Who's that guy? (Celebrity tales)

[Niorah]

Well, actually it could be applied to women as well.

Thing is: I was walking down Tottenham Court Road just an hour ago or so, and I see this man walking towards me, and I find myself staring.
Right away I thought "He looks familiar", then after three seconds my brain cells kicked in and I realised that I was (rather impolitely) staring right into Terence Stamp's very very blue eyes!

I don't know how I got the guts of stepping in front of him and saying: "Mister Terence Stamp?"
To which he replied with a deep, soft: "Yes...?"
I couldn't help shaking his hand and telling him how much I love his work and yadda yadda yadda. to which he said: "Are you serious?" in a jocking tone.
Of course I'm serious! You're Terence Stamp! One of the finest actros Britain has ever produced! D'uh!
He asked me what my name was and seemed genuinely pleased to be recognised and stopped by a fan.

All I have to say is that he was charming, warm, kind, friendly and simply put... gorgeous.

And that's my tale for today, does anybody care to share their celebrity encounters?

 

[barnaclelapse]

I spent an evening once drinking with Lance Henriksen, Tony Todd and six other people.

That was fun.

 

[Kirk's_Tights]

I am not 100% sure of this but a few years ago, I went to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition, happens once a year on the last two weeks of August) and we were betting on a horse game and I looked up and was pretty damn sure I was eye to eye with Trish Stratus (for those who watch wrestling). She noticed me staring and she kinda started looking a bit uneasy, as if I was going to yell out HOLY SHIT TRISH STRATUS IS HERE and then a rush of people would run over. She smiled politely and we just kept playing.


I am not sure if it was her but if it wasn't, someone did a fantastic job of lookin exactly like her and being built like her.

 

[TheBrew]

My favorite tale is having a laugh with a certain Trek guest star having been banned from TBBS.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I few years ago I was a seat filler at the Tony Awards. During a commercial break, they shuffled us down to the front, where they were deciding which of us would sit where.

In the meantime, I notice someone is staring at me. James Earl Jones. So I look at him. The whole time I'm thinking, "Why is James Earl Jones looking at me?" He kept looking at me, I kept looking at him.

Then the commercial break was over and back up the aisle they sent me, unneeded...with the mystery still lingering...why WAS James Earl Jones staring at me?

 

[Emher]

Damn Niorah I would have fainted! He just has such an immense presence that I doubt I would've been able to take it

 

[the Dagman]

I have had a few encounters with celebs besides actually being related to actor Wolfgang Preiss (my grandfather's brother on my father's side). Like being on a local game show three times back in 1976 with host Jim Lange, famous for being the host of the Dating Game.

The best story I have is from when I was working at a Goodyear in El Cerrito, Ca. back in 1989. I was the store's assistant manager, and was working the front counter when in walks four long-haired white guys wearing what looked like dirty jeans and t-shirts and they all looked like they could use a bath.

The shortest of them comes up to the counter and tells me he is there to pick up his Camaro that his wife had dropped off earlier in the day speaking in some kind of foreign accent. The lady he was referring to was a lady named Debbie Ulrich who was something of a regular to our shop. A very nice and pretty lady that I had chatted with many times before, yet she never mentioned her husband before, and wasn't there at the time to confirm the relationship. So I was feeling a bit apprehensive releasing her car to this person claiming to be her husband.

So, I tell this man the total of the bill that was owed and he proceeds to write out a check for the amount. I take a look at the check and I ask this man for his identification. At this point all four of these men react with amazement that I had just asked to see the ID of this guy saying he was Debbie Ulrich's husband. The tallest one, a blond haired guy with a mustache that went down to his lower jaw-line, asks me "You really don't know who he is?" I reply with a kind of befuddled "No" not getting the joke. The shorter man, smiling, hands me his ID.

The name on the ID: Lars Ulrich. Now, I had gone to high school in that same town with a guy named Kanus Ulrich. So I asked if they were related. Lars proceeds to start laughing and says no. The taller man, who was actually James Hetfield, asks me if I ever heard of the rock group called "Metallica"? I said sure, I had heard of them but never really had listened to their music, and why did he ask? At which point he raises his arms, gesturing to his three other friends. "You're... them?"

I begin to apologise for not recognising them, but they stop me right there. They said they loved it. They were feeling like they couldn't go anywhere and just be treated like average people anymore, and then they found my shop where I treated them as valued customers and nothing more. We began chatting. They told me they had just finished their album "...And Justice For All", and I was really amazed at how nice and down to earth these four guys were. They continued to patronize my shop for some time thereafter, and I always just treated them like valued customers and never drew attention to who they really were to the other employees.

Eventually, the secret did get out. The store's manager, my boss, found out who they were and her grandson was a big fan of theirs. So she started pestering them for autographs. I remember the last time they came in that Jason Newsted stayed in the car to avoid the pestering of my boss. I told him I was really sorry about my boss' actions, that I tried to get her to treat them like any other customer, but she wouldn't listen. But it ruined what was a great working relationship I had with the band.

And yes, I did start listening to their stuff after meeting them. They even gave me a signal of hello when they were entering the Grammy Awards show where they lost to Jethro Tull.

 

[thestrangequark]

I have two good stories. One is from my college summers scooping ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. My co-worker had an ongoing feud with James Iha (from the Smashing Pumpkins). On more than one occasion he walked into the store only to see that she was working, they'd glare daggers at each other for several seconds, and then he'd give up and storm out.

The best encounter I had with a celebrity was when I, quite literally, ran into Harrison Ford. I was running around the corner of 6th Ave and 8th St, and he was running the other way around the corner of 6th Ave and 8th St. I ran smack into his chest and was knocked right onto my bottom. He very politely helped me up, quickly apologized and hastened to get on his way. I wouldn't have even known it was him but for a couple of women who saw it happen. As he jogged off they hollered, "Harrison Ford just knocked you down girl! Han solo just knocked you down!"

 

[SicOne]

My favorite tale is having a laugh with a certain Trek guest star having been banned from TBBS.

Who was banned? And why? Sounds like there's an interesting story behind this.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

Leaving aside convention encounters for the moment (since I've had so many of those in the course of working on them)... about two years ago, one Sunday morning, I was on my way to the convention hotel for a Polaris committee meeting. I was checking out a cute guy sitting near me (as I am wont to do ) when someone got on the car I was on and sat directly between him and me. I was annoyed until I realized that the man who had sat down was Olympic medallist Mark Tewksbury (a swimming silver in 1988, and a gold and a bronze in 1992). I said hello, and he asked me where I was off to so early in the morning. I told him about the convention, and he was interested as he does a fair bit of motivational speaking.

So we invited him to present a Constellation Award at the convention on the Saturday evening, but he was going to be out of town that weekend.

I ran into him again a few months later at Pride, and he remembered me and said hello.

Oh, all right, one convention story...

On the Monday following Toronto Trek 20, which I co-chaired, I was helping to clear everything out of the hotel. David Gerrold had asked me to help him load his luggage into his car, and when I came back in I decided to go up to the con suite as they were behind schedule cleaning up. I'd decided to go home on Sunday night and come back in the morning, and had only gotten about four hours of sleep, so I wasn't all that awake. I got into the elevator with one of our Security people, and as the doors were closing, someone jumped on with us. I wasn't paying attention, struggling as I was to keep my eyes open. The Security guy got off the elevator on a floor lower than the one I was headed for, and the other guy started to chat with me...

Him: So, are you checking out of the hotel?
Me: No, I checked out last night, but had to come back to turn in my radio headset and help clean up.
Him: Oh, you worked on the con?
Me: Yes, I was one of the Chairs. (At this point, I looked up and extended my hand to shake hands.) My name's Lance.
Him: Pleased to meet you - my name's Garrett. Um... I guess you already knew that.

Garrett Wang (Harry Kim from "Voyager") had just felt it necessary to introduce himself to me.

 

[TheBrew]

I have two good stories. One is from my college summers scooping ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. My co-worker had an ongoing feud with James Iha (from the Smashing Pumpkins). On more than one occasion he walked into the store only to see that she was working, they'd glare daggers at each other for several seconds, and then he'd give up and storm out.

The best encounter I had with a celebrity was when I, quite literally, ran into Harrison Ford. I was running around the corner of 6th Ave and 8th St, and he was running the other way around the corner of 6th Ave and 8th St. I ran smack into his chest and was knocked right onto my bottom. He very politely helped me up, quickly apologized and hastened to get on his way. I wouldn't have even known it was him but for a couple of women who saw it happen. As he jogged off they hollered, "Harrison Ford just knocked you down girl! Han solo just knocked you down!"

I almost ran right into Phil Gordon once, a professional poker player and commentator. It was a weird feeling because at 6'3", I am not used to be dwarfed by people, but he is 6'7".

During that same weekend in Vegas, I chatted up his girlfriend while he was playing in a tournament and we had a nice talk. When he was moving tables, I said it was "nice talking to you". Phil said "thanks" and I replied with "Sorry, I was talking to her." Classy guy, though, and really funny.

My favorite tale is having a laugh with a certain Trek guest star having been banned from TBBS.

Who was banned? And why? Sounds like there's an interesting story behind this.

One of our ex-mods banned Chase Masterson on accident, thinking it was a fake account. I have a signed photo of her saying "I was banned at TBBS!"

 

[Hermiod]

^That was EMH.

Christopher Ecclestone grinned at me a couple of weeks ago outside the Old Vic.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

I met Chuck Yeager at a car show when I was much younger. Also, a couple years ago I met Jamie Cullum outside the concert hall after one of his shows. He shook my hand, and took the time for my friend and me to take a few shots with him. He even stood on his toes while I crouched down a bit...since I'm 6'3" and he must have been around a foot shorter. Very cool guy, great performer.

I met former Giants first baseman J.T. Snow last year. Got a signed t-shirt from him, too.

I also got a hug from and a picture with Emily Whitehurst, the singer of the band (that is no more) Tsunami Bomb. I would have a picture with her but my friend lost the film.

 

[An Officer]

I spotted Jimmy Savile in 1989 at a hospital my grandma was in... think he was visiting patients. His show Jim'll Fix It (about making people's dreams come true) was still on the air back then, and watched religiously by me and every other kid I knew, so I was far too awestruck to say anything. He must have noticed my state and came over to say "hi" and patted my head. I badly wanted to ask him for a skateboard, but kept my manners, I was nine.

Since then, I've seen a lot of celebreties around town, but I was not a fan of any one of them enough to say stop and say hi. The last couple of big ones I saw were were Alan Rickman, across the road from the Royal Academy Of Arts, and Sir Ian McKellen outside a coffeshop in soho. And I'm always seeing Charles Dance for some reason, who I think has an office nearby, and Ricky Gervais who is also a local.

 

[captcalhoun]

i once saw Jeremy Paxman (broadcaster in the UK, foreign folk) in the street in Oxford.

i work in a newsagents where Keith Allen (The Sheriff in BBC's Robin Hood, dad of Lilly Allen the singer) regularly buys him cigarettes. first time i just stared at him and kept thinking 'you look like that bloke off Robin Hood' but didn't say anything. the boss told me afterwards.

apparently he and Lilly went in one saturday and one of the Saturday girls was going "OMG!!! IT'S LILLY ALLEN!!!"

the shame.

i also met one of our local newsreaders at christmas and went 'Aren't you that boke off the telly?' and he just said 'Yeah'. so i said, 'I thought you looked familiar'. good job i didn't tell him i fancy one of the women newsreaders!

 

[TheBrew]

I met Chuck Yeager at a car show when I was much younger. Also, a couple years ago I met Jamie Cullum outside the concert hall after one of his shows. He shook my hand, and took the time for my friend and me to take a few shots with him. He even stood on his toes while I crouched down a bit...since I'm 6'3" and he must have been around a foot shorter. Very cool guy, great performer.

That's cool... I have always enjoyed his music.

 

[siskokid888]

I used to work in midtown Manhattan, so I ran into a number of celebrities. One story that stands out - about 25 years ago I was hanging out at the Hard Rock Cafe when it was on 57th street (it has since moved to Time Square). Believe it or not, the Hard Rock at that time was quite a scene and the place to be - velvet ropes and everything. Anyway, I was there at the bar for happy hour after work. In the middle of the restaurant was a huge staircase that went up to the second level of the restaurant. I was at the bar, right near the stairs, when I noticed that the place, usually a cacophany of noise, had gone silent. I turned around to see what was going on, and saw Mariel Hemingway coming down the stairs. She was wearing a floor length evening gown, and was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She seem to float down the stairs, and when she got to the bottom the place actually broke out into applause. She turned to wait for the person she was with, and I was about a foot away from her. She looked at me and smiled and I was completely tongue tied - I think I said "Hi", and she smiled, then joined up with her friend and left. Man, was she gorgeous.

 

[Roshi]

I was a translator at Star Trek conventions in Paris, France. So I met a few Trek actors (and other Sci-Fi actors too).

A few years ago I was in Heathrow waiting for a connection back to Luxembourg and I crossed a middle-aged man. I looked at him and he looked at me too. He smiled at me and I smiled back, thinking I was sure I had already seen that man somewhere. And that thought remained in my mind for a certain time. And once I was on board my plane, it finally occured to me, and I was like:

"Holy shit, that was Gandalf!!!!!"

 

[SicOne]

My favorite tale is having a laugh with a certain Trek guest star having been banned from TBBS.

Who was banned? And why? Sounds like there's an interesting story behind this.

One of our ex-mods banned Chase Masterson on accident, thinking it was a fake account. I have a signed photo of her saying "I was banned at TBBS!"[/QUOTE]

I hope you guys let her back in...I am a happily-married man, but I've give her access to anything she wanted. And how do you guys figure out who is real and who is just posing as that person?

 

[The Badger]

I don't remember it myself, but my parents tell me that as a child I fell over whilst ice skating in Manchester. Eartha Kitt, who was on tour at the time, helped me up again.
I like that anecdote, as it means I was once picked up by Catwoman!