Celebrity Sightings

[DCJenn]

Thought I'd bring this one back since we had quite a few the last time we brought this subject up:

So, who have you seen, met, spoken with, etc.?

Yesterday's Celeb Sighting was Nina Totenberg from NPR and the Political talk shows, right in front of the Supreme Court (she covers the SC for those of you not in tune with NPR) wearing a fab real fur coat and looking magnificently coifed.

Jenn

Saw O.J. Simpson and Mike Miller (NBA player) at the Westin Grand Bohemian in Orlando 3 years back.

I saw Julia Child coming out of Bread and Circuses (grocery) on Mass Ave back in 1992 in Cambridge.

[rainbabies]

[Tenacious_D]

Let me preface this list by saying that I live in NYC and work near the ABC studios.

1 hour ago - Howard Stern
Christmas Break - Stephanie March (A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot on Law and Order SVU)
November 2005 - Al Roker at a restaurant near my job (he and his wife were at dinner)
November 2005 - Robin Roberts (Good Morning America Anchor)
November 2005 - Tony Danza
January 2006 - Richard Gere Ahhhhhhh!!!! That was a treat

This is all since I moved to NYC in August.

[Laker]

here we go...

I knew Tom Welling from Smallville/Cheaper by the Dozen in college, I met Muhammad Ali at a corporate party (got a pic with him), met the dream team (USA Basketball in 92 Olympics) in Monaco in 1992 (got a pic with David Robinson), met Gregg Brady (Barry Williams) at Sedwicks bar in Chicago, met Vince Vaughn at Castaways bar in Chicago, met Barry Sanders while playing golf in metro detroit area... and no famous women

[Cumberland]

I have seen a few, but the most recent was two years ago at a SF Giants game. We had excellent seats, with Danny Glover about six seats over from us. Apparently he usually sits with Robin Williams but he wasnt there that day. In the middle of the game a fan was heckling a player, and Danny Glover charged out of his seat and literally started screaming at him. I had my camera and snapped a few pics. Maybe I should have sold them to National Enquirer?

I'm super-bad at this. There have been several occasions where I've been walking around Pasadena, Beverly Hills (of course, dahling), or Century City and stars have walked right by me and I haven't noticed (but my cousins did .. which is how I found out I missed). These are the ones that I've seen:

Hal Holbrook walked by me on Rodeo Drive
Jack Lemmon drove his shiny black car by while I was waiting for a table at the Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills
Jim Belushi was driving next to us while we were on our way home the same night.
The guy who played "Q" on Star Trek: The Next Generation was shopping at World Market while I was, as was Diedre Hall (I don't think they were together).
I met Tori Amos after a concert.
I walked up to Henry Rollins and shook his hand at Lollapalooza I
I worked at the dry cleaner used by several Cleveland Browns - Leroy Hoard and Eric Metcalf were the most famous (I stole one of Leroy's sweaters . I think the statute of limitations has expired on that one.)
I sold jewelry to Carlos Baerga's wife (Cleveland Indian player).

My favorite 'connection' though, is that dh's grandfather lived in the same commune as Ghandi, and his uncle sat on Ghandi's lap one day.

[Ames]

Laker - I am soooo jealous that you knew Tom Welling! I love him, it's those eyes! :---
Jesher - What did you think of Tori Amos? I like her music but I find it hard to imagine what her personality is like.

As for me, I worked at Star Market (in Boston) and sold groceries to Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm. Nomar more than once, Mia was with him only once and she wasn't very friendly but Nomar was great. He even signed some stuff for us. I also went backstage to meet Jewel, who I love, as a birthday gift from my best friend. I have to admit it was a little strange because we both felt kinda stupid, like "Hi I just spent money to meet you and you are just a regular person" but it was fun anyway. There were some crazy people there though who had already been to like 3 or more meet and greets before this one (all for Jewel). Alan's family is from Boston and his dad used to play hockey with Joey McIntire! I worked at the Federal Courthouse in Boston while they held the shoe bomber trial there, does that count??? Hmmm, that's all I can think of.

[alison]

Well, I've met Ellen Degeneres--she was plugging her talkshow on the streets of Chicago and was talking to people in between takes. I just happened to be walking by and went up to her. She's tiny!

I've seen Dustin Hoffman a number of times while filming STRANGER THAN FICTION (due out later this year, I believe), since they were filming close to where I work. He's tiny too! He's very cheerful and spent a lot of time talking to fans. I yelled out "I loved you in TOOTSIE!" and he laughed.

I saw Will Farrell (he's also in STRANGER THAN FICTION). Not a very pleasant guy. He stood there with this odd glare on his face and didn't acknowledge people when they recognized him. But I guess he must have to deal with "us" a lot!

These are fun to read!

DH went to HS with jazz pianist and composer Geoff Keezer (Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, Christian McBride Band).

[PrincessFiona]

I met...Tyne Daly once. She turned out to be real snobby in person.

[JaneDoe]

Dh went to highschool with Napoleon (I don't remember his real name) from the movie "Napoleon Dynomite". That's about as close as I get to celebrity sightings. He's an identical twin and two years younger than DH, but Napoleon's older brother was in Dh's class, although they were not freinds.

Actually, I passed by Jerry Orbach (Law & Order and Dirty Dancing), who was with his wife (at least that's who I assumed she was) in 2003 at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. I love Law & Order, so I thought that was pretty neat.

I think I've come across two celebrities at the airport. But, they must not have made much of an impression on me because I can't even remeber who they were.

[Vishenka69]

Too many to count, but spending almost every day in Manhattan will do that to you. I haven't really met a celebrity but I've seen them in restaurants, stores and on the street. Latest sighting was Martha Stewart and the actor who plays Merryl on Nip&Tuck during lunch at Pastis last month.

Most recently, I had a discussion with Mickey Rooney about our hopelessly delayed flight to LAX in January.
Keeping in mind that I was raised in NY by a theatre and baseball loving family, I've met the original Broadway cast of Rent (no accident, I will admit), Nathan Lane, Tim Curry, Timothy Dalton, Natalie Portman and others I was too young to appreciate. At one play, I saw Christopher & Dana Reeves, it was just after his accident.
I've seen celebs and pro athletes from one sport at a different sport's event. I've met a few of the NY Mets. Met Kyle Corver and Billy King (Sixers) a few times. Gave directions to a younger Baldwin brother when the Repubican National Convention was in Philadelphia a few years back. Met Vincent Young, Noah on Beverly Hills 90210, a few times at the same Martini bar and Justin Guarini of American Idol. Saw Bennifer v 1.0 when they were filming a movie around the corner from my office. I saw Carson, from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy a few months ago on 13th Street. And I shared an elevator in Dallas with Jackie Chan.
And I am going to stop now so as not to sound like a stalker. These were almost all chance encounters.