Have you ever had a conversation with someone famous?

[dejr_8]

By conversation I mean a real conversation not just exchanging pleasantries like would happen at an autograph session or book signing.

Me - nope.

 

[RadioNate]

How famous are we talking?

Brad Pitt? No.

Other celebrities, yes. I'd even consider some of them friends. Some are obviously more well known than others but none are Brad Pitt famous.

 

[surfergirl602]

By conversation I mean a real conversation not just exchanging pleasantries like would happen at an autograph session or book signing.

Me - nope.

Yep. Quite a few times, actually. I grew up in Maine where a lot of celebrities have vacation homes.

Just over Christmas I was in TJ Maxx looking for maternity clothes and ran in to John Travolta (a regular in my home town) in the toys section. I had my three girls with me and he asked them what they wanted for Christmas and what girls their age (my oldest is tall, and almost 10) were into right now.

We talked for a good 15 minutes about girl stuff. It was hilarious. He had a full mustache, and I teased him saying, "You know, that mustache really isn't fooling anyone..."

He's quite a regular and is there a lot. He has two homes in the surrounding area, one on an island and our town is the pit stop. So people really just treat their family as regulars.

The very next day, about an hour from my hometown up the highway, and went into my sister's store looking for toys! She was all freaked out though. Apparently John waited until the last minute to buy presents for his daughter!

When I was in highschool, I used to bag and cashier at the only grocery store in town and we would get a lot of plain and boat orders that needed to be boxed early saturday mornings. I would go into work at 6 am just to do Martha Stewart's, because I was the only person that could put up with her cr@p. I finally lost my temper with her when she threated to have my bag boy fired because he substituted one brand of real vanilla extract with the store brand of real because we didn't have any of the kind she wanted in stock. I pretty much lost it and gave her a piece of my mine. I have a good ol' Irish temper, and after that, she didn't complain again much. That was my senior year in high school, so I didn't work there when I went to college.

I used to baby sit Mel Gibson's kids during the summer junior and senior year. He lived four houses down from us, right on the water. It's how I got to be a principle extra in Man Without a Face as "window shopper girl", although I don't think I made the scrolling credits with that one.

We've had many movies filmed in our area, and I have been fortunate enough to be in most of them. Steven King is also a regular, but it is Maine after all....

 

[Tuffcookie]

Paul Newman at Mid Ohio race track!

TC

 

[AmazingGrace]

Quite a few times on the FNL set with Kyle Chandler. He's a really nice guy and fun to talk to.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I was a nanny for a well known NBA player. I had many chats with players, musicians, and actors. He did lots of commercials and a few movies. It was fun to live in that atmosphere for awhile.

 

[disney junky]

No

 

[clovergirl5]

Yep. Quite a few times, actually. I grew up in Maine where a lot of celebrities have vacation homes.

Just over Christmas I was in TJ Maxx looking for maternity clothes and ran in to John Travolta (a regular in my home town) in the toys section. I had my three girls with me and he asked them what they wanted for Christmas and what girls their age (my oldest is tall, and almost 10) were into right now.

We talked for a good 15 minutes about girl stuff. It was hilarious. He had a full mustache, and I teased him saying, "You know, that mustache really isn't fooling anyone..."

He's quite a regular and is there a lot. He has two homes in the surrounding area, one on an island and our town is the pit stop. So people really just treat their family as regulars.

The very next day, about an hour from my hometown up the highway, and went into my sister's store looking for toys! She was all freaked out though. Apparently John waited until the last minute to buy presents for his daughter!

When I was in highschool, I used to bag and cashier at the only grocery store in town and we would get a lot of plain and boat orders that needed to be boxed early saturday mornings. I would go into work at 6 am just to do Martha Stewart's, because I was the only person that could put up with her cr@p. I finally lost my temper with her when she threated to have my bag boy fired because he substituted one brand of real vanilla extract with the store brand of real because we didn't have any of the kind she wanted in stock. I pretty much lost it and gave her a piece of my mine. I have a good ol' Irish temper, and after that, she didn't complain again much. That was my senior year in high school, so I didn't work there when I went to college.

I used to baby sit Mel Gibson's kids during the summer junior and senior year. He lived four houses down from us, right on the water. It's how I got to be a principle extra in Man Without a Face as "window shopper girl", although I don't think I made the scrolling credits with that one.

We've had many movies filmed in our area, and I have been fortunate enough to be in most of them. Steven King is also a regular, but it is Maine after all....

OK, Im starstruck by you and all your celebrity "friends"! Anymore stories? That would have been cool to meet John Travolta. Im a big fan! You can just tell that he is a very approachable celeb. Is that the feeling you got?

 

[JCJRSmith]

Willem Dafoe, Danny Glover, Brad Johnson and Ving Rhames - they were all in the movie "Flight of the Intruder", a good bit of which was filmed on USS Independence while I was stationed there. Also met Wally Shirra and Richard Dean Anderson on that ship.

Garo Yepremian, former place kicker for the Miami Dolphins. I was 15 and we were having a cookout on Key Biscayne and we shared a grill with him and his family.

Talked to David Keith ("Officer and a Gentleman") in Atlanta Airport.

On USS Dwight D. Eisenhower I got to meet and speak with Admiral Mike Boorda when he was Chief of Naval Operations. Like most sailors at the time, I was very saddened when he took his own life the following year.

I had Neil Armstrong as a guest professor in some of my classes in college.

Edited to add: Two more - I met Penn and Teller on a flight from Washington DC to Dayton, Ohio. And Jon Carrol of the Starland Vocal Band - my sister Laurie was his English professor at the University of Miami and she introduced him to my sister Patty when she was visiting and she dated him for about 6 months.
Side note about Jon Carrol - Patty was attending the University of Akron and he was coming into town to see her. He was at a stop light around 2 a.m. when some drunk driver plowed into the back of his car - wrecked the car and destroyed his guitar. He ended up writing a song about it called "Akron" on one of their albums.

 

[Acklander]

Went to dinner with friends who were visiting from out of town and their friends. There were about 8 of us. One of the couples there, the wife was one of the stars on I think "All My Children" (She played Brooke English). I don't watch soaps so I'm not sure if I have the right one.
Danny Devito sat on my desk once hanging and chatting, but I guess that counts as a casual encounter.
Once embarrassed myself when I saw someone that I KNEW I recognized, but couldn't place (don't you hate when that happens) I had a long conversation with her, while trying to figure out who it was - was it an old client? the parent of one of my son's classmates? and so on.... about 15 minutes into the conversation, I realized that the reason I recognized her is it was Meg Ryan. I felt like a complete idiot.
I guess the big one (by that I mean the famous person knows who I am, not just me knowing who he is LOL) is I had a summer romance type thing with this guy who went on to become a HUGE actor/producer - Not Brad Pitt famous but Damn close to it in that everyone knows who he is. Everyone I knew growing up knew I dated him and I live in fear that he's going to write one of those tell all books explaining about the fiasco of losing his virginity ( And trust me on this one - it was a MAJOR fiasco) If it does come out in a book or article I just hope it's after my mom has passed on LOL

 

[DizBelle]

I guess the big one (by that I mean the famous person knows who I am, not just me knowing who he is LOL) is I had a summer romance type thing with this guy who went on to become a HUGE actor/producer - Not Brad Pitt famous but Damn close to it in that everyone knows who he is. Everyone I knew growing up knew I dated him and I live in fear that he's going to write one of those tell all books explaining about the fiasco of losing his virginity ( And trust me on this one - it was a MAJOR fiasco) If it does come out in a book or article I just hope it's after my mom has passed on LOL

You can't tell us something like this and the NOT tell us who it is. Come on! Spill!

 

[hucifer]

I've had a conversation with Jack Kevorkian back in the early 90s. He was at a tax reform gathering and letting people walk up and talk to him. I approached and chatted with him. After the tax gathering was over, he was still hanging around so I went up to him one last time. He saw me, smiled, and said, "Wendy!" like we were old buddies.

I thought, "Kevorkian knows my name...cool."

I'm sure he's been thinking about me every day since then, too.

 

[surfergirl602]

OK, Im starstruck by you and all your celebrity "friends"! Anymore stories? That would have been cool to meet John Travolta. Im a big fan! You can just tell that he is a very approachable celeb. Is that the feeling you got?

He';s a very nice guy. He went in to my mom's salon once and got his hair cut. That was a few years ago. I've "known" him for years, meaning he's been around a lot. His family is very nice, and they do many nice things for our small little fishing town. He closes down the airport every time he flies in though...

 

[loveWDWalways]

I love your stories, everyone! It makes me want to move someplace where there are a lot of nice celebs to talk to! Well, I suppose the nice celebs wouldn't want to be fawned over and would like to be treated normally, so I'd be respectful of that, but I'd approach them for a conversation. I've met a lot of celebs at events and have loved talking with them, but, I don't know why, the ones I've seen on random occasions (such as an American Idol contestant) I've been too shy to approach!

Anyway, Alton Brown and I had a nice, short conversation at an event once (I know, the OP specified encounters outside of events) and I asked him about Food Network's plans for showcasing more vegetarian food/programs and he said he was talking to them about it. He's just as funny and friendly in person! I love that random sense of humor he has on Good Eats and it's great to see a celebrity who's as nice in person as they appear to be on TV!

 

[Acklander]

You can't tell us something like this and the NOT tell us who it is. Come on! Spill!

LOL - I know, horrible of me, isn't it???? And I'd spill the name if I thought that he didn't know who I was, but he does - and I'm still friends with his sister, and he'd KILL me if the story got out.

 

[dallastxcpa]

Some years ago I lived in the same highrise as Bill Parcels. Back when he coached the Cowboys.

So one day my daughter and I get on the eleavator and Bill starts talking to my daughter asking how our dog is and how she has been. We got off on the 6th floor and he continued to the penthouse and I asked my daughter "Do you know who that is?" She was like yeah that's Mr. Parcels....

Well, I guess the nanny and my daughter had lot's of conversations with Bill as they were taking our dog out daily. The story was that Bill had the same type of dog when he was a kid and had fond memories.

Anyway he was a really nice person. I finally decided it was time to find a new job and spend more time with my daughter when we were out at the pool one weekend and one of the other Mom's said, "Oh that's your daughter... I thought that other lady she was with everyday was her Mom." (refering to the nanny).

 

[Jennasis]

Tyra Banks
Donna Summer
Stephen Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Billy Joel
Christie Brinkley
Rudy Guiliani
Hillary Clinton

 

[clovergirl5]

You can't tell us something like this and the NOT tell us who it is. Come on! Spill!

YA THINK!!!!.....SPILL IT ACKLANDER!

 

[clovergirl5]

I've had a conversation with Jack Kevorkian back in the early 90s. He was at a tax reform gathering and letting people walk up and talk to him. I approached and chatted with him. After the tax gathering was over, he was still hanging around so I went up to him one last time. He saw me, smiled, and said, "Wendy!" like we were old buddies.

I thought, "Kevorkian knows my name...cool."

I'm sure he's been thinking about me every day since then, too.

I can't imagine having a conversation with him lol. On tv he looks so evil. How'd he look irl? Was he pleasant? What kinda vibe did he give off? Wasn't the early 90's the time he was assisting suicide. He wasn't in jail yet?

 

[hucifer]

I can't imagine having a conversation with him lol. On tv he looks so evil. How'd he look irl? Was he pleasant? What kinda vibe did he give off? Wasn't the early 90's the time he was assisting suicide. He wasn't in jail yet?

He was just a sweet old man, actually. He was very interesting and pleasant to talk to. And I would guess that it was around 1993 or 1994...before prison, yes. I was shocked that, in the midst of all the controversy, he was just openly speaking to folks like that.