Have you been lucky enough to shake hands or rub backs with a famous athlete, movie star or otherwise famous celebrity? Share your favorite celebrity sighting or meeting in today’s Throwback Thursday.
33 CommentsHave You Met A Celebrity?
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I met Morris Day in an elevator in Michigan. He kept saying aaaghghh huh ahgggh!!!!
I met Jaime Fox at a Record Store, signing autographs for his first new album
I generally like to keep a low profile but I'll share a little bit. I've meet several quite a bit of interesting people in my lifetime. Celebrity: I've met Wesley Snipes back in the Caribbean and it was surreal. He was very humble and as a martial artist, he did a gentle bow to acknowledge us.
The past president of the Pan American Taekwondo Union, Dr. Cha So Pak (deceased) was a personal friend of my husband and myself. He introduced us to Taekwondo which gave me the opportunity to meet officials from the International Olympic Committee when I attended meetings. I've saluted Queen Elizabeth! (for real) during a national school parade, at the age of 11, the list goes on.
People I would have liked to meet: Tom Cruise, Shemar Moore, Lauralee Bell...
I met Frank Zappa at Sabatino's during my junior prom dinner man, many years ago! He was quiet and cool. A few years ago I met Danny Glover at a remote mountain location in Northern California. We were at the same reggae concert. He was there with his family enjoying the music just like the rest of us; nice guy. I met Ace of Cakes guy, Duff Goldman at a Food and Wine event in Miami, but wish I hadn't taken the time to.
A friend and I met Martin O'Malley at the state fair in 2009. Not too long ago I ran into Bob Turk in the toothpaste aisle and the Giant on 40th Street, and as a kid I also met Stan Stovall. I've also met Saul Williams. He was doing a reading in Charles Village and afterward he signed books and since I was at the end of the line I had the chance to chat with him for a bit. Really intelligent, kindhearted guy.
So being a science person early in my career, the first celebs I met were Nobel Prize winners. I met Dr. Rita Levi Montalcini when I was working in a lab in Georgetown, followed by Julius Axelrod when I was at GWU and then Harold Varmus when I was at NIH. When I was in grad school, I worked backstage at a concert at UNC and met Chick Corea and his band. I had a "brush with greatness" with Dave Letterman, where he walked past me in Foggy Bottom when I was walking back to my apartment. Most recently, I met Dominque Dawes, the Olympian gymnast, at a fundraising party at my son's school in Potomac. She is now married to one of the teachers there.
Way back in the 80's, my family and I were part of a Disney special being filmed in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. The big stars of the day were part of the show. We got to meet Betty White and the other 'Golden Girls." Another big star at the time was Emmanuel Lewis from the show "Webster." It was a long time ago and I was merely a child but I remember it like it was yesterday.
Over 10 years ago, I had an opportunity to meet Shemar Moore. This was before Criminal Minds, he was a Young and the Restless actor. I still have the picture of us and we look like twins because we have the same exact colors on. I'm also a huge wrestling fan and have had the chance to meet alot of wrestlers, especially in the 80's.
I had the pleasure to meet the late great TUPAC and LEIN BIAS. Meet 2pac before he became famous since he was friends with my cousins snoop and damion who both was killed and the mention them on his ALL EYEZ ON ME album. Meet my idol at the time lein bias as a teen at 5 star basketball camp.
Worked for TWA for 27 years before they went out of business in 2001.
During my time there I met many celebrities the memorable ones were:
Charlton Heston(remembered names of everyone, never asked for special treatment), Lee Majors (jerk), Truman Copote ( funny man and yes that was his natural voice), Judith Light (beautiful and down to earth), Stevie Wonder (he was nice...entourage not so much), Jessie Jackson (always running late), Liza Minnelli (what a lady), Motley Crue (ohh baby), Elizabeth Taylor (Unbelievably beautiful skin and eye, soft spoken and beautiful). But the absolutely most memorable was meeting Pope John Paul the II, enen this non-Catholic could feel his reverence in his touch.
There were the memorable ones....and I works as a Passenger Service Agent in the Airport.
I have had the pleasure of meeting a few celebrties,my Father was a Gosple Promotor from the
Phila area and we met The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi,The Mighty Clouds of Joy,Shirley Caesar,The Clark Sisters,,The Gosple Ambassadors,to name a few. While living in Cleveland Ohio I met Mike Tyson,Heavey D,Luthur Vandrous. My nephew sings backup for Faith Evans an surprised me on my Birthday with Backstage Passes to her show,and I got a chance to spend time with her.My sons grew up with and are Friends with Ripp Hamilton (Played for the Pistons,now for the bulls). They also grew up with and are Friends with the group Bone Thugs and Harmony.
I met Snoop Dogg at a Popeyes in NYC. My friend didn't believe me so I had him get on the phone with her. She asked him to pay for her tuition in nursing school. That was so crazy! I was embarassed. My favorite line he said that night was, "Snoop Dogg loves the chicken".
A few years back I won a trip from a radio station (Heaven 600) to the Stellar Gospel Music Awards in Nashville, TN. Upon landing, I met Angela Bassett at the airport. I sat and chatted with Yolonda Adams at the pre-awards reception. Also, while there I talked to Kirk Franklin and his finace' at the time about their upcoming wedding later that month. When I got back to the hotel I met the late Albertina Walker and Dottie Peoples in the hotel lobby while waiting to board the elevator. When it was time to travel back home many of the flights were cancelled because of snow (less than an inch) in Nashville. So I, along with many others were stranded at the airport, but this afforded me the opportunity to talk to Donald Lawrence, John P Kee and Fanklin Ajaye (from the movie Carwarsh). I met many others, but I just decided to mention a few. It was an AWE-AMAZING weekend.
I shook hands with Angelina Jolie. I was in a dance troupe and we performed on the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center as part of a celebration for UNICEF. Angelina came and shook hands with every single performer. She was lovely and gracious.
I've met William Shatner, Ralph Macchio, most of the stars from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ron Glass, Kevin Sorbo, the list goes on. I have to say the Buffy/Joss Whedon characters were the nicest sweetest people. I'm really happy to have met them even if they aren't the biggest stars. They were the best to meet! 🙂
I have had the pleasure of meeting President Carter. President Carter teaches Sunday school at his church in Plains Georgia. He always teaches a very interesting lessons and updates where he has been. President Carter and Mrs. Carter are always gracious and allow pictures to be taken with them. I will always treasure those pictures. They have also signed books for me that they have written. I will be going again in September to see them at the Plains Peanut Festival. I can hardly wait!
I once met Tracey Ullman while waiting in line for security at the airport. I grew up watching re-runs of Tracy Takes On and probably made a total fool of myself when I tried to tell her how much I loved her style of comedy. She was very gracious, though, and didn't make me feel like an idiot.
Wow! Can't top all the stories above but I met the stars from Major League 2 when they filmed at the stadium. I was in the "crowd" scenes (can't tell where). Got autographs from most of them but met, got a picture with & autograph from Charlie Sheen (before the stupidity). LOVE him! Still have it, still means a lot! Also met Rick Dempsey & Brooks Robinson back in Memorial Stadium days with my son (prob around 5-6 then). He got his pic taken with them. Still have them too!
I met William Donald Schaefer at a thrift shop and bought the tie he had just donated.
Shelly Garrett (Playwriter/Director/Producer of the play, Beauty Shop) is a friend of mine. In 1992, he invited me and my husband to Detroit, MI to see his play and we met Martin Lawrence and Will Smith! When Shelly got married in 1993, I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Michael Clark Duncan and Al Sharpton during the reception. Lastly, what people don't know is Michael Clark Duncan used to be Shelly's bodyguard before he starred in Beauty Shop 2 and then he went on to star in the movie, The Green Mile with Tom Hanks!
When I was working catering at Merriweather Post Pavilion in 1984, Cyndi Lauper and I toasted marshmallows over the large backstage grill before her show. Even though it was the height of her popularity, she seemed stressed and depressed, and she said that she wished her show was more like the big flashy rock acts like Yes, who were appearing at Merriweather later that season. I was in the front row for the show that night, being a big fan, and onstage she was just as energetic and fun as you could ask for.
As a 9 year old, I was a ball girl at Memorial Stadium for the Baltimore Comets soccer team.
Pele was in town, and I got to meet him ! A huge deal. It's a vague memory, but still stays with me today, as does my fondness for soccer. GO Women's Team USA!
I met Al Franken at the CVS in Tenleytown CVS on Wisconsin Ave.at 2330 on a Saturday evening with his Wife and Son. .
Recently, it has been my good fortune to meet a person who, no, is not a celebrity, famous athlete or high profile politician. His name is Scot Page, and he lives a quiet life in the Clinton, Md. area. Mr. Page is a retired Lt. Colonel, U.S.M.C. He enlisted in the Marines at the outset of World War II as a Private in a rifle company. He made the landing at Guadalcanal, Peleilu and Okinawa. He received a commission at the outset of the Korean War where he commanded a rifle company for two tours (26 months). He also served 2 tours of Vietnam. My point in submitting this comment is this; when you meet someone such as Mr. Page, no celebrity or famous athlete will ever impress me as this gentleman has, knowing his story.
I met Warren Beatty. I shook his hand and talked to him for quite a bit. I have also met Michael Gray who is the drummer for Lee Brice. I am friends with his wife. We went to school together. Both Warren and Michael are very nice people.
When I was working at a gas station in Jackson, WY, Uma Thurman came in and bought a hot dog. We didn't say much to each other but I'll never forget it. I saw her at the ski lodge a few days later eating a sandwich. It was great bc she seemed so "normal."
Dumbest thing I ever did was get Bob Knight's autograph and give it to a friend!!!! What was I thinking??? hahaha
Years ago, I was a fresh-faced transplant from Pennsylvania working at a downtown Orlando entertainment venue and Arnold Palmer was visiting with the owner. I knew nothing about golf stars but someone told me he was famous, so I asked him for his autograph on one of the venue's napkins. I still have that napkin but the venue is long gone almost 40 years later.
I met Bob Marley and the Wailers along with the I-Threes on October 28, 1979 backstage at the Apollo. My sister, her boyfriend and I had just gotten off the Metro from Westchester and decided to go to the Apollo to view the marquee and note what time the concert would start. As we strolled across 126th Street, a tour bus turned in and we immediately figured out that this was the tour bus carrying the Wailers. We stood by the backstage door to the Apollo and waited and sure enough, members of the Wailers (Bunny Wailer in particular) and Bob, got off and filed past us entering the backstage door. We followed them in and it was a quite tight space, but we along with the I-Threes (Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths-Rita hadn't arrived yet) and the band, kind of stood around as they tried to figure out what next. My sister's boyfriend introduced himself and us to Mr. Marley, who was standing on the stairs and I was taken aback to note how short he was. Such a powerful performer and he seemed larger than life on stage but up close he was quite diminutive. He was also very gracious and did not object to our presence backstage. Eventually however, a stage manager politely asked all others who were not a part of the band to leave (that was us) and Mr. Marley extended an invitation to us to come back after the show and ride the tour bus back to the hotel they were staying in. My sister and her boyfriend took him up on it. I stayed behind to babysit. Later, they told me they had a high time!
I meet Art Linkletter - he attended a Hospice event when I worked for Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio. What an amazing person!
Few years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Arnold schwarzenegger at Sibley Hospital and shake his hand. Also, I took photos with the Reverend, Jesse Jackson.
This has been some time ago but I met basketball star the great "Michael Jordan" before he retired. Chicago Bulls had come to play the Washington Bullets at the time and I waited until the game was over and the arena had mostly cleared of fans. Michael had come out of the locker room and was surrounded by body guards 6 deep on all sides(at least thirty 36 guards in all) and I just kept calling out his name and the security guards were not going to let me any where near him. He was very popular at the time as he still is and I was his number one fan, so I thought. Eventually I wore them down and he said "let her in" and I got his autograph and I still have it today. That was very exciting for me.
I met Michael Jackson in the Detroit airport about 10 years ago. Yes, he had gloves on & was wearing a face mask!
I've also met Prince, Smokey Robinson, Lou Ferrigno (the Hulk), Thomas Gibson (Greg from Dharma & Greg, now on Criminal Minds), Scott Wolf (from Party of Five), and Stephen Collins (the dad from 7th Heaven) on flights to Los Angeles. My favorite by far was meeting Josh Hartnett (the super hottiie from the movie Pearl Harbor)!
It pays to travel A LOT. The free upgrades to 1st class really are worth it. 🙂
A few years back, I met Billy Bob Thornton at a CD signing with his band, The Boxmasters. He signed my CD and we got to talking. His band was playing a show later that night and I didn't have tickets. He asked his assistant put me on his guestlist. The show was great and he even spotted me in the crowd and waved. He was such a nice guy!!