Classic Film : Famous folks we've met (and missed chances)

Tucked away in several threads there have been little chats about famous people that we have met and interacted with and in some cases chickened out and didn't.

So. it was suggested that a thread be started about samehere goes.

My famous/infamous rule (yah, yah we know ) was always if they are there as private citizens and not in their capacity of "FAMOUS PERSON" .. leave then alone ! BUT sometimes the "rule" was stretched just a tad.

Story coming up the subway steps in NYC. Someone coming down on same side of steps. Looked up as stepping aside for them. Surprised reaction of "HI!" to total stranger. Dustin Hoffman just said "HI!" back and that was that ! Sooo cool !
and no, neither one of us said "Hey! Walkin' here !"

So stories to share ? Met ? Almost met? Saw ?



EDIT: This thread has been LIVE since June 16, 2016 with no mindless "bumps" and it has been almost 100% positive encounters. THANKS to you all for participating.

Hey it might just go READ ONLY before it .. ya know .. goes !

It was threads like this that IMDb CFB was meant to be community and sharing.

Met Elaine Stritch after her one woman show(she said Laurence Harvey was a drunk), Petula Clark (when 6 years old - she signed an autograph), touched Karen Carpenter's fur coat (be still my beating heart), saw Martin Freeman in bar of Royal Court Theatre last year looking very unhobbity, John Hannah wandering along OxFord Street, etc.

Also met Princess Diana who visited a project I was working on for homeless young people. She was posh and thin.

Tell mama, Tell mama all.

Coincidently, I got ES's autograph on a Playbill after Sail Away and saw but, did not interact with, Noel Coward.

Did you keep a running tally of "sightings ?

Her one woman show was wonderful - glad I saw it before she popped her clogs. I think I'd have been too scared to approach Coward - he had a vicious tongue !


I don't really enjoy enough "sightings" to keep a tally - and like yourself I think its a bit uncool to accost folk in their down time, celebrity or not. Most of the ones I really like are six feet under anyway.

I have inherited my mother's autograph book though - everyone from Olivier down including (Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Dane Clark, Joseph Calleia, Glynis Johns etc -although her prize possession was Douglass Montgomery's )

Tell mama, Tell mama all.

Joseph Calleia's autograph! I squealed. Probably the way your mom felt about Douglass Montgomery.





"Ain't it funny how coffee never tastes as good as it smells?"

She saw Calleia in ALL MY SONS in London when she was 18 and still talks about him as one of the most memorable stage performances she has seen. His turn in TOUCH OF EVIL is one of the greatest in cinema history in my book

I think THE WAY TO THE STARS was the main cause of her Douglass Montgomery crush, and it must be said he was at his most charming in that one

She liked Robert Mitchum and Jack Nicholson a lot too for good measure

My own "precious" is an autographed 8x10 glossy of Carroll Baker in her Joe Levine phase, a gift from poster O'Sullivan (who I'm hoping will post on this thread - he sat next to Lee Remick once and I think he met Ingrid)

Tell mama, Tell mama all.

His Pete Menzies is one of my favourite performances, along with Vasquez in Five Came Back. Whenever he's in a movie my husband says "That ain't no guy called Calleia, his name is Dancer." Maybe I shouldn't have shown in After the Thin Man.

It is been quite a while since I last say The Way to the Stars, although I've been in an Asquith mood lately watching The Winslow Boy and The Importance of Being Earnest.





"Ain't it funny how coffee never tastes as good as it smells?"

Looks like a last chance to say hi and bye.. ms paddy.

It was fun.

Remember the school for Hollywood voices ?

I seem to remember you taking Claude Rains 101.

Yes I thought you'd like Carroll's signed glossy! I have a similar signed one of Dirk in his his MODESTY BLAISE getup - though I had a few words with him and got a personalised signature back in 1971 on his first outing at London's BFI (or the NFT as it was then). Thats where I met Lee Remick, during a tribute to her in 1970, and also Chuck Heston in 1971. We also saw a few at book signings: Loren, Bacall, Arthur Miller, Michael York and more. We also saw the likes of Bergman, Mason, Harrison, Lansbury, De Havilland and Davis and more there when they were all out and about meeting the public in the early 70s. Sirs Gielgud and Richardson were very approachable too back in 1970 when they were doing HOME on stage, which I saw twice.

Meeting Joni Mitchell by chance and walking along London's Kings Road, chatting to my favourite singer-songwriter was a particular high in 1972, a week after her concert here. We also knew Elton John socially back then too. People seemed more approachable then, before the current celebrity culture overload took place. I was also introduced to Freddie Mercury when out clubbing one night and did not know who he was, as I was not a Queen fan then!

They're on to you - I'm in your room.

http://www.osullivan60.blogspot.com/

Love Dane Clark! He's my favourite B-List WB guy. Jealous of your mama!

Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book - Cicero

I was in charge of a Film festival that was given the chance to showcase a new Kirk Douglas picture and he was going to be in attendance. I drew the enviable assignment of being his meeter and greeter. He was very friendly and charming and I got to spend quality time with him. I must have pushed the right button by mentioning a favorite LONELY ARE THE BRAVE. That set off a spirited discussion.

Take 'em to Missouri

See Matt, here's where the envy really kicks in.

Btw, you once mentioned in passing a "meet" you had with one of my favorite character actors that perhaps sometime you would elaborate on he also played golf and his initials are CA.

How nice of you to remember, Byrd. While doing feature interviews at a golf tournament for the local AM radio station, I cozied up to Claude Akins for a few minutes chat including his nasty roles in RIO BRAVO, ETERNITY, DOWN THREE DARK STREETS. Claude was just the opposite of nasty friendly and cooperative and patient with the boy interviewer.

Take 'em to Missouri

I have read many reports of how nice he really was. Back in his BAD guy days I always said "He must be really nice in real life or they wouldn't keep hiring him." Seems I was right!

An actor I know who worked with him told me how CA would help serve food to the cast and crew before he sat down to eat "keeps he humble" he said.

Wish so much that I had met him but I did write to a cousin of his and that was fun except that I knew more about CA's career than "cuz" did and "cuz" wanted to talk about his record collection and not about CA so didn't learn much more than I already knew.

I mentioned recently that I passed Dennis Hopper on an escalator at the Albuquerque airport.

Ted Kennedy sat behind me when I saw Titanic. Afterwards, he and many other people were lined up in the men's room waiting for an opening. When one did open up, Ted and my 10-yr-old nephew went for it. My nephew won!

Oddly, I've met four or five characters in films. Not the actors, the people the actors portrayed.

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Oddly, I've met four or five characters in films. Not the actors, the people the actors portrayed.

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This one has definite potential for a longer story .. hint hint !

The principal PT Boat skipper in They Were Expendable lived around the corner from me in my yoot. His name was John Bulkley. It's "Brickley" in the movie (the war was still on), played by Robert Montgomery. The Duke was #2 in the movie.

A minor character in Argo, though one with a few lines, lived in the same 'hood. I knew his siblings better than I knew him.

A gf's father was one of the characters in Pork Chop Hill.

I knew a very minor character in A River Runs Through It. No lines.

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The principal PT Boat skipper in They Were Expendable lived around the corner from me in my yoot. His name was John Bulkley. It's "Brickley" in the movie (the war was still on), played by Robert Montgomery. The Duke was #2 in the movie.

A minor character in Argo, though one with a few lines, lived in the same 'hood. I knew his siblings better than I knew him.

A gf's father was one of the characters in Pork Chop Hill.

I knew a very minor character in A River Runs Through It. No lines.

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I just remembered that I met another person who was a character in a movie Hans Blix:

Strangest thing about watching the first clip was that I was reading the subtitles !

Oh, now Byrdz, if you're gonna encourage the rest of us to name-drop, it seems only fair you should get the drop on us at least as often.


Poe! You areavenged!

BUT I wanna read the stories not just write 'em ! The ones I have read already are just so hate to say it but .. cool !

Sure, but we wanna read yours, too! And in order to get a little, I'll give a little:

On one evening in 1979, shook hands with Cary Grant, lit Rita Hayworth's cigarette and had my foot stepped on by Lucille Ball. This was on the occasion of the opening night of an Oliver! revival, in which Shani Wallis recreated her original role.

Closing night, Shani hosted a party at her home, and what a sweet, lovely woman she is. My squeeze (who was in the show) and I were among the very last to leave, and she was so reluctant for the night to end, tears welled up in her eyes as she asked if we couldn't stay just a bit longer. What a sweetheart.

Two years earlier, said squeeze was in an Annie Get Your Gun revival in San Francisco with Debbie Reynolds. One night after the show, she took several of us to Finocchio's, the legendary drag club. During the course of the show, she whispered, "This place used to be SO much betterthese guys are dogs." On a Sunday afternoon when the show was dark, she, my squeeze, I and another friend went to see Star Wars together.

The only time I ever lost it and made a blithering fool of myself was when Donna Reed joined the cast of Dallas (I worked for the production company), and I was introduced to her in the commissary. Instead of saying something sensible like, "I'm so glad you've joined the show," all I could do was keep shaking her hand while babbling, "Oh, NICE to meet you, NICE to meet you, SO nice to meet you."

A few years earlier in that commissary, I was sitting at the next table over from Natalie Wood (with Christopher Walken and Cliff Robertson), on the very last working day of her life. Couple years later, Robertson was again on the lot and asked directions to an exec's office. I was going that way so I gave him a lift on one of the studio's electric carts.

That's enough droppings for now, I think.

Oh no, wait; one more, because I love this one: In the early '70s, I was working at a Wilshire Blvd insurance company and, out to lunch one day with my boss Marilyn, we stopped at her bank on the way back. An elderly but natty gentleman was next to us in line, and Marilyn, in her Brooklyn manner, said "Hiya" to him. He nodded and said a simple "Hi" back. Walking back to the office, Marilyn said, "I've been wracking my brain trying to place that guy. Isn't he one of our agents?" "Marilyn," I said, "that was Fred Astaire."



Poe! You areavenged!

That's what I'm talkin' 'bout !

especially the Fred story !!! and BIG "reading grin".

Speaking of feet being stepped on oh, wait phone's ringing bbl !

muhahahaha

Once upon a time I could afford to indulge my love of musical theatre. I saw My One and Only with the great Tommy Tune three times, on Broadway with Twiggy and on tour here in Toronto once with Stephanie Zimbalist and once with Lucie Arnaz. After a performance my friends and I went backstage and as I looked up at Mr. Tune I couldn't think of anything to say. However, he played Ambrose Kemper in the movie version of Hello, Dolly! and, in community theatre, I had played Ambrose's sweetheart Ermengarde Vandergelder in The Matchmaker and Hello, Dolly! so I pulled out my best Ermengarde cry as I stepped up to him. What a darling man! He got it immediately, swept me into his arms and did a couple of polka steps. The folks around us were totally confused, but I had a moment never to be forgotten.





"Ain't it funny how coffee never tastes as good as it smells?"

I "see" you as being on the "petite " side and can just picture you dancin' with Tommy !

Wheeeee !

Yep! I had to look waaay up!





"Ain't it funny how coffee never tastes as good as it smells?"

Heck, Even James Arness and Chuck Connors would have had to look waaaaay up at Tommy .. and they probably would not have gotten to polka !

I saw Dustin Hoffman on the street in NYC at the time he was filming Marathon Man. He looked like he was in a hurry, so I did not approach him.

I met (to shake hands with) Michael Caine in Elaine's restaurant and I told him he should have won the Oscar for Alfie. He said "I know".

I saw Sylvester Stallone playing bingo back in New-York (80's) - He was surrounded by his body guards & he was not approachable or friendly

Always Remember Don't Be A Sucker!

That's where the "leave them alone if they are there as a private person" part kicks in.

Kinda sad they need bodyguards.

Were they playing Bingo too ?

I wanted to talk to Sly but I heard him saying to one his bodyguards ''Yo! De Luca , you make sure that no broken down punks bothers to me tonight '' He said it at the precise moment that I was heading towards him at his table - I sort of felt pissed off that Sly was this rude towards the fans



Always Remember Don't Be A Sucker!

In a men's room on the MGM lot one day, Stallone was at the urinal on my right and Eddie Albert at the one on my left. No bodyguards, but Stallone's small entourage was waiting outside the door.

Speaking of bodyguards, at another Wilshire Blvd office at which I worked, I was returning from lunch (again), and waiting at the elevators in the lobby were three huge and very intimidating-looking guys with a fourth whom I recognized as Michael Jackson. I was sure they would prevent me from entering the elevator with them, but when it arrived, I stepped on after them and nobody said a word. They remained on it as I got off at the 7th floor, and as I walked into our suite, I said to the Lisa the receptionist, "I just rode up the elevator with Michael Jackson."

"YAAAAAAAHH," Lisa screamed as papers went flying everywhere. "What floor did he get off on?"

"I dunno," I told her, "they were still on when I got off."

Poor Lisa spent the next half hour going to every floor above ours, and returned looking dejected. A short while later, I glanced out the window of my office and noticed what appeared to be several teenage girls bouncing up and down next to a large sedan in the parking lot below. I called out to Lisa, "I think he's down in the parking lot."

"YAAAAAAAAAHH!!" And she was off again. Funny thing is, I can no longer recall if she ever caught up to him or not.


Poe! You areavenged!

Oddly enough I have never met anyone even remotely famous in or on the way to a restroom.

Now that is a sentence you don't see every day !


Escalators yes

Robert Duvall .. before he was famous. Greyhound terminal NYC

Mitch Miller of "Sing Along with" fame. HE also stomped on my foot. No apology from anyone! Grrrrrr ! ouch. He had a smelly and lit cigar and it was in a department store !

Restrooms not so much !


poor lisa btw !

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I told him he should have won the Oscar for Alfie. He said "I know".

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That's pretty funny!

Maybe we passed each other watched DH filming the Marathon Man scene in Central Park.

When I was a teen in the late 60s I lived north of beautiful downtown Burbank and I used to go to the taping of Laugh In. Sometimes between the skit setups I would wander the backstage which serviced several sound-stages, unbelievably no one would say anything. I would walk by famous celebrities, Bob Hope, Danny Thomas, Johnny Carson to name a few. I would never try to talk to them

Once I went to buy some candy at a candy machine backstage there was Goldie Hawn. After she got her candy I said "that's my favorite candy-bar" (it wasn't but I wanted to say something) she smiled and said "mine to"

Anyway here is no way that a audience member could wander around backstage today, it was a different era.



I thought P.E.T.A. meant People Eating Tasty Animals

ah yes .. show taping .. I remember them well.. They used to pass out tickets on the street in NYC and then bus the audience uptown to the theater ,,, miss that !

Just saw shows though .. never met anyone one on one.

Goldie Hawn .., in the Maryland town that she is from there is (or was) a mural with Goldie peeking out of a window. It was somewhere on the way to my sister's house.

Decades channel is showing Laugh In maybe they'll show the ones you saw !

Just remembered I saw Fabio at O'Hare airport.

I saw Kevin Costner. It wasn't entirely random as he was getting an award at a nearby building, but I was walking from my office to the gym without intention of looking for him.

A friend found himself on a ski lift with Jack Nicholson. When my friend asked, "Are you " Jack tersely replied, "Yes, I am." Didn't seem open to a chat.

Your Nicholson story reminds me of an evening in the mid-'80s at a Silverlake restaurant. George Takei and some friends were one booth over, and after she'd gotten everyone's orders, the waitress asked him, "Excuse me, but, are youYOU?"

Takei smiled and said in that distinctive voice, "Yes, I'm me."


Poe! You areavenged!

My ties to world terrorism:

A grade school classmate was a descendant of someone involved in the Lincoln assassination.

A high school classmate crashed his car through the White House gate and threatened to blow himself up. But the sticks strapped to his chest were road flares, not dynamite.

A guy in my battalion at Ft Meade stole a Huey and buzzed the White House.

Muhammad Atta used my gym in Maryland. He didn't look familiar to me.


As far as I know, I'm not on any watch list!

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As far as I know, I'm not on any watch list!

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until now, maybe ?

Maybe!

When I saw Bananas long ago, a minor character looked dimly familiar, like a punk hood I used to see from time to time. He had a distinctive face and I saw him subsequently in films and TV. A few years later, he stars in Rocky. In time I learned that Stallone indeed grew up a few miles from where I did, so I might have seen him in his punk hood days.

I went to college with Pearl Bailey and Mariah Shriver. Didn't know either one, but Ms Bailey once smiled and said hello to me as we passed on the quad.

I chatted briefly with William Friedkin at the unveiling of a plaque at the famed Exorcist Stairs.

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A high school classmate crashed his car through the White House gate and threatened to blow himself up. But the sticks strapped to his chest were road flares, not dynamite.

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This was a genuine laugh-out-loud: road flares! There's a plot that fizzled. Points for chutzpah, if nothing else.

Not to press you to reveal your age, but I would be curious to know when this was, or who was occupying 1600 at the time. The last time I saw the White House was in 2005, with security pretty high post-9/11. My then-wife and I had done the tour of the East Wing, and afterward, as we were standing outside doing the "where do you want to go now?," a SWATted-out guard with a submachine gun came over and told us to move. We did. Later, as we were walking by the WH at night, at the fence from which you can look across the lawn to the front entrance, it was a little unnerving to see armed, shadowy figures darting to and fro every so often in the darkness just on the other side of the fence.


"The past is never dead. It isn't even past." William Faulkner

That was Marshall Fields, Christmas of 1974. You can read about him here:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/09/weird-white-house-intruders-security-breeches.html

Also in that article is mention of Robert Preston, the guy in my battalion who stole a Huey and buzzed the White House. That incident is mentioned briefly in The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004).

Last chance to say again how much I've enjoyed posting with you it was fun while it lasted, eh ?

Best to you .. always !

Over my 45 years in radio I interviewed a number of famous people. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Cliff Robertson, the Dalai Lama - really - just to name a few. Do they count for this thread?

In 1967 my wife and I went to see Bobby Gentry do a show at UT Austin. Her opening act was Glen Campbell. After the show, we went back stage and found Campbell leaning against a wall smoking a cigarette, all by himself. We chatted with him for about 20 minutes till his driver showed up. He was friendly and happy to talk about anything and everything. I've never forgotten that.

I will also never forget the hour I spent with Roy and Dale in their hotel suite in Houston in 1969. I had them all to myself. No handlers, no PR people, just them and me. They were the absolute nicest, warmest and most down to Earth famous people I ever met. Bar none. Dale even made coffee and refilled my cup four or five times. To my everlasting regret I lost the tape of that interview.

I met Cliff Robertson when he came to Houston to launch a fund-raising drive to restore a WWII PT-Boat. As we all know, he played a famous PT-Boat skipper in PT-109, so who better to help raise money to restore one of them? He was very approachable, laid back and friendly.

The Dalai Lama is a very funny guy when he's not talking about China. I even got him to autograph one of his pictures for me.


Most of my friends who have inferiority complexes are absolutely right.

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Do they count for this thread?

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MOST certainly they count! Thanks for sharing your memories !!

One of my life regrets is that I was in Washington DC and did not know that the Dali Lama was giving a speech on the Mall just a block away rom the museum I spent the day at. Found out on the evening news ! ARGH ! Would have loved to have seen and heard him. You can see from his pictures that he has a sense of humor, eh ?

45 years more stories ? !