Unexpected encounters with celebrities - Page 6

I (and some friends) drank a few beers with David Faustino (Bud Bundy) once.

Cool guy.

I thought I once saw Susan Sarandon in NYC, but on closer inspection it appeared to be just a dead horse.

Ouch!

My old job had a lot of celebrity encounters and living in Vancouver it's kind of a bi-weekly thing to see "someone." As for unexpected encounters, most of them involve literally running into people:

- About 3 weeks ago I almost hit Laurence Fishburne with a door. I was walking into a set of double doors of the hotel where I park my car and he was coming out. I had my sunglasses on, talking on my cell, and didn't see him. I apologized and kept going, he's tall but has terrible posture.
- A few years ago my Dad almost hit Hulk Hogan with his car. Same hotel in fact, my father was coming out of the parking garage which has a steep ramp that exits into a motor court at the front of the hotel. He didn't see Hulk Hogan and Hulk's girlfriend and nearly ran them over. Apparently Hulk slammed his hand down on the hood and pointed right at him, then kept walking.

A

Sat right next to Stephen King and listened to Carl Hiassen give a talk. I chatted him up a bit, but I'm always leery of being too cloying.

Partied with Kristin Gore and Josh Saviano (the kid from Wonder Years, he's kind of a sad guy, trying way too hard to distance himself from that character)

A few "celebrities" who were on MTV's Road Rules (Yes Duffy) and Real World (Jason and Kameela). About eight of us went out. I was absolutely shocked at how these "celebrities" were treated. We got into VIP everywhere, at all these clubs (I had just come from the beach and was wearing jeans and flip flops and they still made exceptions for me). It was kind of sad that these kids were so popular. All three were really cool though.

Sold Brad Pitt a first edition of On the Road at a book fair in Miami.

Man... I totally forgot about two very random encounters with Buzz Aldrin. What a bitter man.

I remember 2 more myself. Wally Shirra. He told me who he was which seemed a little odd/unseemly but he was a pretty nice guy and Frankie Lane. I found out Lane lived in the neighborhood because his poodle took a crap on our front lawn. My mother was delighted and had a long conversation with him. I think he sent over a signed album. My mother was born on a farm outside of Sanger California and when she was a teen she was offered a chance to go see him perform in Fresno. She considered Fresno such a teeming and louche metropolis that out of fear she turned down the offer. Years later she not only got her chance to see him but had him in for coffee.

Samuel L. Jackson sat on my hand while I was resting on a bench(what I can only assume to have been an accident, though my gut tells me that maybe it's a fetish of his)

I knew he was around, but the sitting on my hand part was pretty unexpected. Also, he didn't get up right away. There was like three uncomfortable seconds an... "Uh... excuse me!" And then he allowed me to move my hand out from under his butt where it was pinned.

I once sat behind Damon Dash at a boxing match.

Hey! He had a Posse!

I once ended up working out with Ed Pinckney at Villanova. This was after he graduated and I believe he was playing for the Celtics. I was working at the Rollie Massimino basketball camp and needed to get my workout in. We both had sprained ankles so we hadn't participated in the pick up game they had every night. So after all the campers were asleep I was in the gym shooting at around 11pm. Ed walked over and asked if he could join me. We spent the next hour to 1 1/2 hours rebounding for each other as we did our shooting workouts.

I also ran into Chris Mullin in Jersey Freeze, an ice cream shop in NJ. He was playing for the Golden State Warriors at the time. My friend was a huge fan and was so awed that he was there he wouldn't even go in the store. I walked in said hello, shook his hand, ordered my ice cream and left. He couldn't believe I actually talked to him.

I encountered Jerry Orbach buying socks at Saks and Ed Bradley buying socks at Barney's. Kind of weird when you both reach for the same thing and when you look up you are looking at someone you know from TV.

On Park Ave. in the fifties I had crossed the street and stopped next to a father with 2 kids and was waiting for the light to change. My wife wasn't paying attention and made me stumble as she banged in to me. When I asked her what on earth was wrong with her, she was just staring at the guy next to me and kind of pointing with her head. Spike Lee was standing next to me and chuckling at the whole scenario.

I've ridden on the elevator with Calvin Klein and Carolina Herrera on numerous occasions, when I was working in the same building. I have also encountered numerous professional athletes and celebrities in bars or on the street. I have played pick up basketball games with some pro players in them but nothing all that unexpected.

We used to share an elevator bank Hachette Filipachi (sp? - big magazine co.). George and Glamour were on the floor below us. Everytime you stopped on their floor it was either an upclose celeb encounter (JFK, Jr., etc.) or hot models crowding into the elevator

Also, there was a strange two week period back in the mid-80's where I'd be in a cab stopped at a light and Andy Warhol would cross the street in front of us. Happened three times in different parts of the city!

15 years ago we went out to dinner for my birthday and Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn were leaving the restaurant. When we were being seated everyone around us asked "Guess who was just sitting there?!"

sorry for the long post, but living in la, random celebrity encounters happen quite often:

- When I was doing my undergrad at ucla, I was walking through westwood by the mann bruin one evening when they happened to be premiering Home Fries with Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson. As I passed by the theater, I rubbernecked to see if I could see any of the stars but saw none. A theater employee asked if I'd like to go into the theater to watch the premier since there were a few extra spaces open so I replied "Sure!," what the heck, a free movie so why not.

When I went in, there were no seats open save for a cordoned off area in the center so the usher said it was fine for me to sit there. The house lights dimmed and the movie started. As the beginning credits come up, a few people shuffled into their seats right next to me. It was Drew Barrymore, Courtney Love, and Frances Bean Cobain. I chatted with them during and after the movie and said I loved her film (I was trying to be polite, the movie wasn't that great). When I got back to the dorms, I told all my friends that I just went to watch a movie with Drew Barrymore

other random encounters:
- matt damon cd shopping at the virgin megastore on sunset.
- took a piss next to Gilby Clark (guns n roses) at the bathroom at El Torito in Sherman Oaks... i pissed onto my own foot as I looked over and saw him.
- Destiny's Child getting off my same flight in the Narita Airport in Japan... all three looked pretty haggard after the flight.
- had breakfast at norm's with Thom Yorke (radiohead) after partying with them all night after a show in hollywood (this was bends era radiohead)
- talked to robert horry (then of the lakers) while waiting for our cars at the car wash on westwood/santa monica (he had a pimped out while benz cl600 at the time)
- pumped gas next to kobe bryant (also a mbz cl600)
- almost got run over by a range rover. I made some snide comment to my friend that it must be some damn rapper or basketball player. Passenger window rolls down and shaq sticks his head out to apologize.
- another mercedez stops short in front of me to valet his car next to cobras and matadors (spanish tapas restaurant). I stick my head out to yell at the driver. William H. Macy meekly steps out to apologize.
- back in the late nineties at a britpop mod club called cafe bleu in hollywood, a close friend introduced me to rodney bingenheimer (kroq dj) who introduced me to his buddy johnny marr (formerly of the smiths, now of modest mouse).
- kelly jones of stereophonics bought me a newcastle pre-show at the whiskey
- talked to edward norton at a hole show at the roxy. He got up on stage and played bass for a few songs. (he was dating courtney love at the time).
- chatted with alyssa milano at a remy zero show at the troubadour (she was married to the lead singer Cinjun tate).
- just 2 weeks ago, sat in a booth next to victoria beckham and her 3 kids at benihana's on la cienega.
- took a freshman english class with kerri strug (you can do it!). I was eye level with her while I was seated and she was standing... i'm only 5'9"

LA Fitness in westwood (I'm not a trainer.. just been working out here for about a decade):
- Fabio... yes, face-duck smashing while on a roller-coaster Fabio, at a spin class.
- Spotting galen gering (NBC's passions) on a bench press.
- Fabrice Morvan (the non-dead half of milli vanilli) changing in the men's locker room.
- Sat next to and talked to Triple H as he was reading US weekly on a recumbant exercise bike.
- held michelle kwan's (figure skater) feet as she did crunches

- didn't happen to me but thought it was hilarious. My previous 2 bosses at a biotech company got their asses beat down by jose canseco and his brother ozzie after one of them drunkenly made a pass at jose's then girlfriend. One had a broken nose, the other had a fractured orbital (my bosses, not the canseco bros). I believe the settlement was quite large.

A great list, but this one sticks out: