Over the time I've been active on this board, there have been many posts about encounters, both good and bad, with celebrities (TV and other entertainment related). Being as these memories are scattered among many old threads, how about a central new thread here where we can gather some of those previously related memories, and add other new ones. Those of you that have had the opportunity to meet celebs, whether via a chance encounter, at a fan event, or by working with them professionally, tell us: who were the nicest people, and who were the royal a**holes?
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Celebrities: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- Thread starter Stanislav
- Start date
Whenever I see a celebrity while I am out somewhere, if it is not a public appearance, I leave them alone. I have seen some here while grocery shopping or whatever, but I don't bother them. If it is a public appearance, and I know ahead of time that they are going to be there, then that is a different story, like a book signing or whatever.
I was an entertainment reporter for awhile.
The worst:
Helen Reddy- mean as $%#@!. Introduced myself and she yelled "I didn't ask what your last name was sweetheart!"
Peter Funt- Allan's son was hosting a new Candid Camera on CBS in the 90's. I asked him about Fox's ripoff candid camera show and he blew a gasket that I would even mention it. As I recall he even complained to my boss about that.
Jack Jones- Met him twice and each time arrogant and rude.
Tommy Lasorda- Just an act- really doesn't like anyone talking to him.
The best: Whoopi Goldberg. I had dinner with her and was surprised at how many autograph hounds came up to interrupt her meal, and amazed at how gracious she was to each one of them.
Garth Brooks- perfect gentleman...kept apologizing for anything and everything.
Other cool celebs: Walter Cronkite, who would talk with anyone who approached him. Rich Little, Phyllis Diller, Zza Zza Gabor, Rip Taylor, BJ Thomas.
The worst:
Helen Reddy- mean as $%#@!. Introduced myself and she yelled "I didn't ask what your last name was sweetheart!"
Peter Funt- Allan's son was hosting a new Candid Camera on CBS in the 90's. I asked him about Fox's ripoff candid camera show and he blew a gasket that I would even mention it. As I recall he even complained to my boss about that.
Jack Jones- Met him twice and each time arrogant and rude.
Tommy Lasorda- Just an act- really doesn't like anyone talking to him.
The best: Whoopi Goldberg. I had dinner with her and was surprised at how many autograph hounds came up to interrupt her meal, and amazed at how gracious she was to each one of them.
Garth Brooks- perfect gentleman...kept apologizing for anything and everything.
Other cool celebs: Walter Cronkite, who would talk with anyone who approached him. Rich Little, Phyllis Diller, Zza Zza Gabor, Rip Taylor, BJ Thomas.
Found Tommy LaSorda very friendly when I met him.
On the other hand, Johnny Rivers was the absolute worst. The perfect definition of RUDE!
On the other hand, Johnny Rivers was the absolute worst. The perfect definition of RUDE!
I haven't actually met them but I have e-mailed a couple
of people connected to the soaps. Dan Region, former
announcer on "As The World Turns," wrote an article for
his local paper that I wanted to use on Gettysburg. Not
only did he gladly let me use it, he wanted to know all about
what I teach.
Jada Rowland of "The Secret Storm" was a bit snippy when
I asked her why the syndication deal for that show fell through.
My dad, because his job took him all over the country, got a
chance to either meet or be in the same room with a number
of celebrities; he considers Martin Sheen, Jack Nicholson, and
the late Bert Parks to be a bunch of loudmouths. He once got me
Harry Reasoner's autograph, but Reasoner was already smashed and
it wasn't even lunchtime. He also got me wrestler Dusty Rhodes'
autograph; Dusty was seated with whomever he was feuding with
(I want to say Dick Murdoch); at any rate, as my dad prepared to
leave, he told them "y'all behave yourselves." Dusty said, "I will if
he will." He also managed to get Merlin Olsen's autograph for my mom,
who had her own thrill when she once saw Hal Holbrook getting off
an elevator.
of people connected to the soaps. Dan Region, former
announcer on "As The World Turns," wrote an article for
his local paper that I wanted to use on Gettysburg. Not
only did he gladly let me use it, he wanted to know all about
what I teach.
Jada Rowland of "The Secret Storm" was a bit snippy when
I asked her why the syndication deal for that show fell through.
My dad, because his job took him all over the country, got a
chance to either meet or be in the same room with a number
of celebrities; he considers Martin Sheen, Jack Nicholson, and
the late Bert Parks to be a bunch of loudmouths. He once got me
Harry Reasoner's autograph, but Reasoner was already smashed and
it wasn't even lunchtime. He also got me wrestler Dusty Rhodes'
autograph; Dusty was seated with whomever he was feuding with
(I want to say Dick Murdoch); at any rate, as my dad prepared to
leave, he told them "y'all behave yourselves." Dusty said, "I will if
he will." He also managed to get Merlin Olsen's autograph for my mom,
who had her own thrill when she once saw Hal Holbrook getting off
an elevator.
I don't know about her overall reputation, but a friend of mine had a pleasant, if unusual, encounter with Bernadette Peters when she was starring in the Broadway revival of "Annie Get Your Gun." He was walking near the theater when a cab discharged its passenger -- a woman who promptly tripped and took a rough fall on the sidewalk as the taxi pulled away. Gallant gentleman that he is, my friend rushed over to assist her, helped her up, and to his surprise found that the damsel in distress was Ms. Peters herself. After making sure she wasn't hurt, and expressing his admiration of her work, she asked him to wait a moment. She ran inside, emerging a few minutes later with two tickets to the show, and an autographed photo, on which she had inscribed: "To {name} -- the nicest guy who ever picked me up!"
Having worked the Apple Blossom festival in Winchester,VA over the years..had a chance to deal with many celebrities. Some nice and some not so..but the ones that stand out the most...
*Dan Aykroyd & Donna Dixon..both were super nice and loved to hang around us..though prior to them arriving in town we were warned not to bring up to Dan the subjects of "Saturday Night Live" , "John Belushi" and interesting "Robin Williams". Hmmmmm..but the Blues Brothers..he was all ears..just dont bring up Belushi.
on the flip side....
*Ginna Carter ( daughter of Dixie Carter ) and Hal Holbrook. How rude was Ginna? A young woman with down syndrome approached her for an autograph only to have Ginna throw a cigarette lighter to her and say "..bitch..now go fix your f*cking face !!". Hal Holbrook actually throught Ginna's actions was funny.
Not Apple Blossom related but some years back I had met adult film actor Ron Jeremy. He was actually very nice but..he had this really bad odor. After he left the studio I actually had to go to the Family Dollar store across the street and buy a can of Lysol so we can spray out the odor he had left behind.
Mike Harvey ( the host of the oldies radio show "Supergold" ) was one I would like to forget. Not going to go into specific details since Harvey does have fans on this site but all I can say is that one night Harvey called us up ( we were one of his affiliates ) at 2am..lets just say his comments were gross and disgusting.
*Dan Aykroyd & Donna Dixon..both were super nice and loved to hang around us..though prior to them arriving in town we were warned not to bring up to Dan the subjects of "Saturday Night Live" , "John Belushi" and interesting "Robin Williams". Hmmmmm..but the Blues Brothers..he was all ears..just dont bring up Belushi.
on the flip side....
*Ginna Carter ( daughter of Dixie Carter ) and Hal Holbrook. How rude was Ginna? A young woman with down syndrome approached her for an autograph only to have Ginna throw a cigarette lighter to her and say "..bitch..now go fix your f*cking face !!". Hal Holbrook actually throught Ginna's actions was funny.
Not Apple Blossom related but some years back I had met adult film actor Ron Jeremy. He was actually very nice but..he had this really bad odor. After he left the studio I actually had to go to the Family Dollar store across the street and buy a can of Lysol so we can spray out the odor he had left behind.
Mike Harvey ( the host of the oldies radio show "Supergold" ) was one I would like to forget. Not going to go into specific details since Harvey does have fans on this site but all I can say is that one night Harvey called us up ( we were one of his affiliates ) at 2am..lets just say his comments were gross and disgusting.
While not a celebrity in the sense of those already talked about, I have twice met Jimmy Fortune, former tenor singer for the Statler Brothers Country Music group. While the Brothers retired in 2002 Fortune has been carving out a nice career of his own as a solo country artist. Have been to 2 concerts featuring Jimmy and he and his wife are two of the most approachable, down to earth people you would ever want to meet. Jimmy honestly appreciates his fans and will stay after a concert till the last hand is shook, hug given and autoraph signed..
mleach said:
That's disgraceful!
Ironic too because I had to Google Ginna Carter to find out who the heck she is. A perusal of results sure did tie her to Hal Holbrook, but still rang no bells with me. Never heard of her. Honestly, I wouldn't recognize this b-word even if she was in the process of biting my posterior!
I can see it now, her saying: "Do you know who I am?!?" and the answer being NO.
Nor is she attractive in any way - she has the face of a pig. If anyone's face needs fixing, it's hers! Does match the personality though.
Can't justify Hal Holbrook for that either. Maybe he was uncomfortably laughing because he has to work with this troll? Perhaps he got hold of a bad ice cube?
That whole story just leaves me shaking my head.
BRNout said:
Ginna Carter was the "Queen of the Apple Blossoms" for the 1992 Winchester, VA Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. As I can recall, the "bloom people" picked Ginna only because she had a Hollywood address. Seriously !!! Two years prior Apple Blossom landed the then-unknown Melissa Rivers ( daughter of Joan Rivers ) to be queen and she was quite popular..of course having Joan Rivers on the parade float standing beside her daughter screaming " CAN WE TALK !!..CAN WE TALK"..didn't hurt but the Joan & Melissa were "Hollywood people" so as a result the bloom decided to keep the queens on the..well same level.."must be Hollywood". The next year Hal Holbrook's grand daughter Eve was queen and Hal was her "escort". From what I can remember, Hal Holbrook made some comment to the Apple Blossom head-honchos about "I can promise you many big name Hollywood stars and their daughters to be future queens..let me work for YOU". Well the next year came Ginna and after that "hissy fit" ( which took place not only in front of just about the entire local media including myself but even in front of Willard Scott who just stared in shock )..well the Bloom people decided to drop that "only Queens from Hollywood" rule and went back to picking girls who they felt had "higher moral standards" though if one looks at the list..I guess that could be debatable..
http://www.thebloom.com/celebrities-past.html
The next year ( 1993 ) the queen was Elizabeth Dienert..the granddaughter of preacher Billy Graham.
To this day the folks at Apple Blossom will not discuss Ginna Carter's "fit" and Hal Holbrook has never been back.
I should mention a couple other experiences involving
my dad. In Atlanta one morning in the '80s he happened
to recognize wrestler Big John Studd eating breakfast alone.
My dad invited him over to join him and the group he was with,
and Studd proved to be one of the nicest, most intelligent people
he ever met. He was particularly impressed with the fact that
Studd (real name John Minton) had chosen to live in northern Virginia
because of the quality of the schools. We don't normally think of
wrestlers breaking character, but this one did and it was a pleasant
surprise. Sadly, Minton has passed on.
My dad and I once saw Skip Caray in the airport in Atlanta. I'd
been wanting to see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field and a coworker's
wife, who worked in a travel agency, arranged for us to go to Chicago.
When we told Caray what we were doing (and the Braves were still
perennial basement-dwellers at the time), he wanted to know why we
would go all the way to Chicago to see such a lousy team. Oh, well,
at least I got to join in singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game."
my dad. In Atlanta one morning in the '80s he happened
to recognize wrestler Big John Studd eating breakfast alone.
My dad invited him over to join him and the group he was with,
and Studd proved to be one of the nicest, most intelligent people
he ever met. He was particularly impressed with the fact that
Studd (real name John Minton) had chosen to live in northern Virginia
because of the quality of the schools. We don't normally think of
wrestlers breaking character, but this one did and it was a pleasant
surprise. Sadly, Minton has passed on.
My dad and I once saw Skip Caray in the airport in Atlanta. I'd
been wanting to see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field and a coworker's
wife, who worked in a travel agency, arranged for us to go to Chicago.
When we told Caray what we were doing (and the Braves were still
perennial basement-dwellers at the time), he wanted to know why we
would go all the way to Chicago to see such a lousy team. Oh, well,
at least I got to join in singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game."
bpatrick said:
Skip was a chip off the old block.
bpatrick said:
OK, my bad. Harry used to make similar remarks. In his case (Harry's) without tact.
C
cspotrun
Guest
in the world of music, Chubby Checker, Peter Noone, Gary Lewis are very nice guys. i've had 2 encounters with The Monkees and they were, not so nice. i saw Frank Gorshin's last performance, he of course was the Riddler on the Batman TV show, he was doing a one man show as "George Burns" and the performance was INCREDIBLE!(even more so, after i found out he was dying of cancer at the time and died just a couple of months after that performance).. they held a backstage meet and greet after the show, to which i got to meet Gorshin, who turned out to be this little man who came in the room yelling screaming and bitching to the promoter in front of everyone there, and after his 15 minute rant, turned and looked at about 40 people there and said..."who the hell are all these people", and abruptly left the room... Gorshin was an idol of mine from the times i saw him doing impressions on the Ed Sullivan Show when i was a kid, the incident kind of destroyed things for me on a personal level, but he was an incredible talent, and i will never forget that performance. a good friend of mine told a story of meeting Johnny Carson, and said he was cold as ice, and could care less about his audience he went to a taping of the Tonight show and said after the camera was off Johnny couldn't leave the place fast enough, and didn't talk to the audience at all in the warm up or afterwords.
cspotrun said:
Your story about Frank Gorshin very much reminds me of a short film I had seen on TV several years ago, I believe it was on Sundance, about a young man who had entered a contest where the prize was for the winner to not only meet a very big TV comedy star but also to see the celebrity at work..on the set. He won the prize but was shocked at the way this "big TV star" was seen screaming and cussing out the crew and the co-stars, throwing things around the set, making stupid demands to the staff..etc...And when the time came for the young man to meet his "idol"..the star said very coldly "Hello...nah...I have to go" and that was tpretty much the entire conversation. The movie ended with the young man's eyes filled with tears.
I wish I can remember the name of this short movie as I am sure it is available someplace, perhaps even online but I do remember the movie was based on the story about a young fan back in 1964 winning the chance to appear on the set of "The Lucy Show"...so that "big star" in the movie was based on Lucille Ball though in the movie the character's name was "Denise" or something like that. Its been awhile since I had seen that movie.
I happened to find myself in the position of being with a crew to interview Paul McCartney right after a performance by Wings in Europe. He and the whole band were most graious and made sure everyone who wanted to shake hands or get an autograph had the opportunity to do so.
On the other hand, a friend of mine who managed to get backstage at a music festival where Benny Goodman was playing actually ran into the legend, a personal idol of his. When this friend gave Mr. Goodman a quick "I think you're the greatest!" greeting, Goodman told him to "f-off and get outta my way!"
On the other hand, a friend of mine who managed to get backstage at a music festival where Benny Goodman was playing actually ran into the legend, a personal idol of his. When this friend gave Mr. Goodman a quick "I think you're the greatest!" greeting, Goodman told him to "f-off and get outta my way!"
I recently met Malcolm McDowell, nice guy. Very talkative, even though, I think he could tell I was kind of star struck, and kind of lost for words. Gave me is autograph, with no problems.
Met three of the members of Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Trace Beaulieu, Mary Jo Pehl, and Frank Conniff
Trace Beaulieu – extremely nice, kept cracking jokes (which was hilarious.)
Mary Jo Pehl – she was kind of standoffish, but still nice to talk too, kind of a mother-like figure.
Frank Conniff – seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. Not talkative at all.
Met three of the members of Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Trace Beaulieu, Mary Jo Pehl, and Frank Conniff
Trace Beaulieu – extremely nice, kept cracking jokes (which was hilarious.)
Mary Jo Pehl – she was kind of standoffish, but still nice to talk too, kind of a mother-like figure.
Frank Conniff – seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. Not talkative at all.
I always liked Johnny Rivers. When I saw him in concert he seem pi**ed off about something and had no interaction with the audience.
I was on the crew of a local TV show and we had David Crosby as a guest. I mic-ed him. We were the only ones in the studio at the time. I introduced myself to him and asked him if it was ok to talk. He said sure man! So we had about a ten minute conversation about the Byrds and C.S.&N Most interesting what he had to say about Neil Young. He would show up at a session, do great, have fun, see you guys tomorrow, and they wouldn't see him again for a year. No explanation. But he liked him.
As I said before on this site, I have had a couple meetings with Dick Clark and his wife Kari. We are both from the same hometown, Utica, N. Y. and worked at the same stations WRUN & WKTV (about 25 years apart). They were wonderful to me and my family and really went out of their way to be friendly to us. Because of them we were treated like V.I.P. 's in Hollywood. I couldn't have dreamed of a better experience.
I was very disappointed in doing a show with Emmy Lou Harris - not friendly at all, pretty cold. But at least she did say hello and smiled. I did a show with Crystal Gayle earlier in her career. What a sweet hart she was. Just a very sweet southern girl.
While on the subject of country I was working at a country station station and we had the Johnny Cash show in town. I got to go backstage and meet everyone in the show. Johnny Cash & June carter were as nice as they could be. The Statler Brothers were a lot of fun. They kept everybody loose. Very funny. Carl Perkins was very nice and friendly, too. The one thing I did notice was, Johnny Cash did like a good joke. He wasn't the serious guy I imagined.
I did a show with Lesley Gore a few years ago. She wasn't rude but not real friendly either. I think she could have been nicer to her fans. It seemed to be a big effort to sign autographs.
I was on the crew of a local TV show and we had David Crosby as a guest. I mic-ed him. We were the only ones in the studio at the time. I introduced myself to him and asked him if it was ok to talk. He said sure man! So we had about a ten minute conversation about the Byrds and C.S.&N Most interesting what he had to say about Neil Young. He would show up at a session, do great, have fun, see you guys tomorrow, and they wouldn't see him again for a year. No explanation. But he liked him.
As I said before on this site, I have had a couple meetings with Dick Clark and his wife Kari. We are both from the same hometown, Utica, N. Y. and worked at the same stations WRUN & WKTV (about 25 years apart). They were wonderful to me and my family and really went out of their way to be friendly to us. Because of them we were treated like V.I.P. 's in Hollywood. I couldn't have dreamed of a better experience.
I was very disappointed in doing a show with Emmy Lou Harris - not friendly at all, pretty cold. But at least she did say hello and smiled. I did a show with Crystal Gayle earlier in her career. What a sweet hart she was. Just a very sweet southern girl.
While on the subject of country I was working at a country station station and we had the Johnny Cash show in town. I got to go backstage and meet everyone in the show. Johnny Cash & June carter were as nice as they could be. The Statler Brothers were a lot of fun. They kept everybody loose. Very funny. Carl Perkins was very nice and friendly, too. The one thing I did notice was, Johnny Cash did like a good joke. He wasn't the serious guy I imagined.
I did a show with Lesley Gore a few years ago. She wasn't rude but not real friendly either. I think she could have been nicer to her fans. It seemed to be a big effort to sign autographs.
...I can confirm from my own days in pro wrestling (I did color commentary for the Canadian NWA/Four West CKY-TV Winnipeg show in the mid-'80s) that those wrestlers that work heel are usually the nicest guys in the company. Bobby Heenan had a wicked wit but was also the nicest guy off-camera. And if you knew even a little about opera, Mad Dog Vachon would make the time to talk to you about it (in my case, I barely knew a little about Enrico Caruso, but the Dog loved clueing me in on the guy)...bpatrick said:
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