Here's something you might be interested in.
I’ve never met any famous actors. I did get Tony Gwynn’s autograph at an event at Memorial Park. Also, I’ve met a lot of politicians, but who hasn’t? I’ve seen television stars at events, and famous singers in concert, but never met them. I’ve seen Jerry Lewis at the Ralphs supermarket downtown. I got the autograph of the original Fugitive, David Janssen, when he was filming a scene on Harbor Drive, but I lost it. Of all the people I’ve seen at events, my favorite were the original actors from the Star Trek series. I was a bitty kid, but I went with my best friend to a Star Trek convention at the El Cortez hotel. My first experience with Trekkers, was very cool.
A guy I knew who was in the Navy, “Mark,” told me this story: He was on the aircraft carrier where they filmed that Star Trek movie about the nuclear wessels. He said he was zipping down a passageway and turned a corner and ran blam into Leonard Nimoy, knocked him on his skinny behind. Mark was very apologetic, “I’m so sorry, Sir, didn’t see you, Sir, let me help you, Sir.” Says Nimoy was angry, wouldn’t speak, stalked off. As you probably know, they filmed Top Gun on an aircraft carrier which also happened to be the one this guy was stationed on. Mark said he had tried to approach Tom Cruise for an autograph but the guy blew right by him with a stone expression. One day Mark was standing on the deck in a crowd of other sailors watching the filming going on a short distance away. He started chatting with this aviator about these Hollywood types and how actors were all a bunch of jerks. The guy he was talking to was agreeing with him and laughing. Suddenly over the loudspeakers the call went out for Anthony Edwards, the actor who played “Goose” in the movie. The aviator excused himself and walked toward the set. Yup, it was Edwards.
I do have one other story in this regard. I spent some time on another forum where a guy “Sean” worked in the film industry. He had worked on several big name movies and had met most of the big stars, Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp, and so forth. He never mentioned women actors, which doesn’t surprise me, Sean was insanely misogynistic. In between movies, he took gigs with television productions; his last work was with The Beast, that series with Patrick Swayze. Sean was very certain about everything, very opinionated. If you said anything about anything he thought he knew something about, he would jump in and deliver his word on the matter like it was God talking. Especially if you were talking about a movie star, wham! When Heath Ledger died and some of us were talking about possible causes of death that had been reported in the media, he got all mad and said we were spreading tabloid gossip. Yet he himself had gossiped like crazy about Swayze’s illness and impending death, someone he had spoken of as a friend, which I thought was in really poor taste.
The most impressed I ever was seeing someone was Bobby Kennedy when he came through San Diego, just prior to his being killed. But I have to say, the most important person I ever met, and who left the deepest impression on me and influenced my life, was the great labor leader and President of the United Farmworkers, Cesar Chavez. I treasure that memory.
I’ve never met any famous actors. I did get Tony Gwynn’s autograph at an event at Memorial Park. Also, I’ve met a lot of politicians, but who hasn’t? I’ve seen television stars at events, and famous singers in concert, but never met them. I’ve seen Jerry Lewis at the Ralphs supermarket downtown. I got the autograph of the original Fugitive, David Janssen, when he was filming a scene on Harbor Drive, but I lost it. Of all the people I’ve seen at events, my favorite were the original actors from the Star Trek series. I was a bitty kid, but I went with my best friend to a Star Trek convention at the El Cortez hotel. My first experience with Trekkers, was very cool.
A guy I knew who was in the Navy, “Mark,” told me this story: He was on the aircraft carrier where they filmed that Star Trek movie about the nuclear wessels. He said he was zipping down a passageway and turned a corner and ran blam into Leonard Nimoy, knocked him on his skinny behind. Mark was very apologetic, “I’m so sorry, Sir, didn’t see you, Sir, let me help you, Sir.” Says Nimoy was angry, wouldn’t speak, stalked off. As you probably know, they filmed Top Gun on an aircraft carrier which also happened to be the one this guy was stationed on. Mark said he had tried to approach Tom Cruise for an autograph but the guy blew right by him with a stone expression. One day Mark was standing on the deck in a crowd of other sailors watching the filming going on a short distance away. He started chatting with this aviator about these Hollywood types and how actors were all a bunch of jerks. The guy he was talking to was agreeing with him and laughing. Suddenly over the loudspeakers the call went out for Anthony Edwards, the actor who played “Goose” in the movie. The aviator excused himself and walked toward the set. Yup, it was Edwards.
I do have one other story in this regard. I spent some time on another forum where a guy “Sean” worked in the film industry. He had worked on several big name movies and had met most of the big stars, Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp, and so forth. He never mentioned women actors, which doesn’t surprise me, Sean was insanely misogynistic. In between movies, he took gigs with television productions; his last work was with The Beast, that series with Patrick Swayze. Sean was very certain about everything, very opinionated. If you said anything about anything he thought he knew something about, he would jump in and deliver his word on the matter like it was God talking. Especially if you were talking about a movie star, wham! When Heath Ledger died and some of us were talking about possible causes of death that had been reported in the media, he got all mad and said we were spreading tabloid gossip. Yet he himself had gossiped like crazy about Swayze’s illness and impending death, someone he had spoken of as a friend, which I thought was in really poor taste.
The most impressed I ever was seeing someone was Bobby Kennedy when he came through San Diego, just prior to his being killed. But I have to say, the most important person I ever met, and who left the deepest impression on me and influenced my life, was the great labor leader and President of the United Farmworkers, Cesar Chavez. I treasure that memory.