The Most Famous Person You've Met

SKELVIS said:
I've met Reggie Jackson,Granpa Al Lewis and Richard Dreyfus.
Click to expand...

I forgot about Al Lewis. I almost got to meet him about 2006 or so when he came here to do a radio interview on the Eric von Wade show. I couldnt get across town fast enough to do more than see him leave the radio station and get into his Limo.
 
Last edited:
I've done a little gun business with Gary Burghoff (Radar on Mash). I've met Tom Selleck at the Beinfeld Antigue Gun Show in Las Vegas.

My next door neighbor was the manager of the Sundance Ski Resort. Before Robert Redford bought the resort it was owned by another neighbor. In my teen years and as a young adult I had a season ski passes. I road the ski lift a few times back in the 1970 with Ted Kennedy and other members of his family. The Kennedys did family ski vacations at Sundance back then. As a kid I met Paul Newman at the resort. Of course Robert Redford.

Funny story when my wife and I were dating, we were at an event at Sundance. My old neighbor and Robert Redford doing a little crowd circulation stopped to say hello. I introduced my wife to be to Brent and Bob. After they left she turned to me and said, "Bob is kind of good looking but it is to bad he had such bad acne scarring and he is really short." I thought she "knew" who Bob was. She didn't have a clue. I said um babe, that was Robert Redford. She was a bit shocked and said they sure make him look taller and better looking in the movies.
 
Oh gee, I forgot someone important in my life who was famous a long time ago, Jack Sanford.

Jack Sanford was a pitcher for the Phillies and Giants back in the 1960s. He was a neighbor when I was just a little kid, seven to 11 years old and I lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He had a son, John, that is a year younger than me and we were pals. My father was not the outdoors type, was always at work and not much of a fisherman or hunter.

Jack took this kid under his wing and introduced me to both of those sports. He had a good looking English Setter. I still have English Setters. He had some spectacular shotguns and I'm still really a shotgun guy. To me he wasn't famous, he was just the cool dad that lived across the street that was willing to take a kid hunting and fishing.
 
I've rubbed elbows with a few celebrities over the years, but one stands out clearly in my memory. Back in 1995, my fiance and I met Denver Pyle and his wife in the dining room of the Irma Hotel in Cody, WY. We were seated having coffee when he and his wife walked into the room. He made quite and entrance, carrying a side-by-side shotgun that he handed to the woman behind the counter before being seated next to us.

I recognized him as Uncle Jesse in the "Dukes of Hazzard," and started up a conversation. He was in town to take part in a celebrity shoot for charity, and when I told him we were from the Grand Canyon, he got very interested about taking his grandchildren on a rafting tour down the Colorado River. He impressed me as a very down to earth, personable guy, and I gave him one of my business cards for him to contact me, if he was in need of rafting company information. I never heard from him, and was saddened to hear of his death a couple of years later.

If you know the man's career, you know it spans decades and a variety of roles. He was an extremely talented actor that received little of the recognition he deserves.
 
My son and I met and talked with John Glen several years ago at one of my father in law's veteran shin dig events. We also met and spoke with Ted Nugent twice at two different events. We have also met and spoke with Adam West during a convention here in NY. I'm sure there were more but those are just a couple that come to mind. When my son was younger we were inseparable and did most everything together. Damn I miss those days !
 
I haven't met anyone famous, but I got a letter and autographed bookmark from Chuck Norris. Oh, and my choir sang when Sandra Day O'Conner visited our campus.
 
policerevolvercollector said:
In no particular order:
Dalai Lama,
Richard Gere
Joel Grey
Diane Lane,
Barry Goldwater (via ham radio)
Bill Clinton
Mel Tillis
Al Gore
Janet Reno
Maya Angelou
Jimmy Carter
Cuba's VP under Castro
Lebanon's President in 1995
Robert Osborne from TCM
Patricia Neal
Parnell Roberts (Bonanza)
David Brinkley
Larry King
Michael Nouri
Cole Hauser ( a real gun guy)
Bo Derek
The cast of In the Heat of the Night (TV version)
Stacey Keach


More to follow as I remember them..............
Click to expand...

Yeah, right. I'm trying to pull my pants legs up over my knees!

I met Bobby Orr one night when he came through the border. Very down to earth. Introduced himself and asked me how I was. (For those of you born after 1974 or south of the Canadian border, Bobby Orr was a pretty good hockey player.)
 
Steve Wozniak (~1985) and Buzz Aldrin come immediately to mind. Steve commented on our resemblance to each other at the time, and Buzz was sounding like a "used rocket salesman." :D

I've met Bill Nye ("The Science Guy" and now on Dancing With the Stars.) a few times, the latest being last year at Planetfest2012, where among other things we ended up holding an impromptu engineering class for some kids while we were setting up for the convention.

I meet far more writers, actors, producers, etc. at the SF/fantasy/gaming conventions I attend, and the occasional business leader in the course of my work. In any case, it's much more interesting when you get to actually chat with these folk for more than a quick minute and on a more personal or professional level.

A word of warning when speaking with writers/authors... Be careful what you say, or you or it may end up in a book. They're always looking for new material!;)
 
My Dad was a moon goon Apollo through shuttle. Likewise I grew up in FL and TX moving there right after Johnson space center opened in the late sixties. So not only did I go to school with Armstrong's, Cunningham's etc, but I think I met most of the Apollo astronauts and then some (mostly coming to my school). I've met people here and there but most of the more memorable were as a kid including Nixon. I used to fly with mom who was a charter pilot and met an interesting flying friend of hers Wyatt Duzenbury who was a crew member on the Enola Gay. Later on a few bands in Houston including BOC, Humble Pie and before I left Houston I met Bum Phillips and Earl Campbell at a local burger joint. When I lived in Philly area I met Abby Hoffman at a party on the Delaware literally a day before he killed himself. Then there was Jessie Jackson I ran into in a elevator in Philly at a place I worked. Talk about uncomfortable... me, company CEO and Jessie Jackson and two huge packing bodyguards on an elevator ride. Sad thing is these days most of the "famous" people really worth meeting are dead. Lots of family & friends WWI and WWII vets I idolized as a kid are long since gone. One of the greatest men I ever met was my grandfather who was one of the few in his unit to survive the battle of the bulge and the blue ridge trail from Belgium to Germany. Today all that remains is memory and my 1940 luger (one of these days I will get dad to give up the P-38).
 
Last edited:
policerevolvercollector said:
In no particular order:
Dalai Lama,
Richard Gere
Joel Grey
Diane Lane,
Barry Goldwater (via ham radio)
Bill Clinton
Mel Tillis
Al Gore
Janet Reno
Maya Angelou
Jimmy Carter
Cuba's VP under Castro
Lebanon's President in 1995
Robert Osborne from TCM
Patricia Neal
Parnell Roberts (Bonanza)
David Brinkley
Larry King
Michael Nouri
Cole Hauser ( a real gun guy)
Bo Derek
The cast of In the Heat of the Night (TV version)
Carl Weathers
Stacey Keach
The Grateful Dead w/ Jerry Garcia
R.Lee Ermey
Adam Baldwin
Sen.Max Cleland


More to follow as I remember them..............
Click to expand...

A few more came to mind......

Yes...10mm Auto. I have been on the job 29 years now and have had the opportunity to work extra jobs/security details for a lot of folks which,in turn,allowed me to have contact with other VIPs who were at these functions. I met a some of these people when they were in Atlanta for the Olympics in '96 or in town for other appearances etc.over the years.

Most of them were friendly & personable people. As with any segment of the human race,some were less than pleasant and carried themselves as if the rest of the world should stop and be in awe of them. A few were just plain jerks. But, they were certainly the exception NOT the rule!
 
Last edited:
Majic Johnson at a corporate event
Peter Egan at a Moto GP event where I rode with him and dined with him
Bill Wilson and Ken Hackathorn at Berryville Bash of 2017
Richard Nixon, David and Julie Eisenhower in San Clemente in the late 70s
Paula Zahn at a corporate event
Los Lobos after a concert at Bass Hall Fort Worth
Orange County Choppers dad and two sons in Sturgis one year
Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale as a kid.
 
Last edited:
Joe Foss when he was Governor of SoDak. He always stopped into dad's Texaco station for gas. Pappy Boyington at Buckley ANG Base ( before full AFB) aboard a CAF B-29 My old friend flew. Charlton Heston, shook hands with Him at the NRA Convention. Some less than famous; Jeff Cooper, Clint Smith, Jim Cirillo, Rudy Ruana, Ross Seyfried, Col. R.K. Brown and lastly Bob Lilly. Had a good conversation with Him at the NRA Convention in Dallas. Real super guy.
 
G. Gordon Liddy...if I told you where I would have to kill you (just joking) Downtown Denver, James Olmos...Stapleton Airport.
 
Jessie Owens, waited his table in a high end restaurant in early 70s. He gave me a $5 to get him a cigar and told me to keep the change.

Milton Berle, in the Quad Cities airport in early 80s, the place was almost empty at the time, very early morning. Had a nice chat with him.

Paul Ryan, at a work function where he gave a presentation. I actually know his brother fairly well, we worked for same company.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top