Brush With Fame

My car is in "Girl, Interrupted".

This made me remember a completely ridiculous one of mine.  Do you know the scene in The Blues Brothers when the police car is spinning around upside down in the shopping mall, and it's shot from inside the car?  Well, I know one of the guys who spun the car around while they were filming. 

Dustin Hoffman was in the audience with us watching the Tempest at the Swan
Theatre.

My grandma's maid of honor was like a second mother to Larry Bird's wife and they used to visit her all the time when he was playing in Boston.

My favorite professor is friends with Benjamin Bratt, who used to sleep with Julia Roberts, who was in Notting Hill with Hugh Grant, who has a running feud with the only other Englishman I would consider sleeping with, Colin Firth.  (Colin, if you read this, call me)

 [oh come on guys, only kidding]

I followed Michael Hutchence around a mall department store with a friend in Canada once.

I have shopped for shoes next to Thom Yorke from Radiohead.

I have been in a lift with Johnny Depp. I have seen John Travolta and Kirstie Alley filming.

I was an extra in an Ethan Hawke film once.

I sat behind Kiefer Sutherland at a film festival once.

Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head - they don't call Vancouver Hollywood North for nothing. 

I have seen John Travolta and Kirstie Alley filming.

I was working at the Boston Athenaeum when they filmed A civil action parts there.  It was meant to be the offices of Hale and Dorr. They've done scenes for quite a few films there -- its very photogenic.  Anyway, although I didn't personally see any of the stars myself, I heard that Travolta was a sweety to the staff but Duvall was an old grouch.

I have a few random ones!

I saw Shakira in a vintage shop in Miami yeeears ago...and I didn't even know who she was!!! It was at a store called "Miami Twice" and she was buying up EVERYTHING (just pointing to all sorts of jewelry etc) and her manager (I didn't know she was her manager at the time) was on the phone in the corner the whole time. I remember standing next to her, and thinking "this gorgeous tiny woman must be very rich" and she seemed to look at me funny, but I didn't say anything. When she left, the shop attendant was like OMG THAT WAS SHAKIRA HOW COULD YOU NOT NOTICE and I thought "who's Shakira?". Then I bought her CD and fell in love. Wish I had known who she was!!!

Also, I am tangentially related to Gloria Estefan! My uncle by marriage is Gloria's first cousin! My mom and aunt used to watch the Miami Sound Machine practice back in the day, but Gloria and my uncle had a falling out and now they don't talk anymore. My uncle was in a terrible car accident - and Gloria sent him a generic condolences card with her name STAMPED in it (she didn't even sign it herself)!

My favorite though is one of my best friends was staying in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in London (I know, OMG so fancy) and got into an elevator just as Pierce Brosnan was walking out. She said she was in shock for a few seconds, then waved at him like a mad woman as he was walking away. He smiled at her, and waved back. SIGH! so dreamy!

Edited to add:

Oh! And I forgot a more obscure one! If anyone here has ever watched Animal Planet's "E-Vet Interns" Dr. Kevin Drygas (the dreamy intern, I think!) comes back to his alma mater (University of Florida) occasionally to rotate through a few departments while he's completing his surgery residency - well, I was on soft tissue surgery while he was rotating on it as a resident. It was great! He's crazy charming in real life (he turns it up to 11, like 24/7) and once winked at me during a surgery. I was like "?!?!?".

One I completely forgot. !! I once employed a struggling for money guy to work in a warehouse over the summer period years ago.  He wanted casual work as a temp he was trying to launch his singing career and band.  Needless to say...he is well known in the UK and the States now....He changed his surname from "blount" 

Also, I am tangentially related to Gloria Estefan!

Very cool!

Just some boring ones here... mostly, well, all due to working at CNN. Let's see...

Walk by's with Sanjay Gupta.
Elevator rides with Jane Fonda and Ted Turner.

at the london office my desk was right next to the green room (aka green couch!!) and Boy George came.
Also Prince Andrew came to the office one day.
There was some Russian guy one time with security staff but I never figured out who he was. Probably a big wig in politics in Russia.

Actually talked to Richard Quest about work stuff (his shows' webpages, etc.). Saw Christiane Amanpour in the office a few times.

I'm sure I've near missed many, many people here.

Actually talked to Richard Quest about work stuff (his shows' webpages, etc.).

I love Richard Quest! His career managed to survive his recent scandal.

I lived in an area right outside of San Francisco where many movie stars/ musicians live and it seemed that I ran into quite a few famous people going about their normal lives. I've encountered members of Journey, Santana, Jefferson Starship, Robin Williams, Sean Penn, Huey Lewis, Wynona Ryder, just doing the normal every day things. I've seen a few others who were in the area filming movies : Nicolas Cage, Michael Douglas, and Jim Carrey. My oldest daughter saw Gerard Butler (Phantom of the Opera and 300) at a comic convention in SF a few years ago.

I love Richard Quest! His career managed to survive his recent scandal.

yeah me too. He's something else. Really interesting to be around.

in college, i spent two days with maggie gyllenhaal, which included driving her to and from the airport, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner with her, hanging out in a bar together, and sharing the same spoon while we split sorbet over dessert at my favorite restaurant in north carolina. 

i once let susan lucci jump ahead of me in line for the bathroom in a new york hotel.

kevin spacey filmed a movie at my office and used to take his smoke breaks leaning up against my window.  i also was asked to be an extra for a scene in the same movie that involved riding in a private plane with kate bosworth while drinking and playing poker, but after waiting around on set ALL day, they rescheduled the scene and i wasn't able to come back due to my work schedule. 

once in new mexico, i randomly got yanked into standing behind anderson cooper right before he went live on cnn.  afterwards, i had my photo taken with him and shook bill richardson's hand.

once i tried to enter a museum in edinburgh only to find the doors locked. perplexed, i turned around and realized i was standing on a red carpet about to be tackled by police.  i was ushered off to the side right as prince philip approached--the museum was shut for a special event, and i was the only person in edinburgh who didn't realize it!

in london, i was walking to see a play starring matthew perry and heard a bunch of teenage girls screaming around me.  i looked over and saw matthew perry walking right beside me, seemingly relieved that i was the only person not freaking out.  he walked next to me the whole way, held the door open for me and entered through the front of the theatre, smiled, and walked away.

i met ralph fiennes twice on the streets of london within a 2 week period.

the lead singer of my favorite band that hardly anyone knows befriended me when i was a teenager and used to send me loads of emails and call me on the phone, culminating in finally meeting her when i was in college.  her boyfriend is now a member of a pretty famous band (think letterman, leno, movie soundtracks, etc) and once when i was in new york, he saw me on the street, shouted my name, told me he remembered me from 7 or 8 months before, and offered to put my friend and i on the guest list for his show that night.

i seriously have loads more stories...i pretty much run into a celebrity every time i travel, to the point where it's a bit creepy.   

i'm forgetting the most hilarious story: for those of you familiar with irish radio, i was once a guest on the gerry ryan show.  he ended up getting me a free trip to galway to stay in a 5 star hotel for a weekend. 

I remember back when I was a teenager and I was a HUGE Duran-Duran fan, my best friend and I wrote the mayor of San Francisco begging for tickets to the world premiere of the James Bond film 'A View to a Kill', and we got them!!! We met Roger Moore, Grace Jones, and many other famous people that night. We almost fainted when we saw John Taylor of Duran Duran.

I was a member of the San Francisco girls chorus as a kid and we performed at big events. I met the vice pres of the US at the time and Vivien Vance of 'I Love Lucy' (one of my all time favorite shows). She let me hang out next to her and let me order a Shirley Temple from the waiter. I was around 11 or 12. That was VERY cool.

I forgot that the first time I came to London, DH who was then DB took me to a working class diner for a real full English, and there was a reality tv star there that he pointed out, but of course I had no idea who she was, so I didn't really pay attention. The other day he reminded me it was Jade Goody (sp?) so at least now I know who she is!