine. And of course I've seen celebrities at conventions, but never talked to one.

My girlfriend though being a life-long Los Angeleno and a former social butterfly has a million stories about meeting and actually hanging out with celebrities. She used to work in the bookstore half of a famous bookstore/coffee shop in LA and one of the employees in the coffee shop was a struggling musician/stripper named Courtney Love. She even went to see Courtney strip once at Jumbo's Clown Room. A very famous face from an episode of TOS once insinuated he wanted to have a threesome with her and a friend. I can't remember why, but once she hung out with the Arquette siblings. A friend of hers was the daughter of the red-headed lawyer on Matlock and she used to hang out at their home. And now apparently something weird is going on where her best friend has apparently become pals with Debi Mazar. And that's just some of the highlights.

 

[RoJoHen]

I delivered a room service and talked on the phone to Seth Meyers when he was staying at the hotel attached to my restaurant. I had no idea he was even at the hotel, so when I showed up at his room and saw him, it took several minutes to put together who he was. Even then, I had to go look him up in the computer to confirm that he was actually Seth Meyers.

I also waited on Hannah Montana's sister and backup dancers. Woohoo