Random Fun: What famous people have you met?

I once went to Helsinki to meet Linus Torvalds. It was becoming reasonably affordable in 1995. Among other things, we talked about emigration a bit, and he mentioned that he "generally liked the U.S.". In six months he relocated to work for Transmeta, and that made me seriously think about it too. The rest is history, as they say.

Also, I baited Clinton with my daughter. It was in 1993 or so when he was in Moscow for some kind of "Summit" with Yeltsin. We were out shopping, when the saw him walking on the other side of the street. My daughter was about 4 at the time, so I raised her to my shoulders to give her a view. Clinton immediately changed course, crossed the street, shook my hand and asked: "Is this your daughter?" A dense crowd assembled out of nowhere and we were able to escape.
 
Pilawt said:
We took a riverboat ride in Fairbanks in 2003. Included in the tour were a STOL demonstration by a Super Cub at a riverbank airstrip, and an amazing demonstration by Susan Butcher and her dogs, at Susan's compound.
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Wow, very cool. You would have seen one of the last times she was involved as she passed in 2006.

I was there in 2007, and 2011 and saw the show without her being there.

Did you like the story about the Pipeline pipe the owner used to fabricate his floating dock?
 
Many many many but none came even close to this one.... a childhood hero of mine.. Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell. Not only meet him.... but got to sit and talk with him for 30 minutes one on one as we both were in the waiting room of Mayday Avionics waiting to get our IFR certs.
 

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I looked through all your lists and realized I probably haven't met a single famous person. I also realized I don't much care. Which made me happy.
 
Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars and many A list celebs if you count Madame Tussauds wax museum in NYC. :lol::lol:
 
Strange. I was just looking at this 2 yr old thread and Ryan just updated it. o_O
 
Elvis Presley, when I was running sound at the Long Beach Auditorium and he was watching a gospel concert from backstage. We exchanged a few comments about the concert; it was not a prolonged meeting.
Scott Crossfield, when my father was a flight test engineer at North American Aviation.
 
"Scott Crossfield, the fastest man alive." Died not too far from where I live.
 
I went to high school with Beyonce but didn't know her. I was a senior and she was a freshman. My next door neighbor for a few years growing up was Owen Daniels (tight end for the Denver Broncos).
 
Velocity173 said:
"Scott Crossfield, the fastest man alive." Died not too far from where I live.
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He lived down the end of the street I lived on.

GlennAB1 said:
I scared the crap out of Bob Hope back in '76
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I was in a small off-broadway (well it was Brooklyn) theater before my niece was performing. I inadvertently opened the door on this little old man in the bathroom. I was thinking, that poor old man looks like Wallace Shaun. Turns out that's who it was.
 
Had a 20 minute phone conversation with Ray Dolby. Said hi to Jamie Hyneman at KDWA. Exchanged emails with Larry Niven and Dennis Richie. My wife took EST with John Denver.
 
I've hung out in the the lobby with Dennis during Unix conferences. I think we even got him into the hot tub once. Never met Niven, but hung out with his idiot collaborator, Jerry Pournelle at worldcon ages ago.
 
flyingron said:
I've hung out in the the lobby with Dennis during Unix conferences. I think we even got him into the hot tub once. Never met Niven, but hung out with his idiot collaborator, Jerry Pournelle at worldcon ages ago.
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Yeah, I've exchanged a few emails with Pournelle. What you said.
 
flyingron said:
I've hung out in the the lobby with Dennis during Unix conferences. I think we even got him into the hot tub once. Never met Niven, but hung out with his idiot collaborator, Jerry Pournelle at worldcon ages ago.
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Does getting in an argument with RMS count?
 
Kirby Chambliss, Pete Mcleod. Pete Mcleod was REALLY awesome, talked to me about the 180 he grew up flying in the Canadian bush really cool guy. Kirby just seemed annoyed.

I met Sting, but people I was with had to tell me who he was (I worked at a jet center) also Tim Allen, same deal didnt know who he is.
 
I flew fractional ownership / charter for 20 years prior to airlines. I have met and got to know numerous movie stars, and politicians. Strangely sports figures were not on our basic clientele... Too bad, that's who I really care about.
 
Kritchlow said:
I flew fractional ownership / charter for 20 years prior to airlines. I have met and got to know numerous movie stars, and politicians. Strangely sports figures were not on our basic clientele... Too bad, that's who I really care about.
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I have been woefully ignorant about a number of sports figures. To the point of making a wrong guess about their sport of expertise...
 
Right out of high school, I was in a progressive country band and we opened up for: Hank Williams Jr., Juice Newton, Freddy Hart, Conway Twitty (his drummer Pork Chop was a real douche) and later in life, I literally bumped into Eddie Van Halen at Disneyland. He was chasing his kids, I was chasing mine, we bumped into each other and then did the "which way should I go" dance. Then both of us said "sorry, excuse me" and we went on our way. Congresswoman Martha McSally used to sit SOF (as Captain McSally) while I was the watch sup in the tower.
 
Bill Gates, Al Gore.

I high-fived Steven Tyler once during an Aerosmith concert. Don't know if that really counts though.
 
In Texas I used to work for George Bush.


The used car salesman, not one of the presidents....
 
Velocity173 said:
Like to hear that story.
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I was working for an airline caterer, waiting in our truck for a flight to leave. I saw Bob Hope getting ready to come out of the terminal (it was before DAY had jetways). I had seen his show at the Ohio State Fair the day before and thought it would be nice to tell him how much I enjoyed it. So, I exited the truck and ran over to him from his side, he didn't see me coming till I was right on him (about half way between the aircraft and terminal), he was obviously startled, and I apologize. Always wondered if he used that story in his next show... damn kid scared the **** out of me...
 
Old Geek said:
Does getting in an argument with RMS count?
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Only if you showered afterwards. I've had dinner with RMS and he has even showed up, unannounced, at my house in all of his odiferous splendor.
 
One of my earliest brushes with fame (though I didn't realize how famous he was or would become) was waltzing in to see Charlie Wilson in his House of Representatives office. Got a nice ride in the members only elevator and subway while he was escorting me down (he was on the way to a vote on the floor).
 
Kurt Vonnegut was zipping up as I was unzipping at the urinals in a men's room at Texas Tech in 1986. We nodded "hello" to one another. I missed my chance to see if Kurt "had a tremendous wang, incidentally."
 
I know this is an old thread, but need a distraction from news today, so I'll play.

Florence Henderson (mom from Brady Bunch) - met her in a studio in NYC. She was nice enough to take her picture with me.

Corey Feldman - also met in NYC after a small play he was in (maybe 40 people in the audience). My sister was all about the Coreys as a teenager and she was with me, but too shy to talk to him after the show. I asked him if he'd be willing to take his picture with her and he agreed. She was all shaking and too star-struck to talk, it was cute. He was a very nice guy.

Lucinda Williams - Met her a couple times... once backstage at one of her shows and later at a funeral. Her boyfriend at the time was one of her bandmates and a relative of the family. She's a *****. Being from LA, I used to like her music until I met her.

Willie Nelson - also backstage. I had a media pass. I only saw him, didn't meet him because I didn't want to bother him.

Bradley Cooper (and his dog) - He was filming American Hustle in the building at my last job for a couple of weeks. Got to play on set a few times and the director let me take a dorky pic with one of the clapboards.

Lance Bass - We went to the same middle school in Mississippi (...my family moved us to that hellhole briefly for about a year). Funny story... I had a crush on Lance. He was one of the only boys in my Home Ec class and one day I wrote one of those classic "Will you go out with me? Circle YES or NO" notes and passed it to him. He circled "No," but then wrote a really sweet note under it saying he thought I was very nice. He was actually kind of popular and I was scared he was going to tell people about what I wrote and that they'd make fun of me. But he never told a soul. It was the nicest rejection I've ever gotten. Of course, years later after he became famous I learned he was gay... possibly explaining why he was one of the only boys in Home Ec! :)

I know there are others, but I can't recall right now.

Honestly, I don't really get star struck with celebs. I get more jittery when I try to talk to people who are doing things that truly impress me. For example, last week I was introduced to a three star General - who apparently had heard about my work and HE wanted to meet ME! o_O He's an impressive person and I was like a nervous little schoolgirl.... voice was all shaky. Thankfully I got my wits about me pretty fast, but was definitely star struck for a few minutes.
 
Chuck Yeager.
Lots of political types, including both Presidents Bush and President Reagan. Senators, Representatives, etc.
Cheech Marin (at a charity event, nice guy), Angie Harmon (cute as a bug, bought a puppy in the auction then immediately gave it away to my cousin), Alice Cooper (messes with your mind to see someone who looks as odd as he does, and acts as completely normal as he does), John O'Hurley ("J. Peterman"), Dennis Quaid, and a bunch more I cannot recall <--- all at the same series of events.
Bob Hope (at the Bob Hope Theater, SMU)
Tommy Chong and daughter on a charter Jetranger to Catalina; also nice guy.

Omar Sharif, was playing bridge with my mom.
Chuck Norris, in seat across the aisle from me on a flight to LA. Clipped his fingernails and left the clippings neatly arranged in a pile on the seat. Met at the gate by an entourage.
Tom Gresham.

Saw Hanoi Jane at next table in restaurant in Santa Fe. Did not chat.

Bunch more I cannot recall. Pretty much all seemed like nice folks in person.
 
I've met and talked with Arnold Schwarzenegger three or four times during speeches and once drinking in the pub, when he was governor of California. Met Jerry Brown a couple times. I personally know Kevin Johnson, former Kings player and mayor of Sacramento. I guess he's not that famous, but he's the most famous person that knows me by name.
 
I acted like a star-struck idiot with Dawn Wells when I was in college. She used to host the Children's Miracle Network telethon and I was a volunteer answering phones. She walked over to me on live national TV and asked me something, I don't even remember what, and I just sat there speechless staring at her boobs.
 
Actually, she doesn't look half bad for 74, but she's had some moments.

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Many, many, (many, darn it) moons ago I worked at the front gate of Walt Disney World. Dick Butkus (very famous defensive lienbacker:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Butkus) came to the gate with his family presenting their hand stamps (remember those?) and asking if they could reenter there. I told him "No. You have to go down to that gate with the light."

I always wanted to write a clickbait type article headlined "I Told Dick Butkus No and Where to Go".

I also played in church music groups with Dan Hazletine (Jars of Clay lead singer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Haseltine) and Mike Grayson (Mike's Chair http://mikeschair.com/bio/) before they went to college, formed bands and got famous.

John
 
I used to manage a line-crew at a jet center... Almost every week met somebody famous... List?
Ronald Regan and Nancy
Sister Theresa
John Travolta
S. Stallone
Joan Rivers
Woopie
Oprah
Dave Thomas (Wendy's) and Wendy too
Melanie Griffith
Sally Field
Lech Walesa
Wayne Newton
Eric Clapton
Metallica (I impounded their G1 because their credit card was denied after it was fueled)

Its been 30 years so I can't remember the rest of them, but I'm sure I'm missing some...
 
Commuting over to ATL one evening and saw Walter and Eddie Payton in the gate area. Went over , shook his hand, and said thanks for all those memories (even though I'm a Packer fan. Real nice man. Actually sat across from him during the flight.
 
I think the most famous person I've ever met was probably Martinus Veltman, had a class with him at Michigan. If you've never heard of him, you're probably in the majority. He's a Nobel laureate (physics).
 
Here's one I shouldn't have forgotten... Pat Summit. She came to my apartment to drop off a basketball signed by all her players. At the time I lived next door to her star player, Semeka Randall, who was out of town (we lived in a two apartment downtown townhouse type thing). She asked me to pass the ball off to Semeka to sign next time I saw her. I could have easily turned around and sold that thing for a pretty penny, but she trusted me to do the right thing. She may have seemed like a vicious woman, but she had a reputation around UT campus for being very warm-hearted/personable and her players adored and respected her immensely. That's one I'm proud to have met.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I've met and talked with Arnold Schwarzenegger three or four times during speeches and once drinking in the pub, when he was governor of California. Met Jerry Brown a couple times. I personally know Kevin Johnson, former Kings player and mayor of Sacramento. I guess he's not that famous, but he's the most famous person that knows me by name.
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oh sure Kevin Johnson gets to know your name. The rest of us have to guess.
I assume it's Floyd by the way
 
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