The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?
Talk about it….
63 comments
Think we have had this one before. I played poker with Bud Abbott from Abbott and Costello at Abbotts house a little while before he declared bankruptcy. I used to eat lunch at the studio in Hollywood where they filmed the Mary Tyler Moore show and others. Many of those stars ate lunch at a table next to mine. Never met them but did exchange words.
Only when I meet my Lord and Maker…
Interesting perspective…
I met my parents are the most famous people
I exchanged pleasantries with George Peppard on a back stairwell of the San Francisco Hyatt Regency in 1980. He was on his way down. Nice guy. I think he took the stairs to avoid the public or to make a quick getaway from a seedy liaison. Probably the latter.
Are you male or female? I loved him in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and also the Victor’s, good looking guy, with blue eyes to match Paul Newman, another one of my favorite actors.
@hanne jeppsen – I’m a man. Did I sound like I had a man-crush on the guy? Well, perhaps I do. Just don’t tell my wife.
Michael Douglas, Bill Walsh
Metallica, Alice Cooper,Joe Satriani
Martin Yan doing a demonstration at Macy’s many, many years ago when my youngest daughter was very young,,,she is now in her 30 plus years old.
Former President Ford was a guest lecturer for a class I once took.
The last time this question was asked, I was going on and on about my cousin’s husband who had won Grammys for writing and arranging tunes for Laura Branigan, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Sheena Easton, and others. Then I remembered my cousin (his wife) wrote comedy sketches for Laverne and Shirley, Welcome Back, Kotter, and the first year of Saturday Night Live. She’s very funny herself and quite talented.
Nicolas Cage. Ford Cobra lover. He’s so chill. To those not star struck.
Frankie Avalon
Helio Castroneves and Dick Smothers.
I had the privilege to meet Rosanna DeSoto at my brother’s wedding. She’s the actress who was in La Bamba, Stand and Deliver and Star Trek VI.
George W. Bush is probably the most famous, but the coolest celeb I’ve met was Dwight Clark. I golfed 18 holes with Dwight and he was absolutely hilarious.
I shook hands with Nixon a couple of times.
I as in the military at that time and felt I was obligated to take his offered hand after I had saluted him.
He was commander in chief back then.
I really liked his cuff links.
Met her 41 years ago
HM Queen Elizabeth when I was in the Royal Navy in the early 90’s!
Bumped into Frankie Muniz on BART going to San Francisco. Nice kid, very polite.
I met singer Boz Skaggs back in the 80s. In the 90s I met local newscasters Brian Copeland and Doug McConnel.
I’ve met several. When I got out of the Marine Corps, I lived in the Haight-Ashbury and lived on the same block as Janis Joplin and some members of the Jefferson Airplane. But the most famous, and certainly the most beautiful person was Natalie Wood. She and Robert Wagner were leaving a restaurant in Chinatown, I was with a girlfriend at the time and I said, “hey, that’s Natalie Wood, let’s go say hi to her.” We introduced ourselves, and she introduced her husband, Robert Wagner, to us. She was very nice and friendly, and we talked for about 20 minutes. She was proud of her Russian heritage, and she told me she was from the Bay Area. She said she was born in San Francisco and lived in Santa Rosa for a while.
I’ll never forget how beautiful she was, not only in looks, but in personality. I felt sad when she died.
I hear you. IMO, Natalie Wood is one of the most beautiful women of all time. And sexy to boot.
The late Chester Bennington of the almighty band Linkin Park. Rest brother.
Had lunch with the president of Micronesia in 2002 when I was in the Marine Corps. Very m ce guy. RIP Leo Falcam.
I escorted my father to the 75th Anniversary
of D-Day. He was thanked for his service by
President Trump and we shook hands.
Gary Snyder, the Beat poet. Jack Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums” character Japhy Ryder, was based on Gary.
Cool, love Kerouac’s writing, and use to frequent City Lights Bookstore often when I use to hang out in North Beach. When my friends were visiting from Denmark I took them to the bookstore, after we had dinner in North Beach, they were so impressed and surprised that America had such an intellectual bookstore and it was open at night. The had the typical European stereo type impression of the USA, however I’m pleased to say that their vacation to the Western part of the US changed their mind.
All in the early 80s:
Ray Bradbury (author), David Niven (actor), George Schultz (Secretary of State)
.
George H.W. Bush, President
Chad Knaus, NASCAR crew chief
Jay Leno, comedian and fellow gearhead
Scott Pruett, Trans Am Champion
Brandon Belt, SF Giants
Brandon Crawford, SF Giants
Richard Petty, NASCAR Legend
Kate Upton, model (whoa!)
Donna Smith, 1985 Playboy Centerfold
.
Paris Hilton. My opinion of her actually went up after I met her. She was quite charming and classy. Funny that she’s in the news again about issues of her being locked up once as a teen in a reform school situation.
“Reform School Girls XXVIII starring Paris Hilton.”
I’d even buy that one.
Masaharu Morimoto and Martin Yan when I worked a Worlds of Flavor event at the CIA at Greystone in St Helena. Very polite and helpful with us culinary students
A ball player named Vida Blue and an actor Reb Brown. Had the Brown in several HS classes back in the day. And my Dad.
Ronald Reagan & Zell Miller.
I made breakfast for Melvin Belli when I was a teenage fry cook … he had a Denver Omelette and Cottage Fries! I didn’t actually meet him tho.
Steve Paulson KTVU morning weather guy. Was having lunch at walnut creek yacht club at the bar. He sat down beside me. We chatted a little. Pretty nice fellow.
Ronnie James Dio – Needs no introduction, great vocalist, and nicest guy ever…!!!!!!
Lisa Marie Scott – Playmate Feb. 1995. She looks better in person, than in photos.
With clothes on? !!!
Yes, clothes on,….lol.
I worked at Rochester Big & Tall back in the 80’s. Various football and basketball players, Matusak, and others of that era Jerry Garcia. The owner of Jelly Belly. Ray Fosse Rollie Fingers Steve Mc Catty I can’t remember them all. There are lots more.
Benji the dog…
At a restaurant in Houston TX. He was sitting behind us, yes in a chair, along with a large group of folks one being Frank Inn.
Benji had steak and cottage cheese.
Frank would cut him a piece of steak and Benji would chew it up. When done his paw went on the top of the table and Frank would cut him another piece.
Think Benji picked up the whole tab for the group!
Bumped into Tony La Russa in WC. I was looking at him but could not figure out what I was seeing. Tony acknowledged me with a hello and it clicked it was him. Class act doing that!
Stevie Wonder- visited at a signing in our trade show booth
Bob St. Claire- shared tailgate oyster dinner and cigars with me
Guy Fieri- featured my tailgate on his tv show Tailgate Warriors
When I was staying in San Francisco, My father and I attended to a Science Expo, whereas I met Stanton T. Friedman. Stanton Terry Friedman was a nuclear physicist and professional ufologist who resided in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He was the original civilian investigator of the Roswell UFO incident.. then when I was a kid I was put into foster care called Families First, where the Oakland Raiders came to visit us, kids, and of course Tony La Russa his animal rescue foundation, God I love cats
Emmylou Harris, Dick Dale, Lyle Lovett
Melvin Belli
I worked for Dr. Dean Edell
Yes this question have definitely been asked before. I worked for American Express Travel Agency in Midtown Manhattan in the mid seventies, some of the famous people that came in there that I actually saw was, Clift Robertson, Van Johnson and Doug McGlure. While living in New York I also saw the following, either on the street or in the bus, Harry Belafonte, Cybil Sheppard, and Dustin Hoffman. I went to lectures at a bookstore in Marin by Alan Alda, and Max Kennedy (son of RFK) and also went to a book signing and lecture by Caroline Kennedy.
Once when I was in Yosemite and buying something in the general store Tom Smothers (I think, the blond one was there) I almost told him how I love the Smother Brothers hour, but lost my nerve.
The most prolonged interaction I had with someone famous, was when my former brother in law was dating Courtney Kennedy (daughter of RFK) and they came to New York to visit my ex husband and I (we were just engaged then, but lived together) they were just teen agers, she was very unassuming, dressed in jeans and sweaters, very polite, kept wanting to do the dishes, and send us a very nice thank you note afterwards. I was really uncomfortable when I realized they would be staying with us, and my ex husband asked if she had family she could stay with (she did both Jackie Kennedy and a Kennedy sister lived in New York), but she said she would prefer to stay with us, so how could we refuse.
I was also a fan of the Smothers Brothers. As I noted above, I met Dick. I met him as we were competing in a high speed sports car rallye in the same class (3.0-4.5 liter); he was driving a 4.2 XK-E Jaguar, I was driving my Barracuda Formula S. We ended up having lunch together at a small cafe somewhere “out in the middle of nowhere” in Nevada. He was just a “regular car guy” and we had an enjoyable lunch. BTW, I had a better lap time than he did on our timed lap at Willow Springs Raceway.
Yo-Yo Man RULES !
Sharon Stone let me buy her a coffee when she was filming in SF
I interviewed Melvin Belli for public access tv when I was in 6th grade.
I had Greg Kihn eating out of the palm of my hand (when I had an Xmas job at Hickory Farms.
Met Alice In Chains on a flight from Portland.
I met many of the acts while working as a security guard at the Concord Pavillion in the mid 80s. I was Whoopi Goldberg’s personal security guard at a Robert Palmer concert.
Dan Ashley at church.
Robert Weaver and Alan Trammel (Baseball HOF) and Pete Rose were clients at my office.
I played racquetball with Gen Schwarzkopf and Gen Lewis (Lewis was Schwarzkofs’s right hand man in Iraq).
General Chuck Yeager, a true American hero.
Dave Brubeck and Aaron Copeland If you don’t know the names, you certainly know their music!
Micky Mouse. He was at Disneyland the day I was there, long ago.
I delivered a manuscript to Gig Young, nice guy beautiful home. Met Bo Diddly and John Lennon. Worked with producer Channon Scott.
I dropped acid with Jimmy Hendrix and partied all night at his house on Haight st. Was a crazy night . I don’t think I can even write what went on that night on this forum
Tennessee Ernie Ford, Col Sanders, Melvin Belli, Sly Stone, Johnny Cash, Neil Schon, Lee Oskar, Pricilla Presley, Belinda Carlisle, Joe Montana, Karreem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Plunket, Michael Jackson, Sha Na Na, Pete Escovedo, Michael Douglas, Karl Malden, Slim Pickens, Wilfred Brimley, Tony Dow, John Lee Hooker, Lester Chambers, Bob Weir, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart), Frank Zappa, Joan Baez, Smokey Robinson, Dick Cavett, Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey, Jesse Jackson, Buddy Miles, Country Joe McDonald, Jose Feliciano.
Most I meant were job related!
Quite a list, sounds like you had an interesting life. I assume many were people you saw in concert. I too saw e Country Joe and the Fish in GG park, in the late nineties.
I dated a guy back East in the late sixties. He became fairly well known photographer and cinematographer, he took a picture of Jim Morrison (the Doors) at the famous Miami concert that ended up in the book ” No one gets out alive”, he was also a witness at Jim Morrison’s trial.
@Hanne, I met all these people in person not in concert venues. Very interesting and many memories!
The Queen of England when she visited San Francisco many years ago. We were in the front row and she actually spoke to my children.
I have met three actors from the same daytime soap opera, All My Children: Jean LeClerc ( “Jeremy Hunter”), James Patrick Stuart (“Will Cortlandt”), and Michael Brainard (“Joey Martin”). I met Mr. LeClerc late summer of 1986 at Vallco Shopping Center in Cupertino, CA. I met both Mr. Stuart and Mr. Brainard early fall of 1988 at Sunnyvale Town Center in Sunnyvale, CA.
All three actors were very charming…especially Mr. LeClerc.
Santa Claus. I even got to sit on his lap(when I was little).
Robin Williams. RIP
Well, shook Reagan’s hand as a kid, met Bill Richardson as an adult, Al Unser Jr, Bobby Unser (total jerk), Al Unser Sr, Paul Newman, Mario Andretti, Sammy Hagar, sat on Hunter Thompsons lap when I was 4 at a bar in Aspen, and was locked up (as a teen) with a famous 60’s musician’s kid and Bob Weir came to visit her. The three of us talked for almost an hour. But my all time favorite was Jimmy Carter. He was doing a book signing in Berkeley and I approached him as he was leaving the bookstore. A wonderful soul and very down to earth.
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