Thirteen of the Famous People I Have Met
1. Ben Stein. He has my admiration because I am the woman who made him . . .
2. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just a handshake. No conversation.
3. The original cast of “A Chorus Line,” including Donna McKechnie and Priscilla Lopez. They had just won the Tony for Best Musical and were walking on air . . . so happy and elated about their newfound success. A bunch of really talented, delightful people.
4. Valerie Harper and Anthony Zerbe. They gave a lecture to one of my classes. They were appearing in a play, the name of which escapes me now.
5. The Oak Ridge Boys. That was about 1994 . . . Steve Sanders had replaced William Golden, who later returned to the group.
6. The cast of “Happy Days,” including Henry Winkler (a class act all the way), Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, and Scott Baio. Spent the day on the set at Paramount.
7. Carl Weathers, aka “Apollo Creed”. Sat by him at an Al Jarreau concert.
8. Yul Brynner. He was appearing in “Home, Sweet Homer” in San Francisco which was a huge bomb and I think that’s why he was so arrogant and rude.
9. Sally Jessy Raphael. I was one of the guests on her show in 1987 . . . we all look really dorky with our ’80’s hair, jewelry, makeup, and clothes. There are a couple of stories that explain my appearance on her show that I haven’t gotten around to writing about yet.
10. Edward Mulhare and Gale Gordon. They were appearing in “Camelot” in San Francisco and were both gracious gentlemen. Mr. Gordon told us, “Oh, I miss Lucy every day of my life,” when we asked him what it was like to work with Lucille Ball. He was very sweet, kind-hearted.
11. Alex Haley. He autographed my copy of the original printing of “Roots” and I met Ralph Nader briefly when I attended one of his lectures.
12. M. Scott Peck, M.D. I attended a seminar and came away with a lot of new insights, as well as an autographed copy of “The Road Less Traveled,” one of my all-time favorite books.
13. The cast of “One Life to Live,” including my friend, Clint Ritchie, and Phil Carey (“Asa”), Bobby Woods (“Bo”), Erika Slezak (“Viki”), Robin Strasser (“Dorian”), Catherine Hickland (“Lindsay”), Erin Torpey (“Jessica”), Kassie de Paiva (“Blair”), Hillary Bailey Smith (“Nora”), Patricia Elliott (“Renee”), Thom Christopher (“Carlo Hesser”), and the rest of the folks who were working on the days that I was at the studio.
Here’s a funny story about Robin Strasser, who is eccentric and wacky. We were standing outside on the steps in front of the studio and she had Scooter with her. She brought him to the studio every day in a shoulder bag. She was telling me that she had put Scooter on a diet, but he wasn’t losing any weight and she couldn’t figure out why. I quizzically looked over at Clint, who had a very goofy, sheepish grin on his face. Turns out that Clint, whose own beloved dogs were back here in California at Happy Horse Ranch, was bringing jerky treats to the studio every day and giving them to Scooter when Robin wasn’t looking! He was so busted!
[tags]Thursday Thirteen[/tags]
38 Comments
great thirteen! I have only met a couple of Bengals players, and it was just the other day…
Thanks for stoping by my blog! You have an nice one here!
Wow! Even a shake hands with Arnie is a lot!
Great List!
Thank you very much for sharing!
Hugs and Happy TT from Germany,
Sonny
P.S: My list is up too!
Sweet like Kitty
What an awesome list! It’s really neat to see who you have met. I think meeting the cast of Happy Days would be pretty darn awesome…
Sally Jesse Raphael… gosh, I haven’t thought of her in ages! 🙂 My mom and I used to watch her show….
Thank you for visiting my Thursday Thirteen. Take care!
Very cool list. I’ve always admired Henry Winkler, for someone that was so famous I always heard he was very nice and handled his fame very well.
What a fun list! I’m not sure I’ve met anyone famous – I’ll have to think on that.
Great list!
I’m a bit disappointed to hear that Yul Brynner acted arrogant and rude; that just goes to show that celebrities are human.
My brushes with fame mostly happened at sci-fi conventions, which I think shouldn’t count when making these kinds of lists…but very cool to read yours. 🙂
Great post! And like Rashenbo, I hadn’t thought of Sally Jessy in ages.
Thanks for visiting my blog, and Happy TT!
It sounds exciting to meet the cast from One Life to Live.
You are lucky. The closest I have gotten to any of those is hearing the Oak Ridge Boys singing at the Bham Auditorium, back when they were the Oak Ridge Quartet – very long time ago!
Wow, very cool!
What a fun 13! I can’t even think of 13 famous people I have met in person. I think I top out somewhere around 5 or 6! Thanks for stopping by my TT today.
great list of people! thanks for stoppinig by my blog. bee
What a great list! I’m pretty sure I haven’t met 13 famous people (unless you count those famous in their own minds…)
Thanks too for your comment on my first foray into TT.
What a great TT! Thanks for stopping by mine 🙂
I’m intrigued by #9! You must share the story. : )
What a mixed bag of celebs! Bet you’re thankful that Paris Hilton isn’t on your list — you’d be scarred for life 🙂
Is Arnie short?? I’ve always wondered.
You know the only ‘famous’ people I have met were all psycho killers..
Seriously I surveyed Broadmoor Mental hospital (just outside London) and met & talked to several high-profile nut jobs (You’re told to answer if they talk, or they get annoyed…)
Your list is better.
Wow! I chatted up Hilary Swank in line at the grocery store a couple times. Nice lady.
And I met Richard Anderson (Oscar, Six Million Dollar Man) at a car show once.
Cool list today.
I wish I could post a 13 like this, but I’ve met nobody that isn’t an average joe or jane, lol. 🙂
I think thats a nifty T13 🙂 Mines up too!
Fabulous list! I’ve met a few people, especially when I worked in a summer stock theatre, but nothing as close up as this.
Thanks for visiting my list!
Thats a cool list..!
Great list. I once met Richard Nixon – he was sitting in front of me at a musical. He started chatting to me and I didn’t realise and walked off, completely ignoring him. Oops!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
What a fun 13! I don’t think I’ve met even 4-5 famous people in person.
Thanks for stopping by my TT. Fun list! One of the many perks of living in California.
hi janie!
great list. you’re practically famous yourself 🙂 i’ve only met about 3 celebrities in my life…does Maria from Sesame Street count?
thanks for visiting.
Thanks for the comment, and this is an impressive list. I would love to meet Ben Stein.
I live in Rochester NY, there has never been a famous person visiting here, ever.
ok, that is a great impressive list. I have not met very many important people, well I have seen them, but not really met them.
Very cool!
Great list! Most of the “famous” people I’ve met, most of the world has never heard of. George Beverly Shea, anyone?
Thanks for visiting and happy T13!
Great list!
Very impressive..
Have a wonderful day!
My TT is posted
Seen a lot of famous people!!
Me, the only one I meet was the one that I did go at their show, and they are all french speaking artist!!
Very cool! Thabk you for the comment!
wow..i haven’t met any of them…you’re very lucky..
Rachelle
http://zyphe.blogspot.com
quite an impressive list you have and whooh..appearing in TV? must be a great memory.
The only famous person I’ve met is Weird Al Yankovic. Ha!
Mine’s up too 🙂
Great list. I used to love Scott Baio. (By the way FCUK = French Connection U.K.) Thanks for stopping by mine as well. Cheers!