Writer's Block: Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind

[amberfocus]

[Error: unknown template qotd]I've met Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown, from Doctor Who back in '89 and '90.  They were lovely.  I also met John-Nathan Turner.  Does he count as famous?  Since he effectively killed Old Who, I suppose that makes him more infamous.  Met them all at cons when I was 19 and 20 years old.   I also met Lou Ferigno (I know that spelling is wrong) who played the Incredible Hulk when I was seven on a studio tour.  I got called up from the audience and got carried around the stage by him and I remember the green body makeup coming off on my hand.  He was a nice man.  My big sisters were so jealous.  I still have all their autographed photos somewhere.

Comments

[draconin.livejournal.com]

I've met a few authors; Steven Dedman (was a good friend, went to uni with him), Larry Niven (in '83 a bit up himself), Douglas Adams ('81? what a lovely, lovely man!), Elizabeth Moon ('99? very pleasant lady. I worship "The Deed of Paksenarrion"), Anne McCaffrey ('81 & '83? tough, humorous lady), Terry Pratchett (very nice and highly entertaining), Raymond Feist (entertaining but too polished, no longer so 'human').

Plus a few actors; Peter Davison just after he stopped being the Doctor (seemed nice but rather bland), Sandra Dickenson (played Trillian in the old HitchHikers Guide). I nearly got into big trouble with her; I was interviewing her for the uni SF newsletter and one of my questions was going to be "Where did you get the idea for the outrageously overdone accent?". Fortunately she said something before I asked because it turns out that's her real accent! :-)

Considering I live in Perth, which is the most remote capital city in the world, I seem to have managed to meet quite a few. Perhaps it's just that I'm old! Mainly I used to go to a few conventions. More than I do these days anyway.

[qtrhorserider.livejournal.com]

I also met Larry Niven. A friend of mine was picking him up at the airport to take him to a convention where he was guest of honor. We were riding along and we spent a few hours with him. I remember talking about water towers, especially ones that had unique things painted on them.

I also met Jim Henson once, truly nice man who is very missed.

I also met Jacinto Vasquez, Ruffian's jockey. Had a very nice chat with him.

[txoktober.livejournal.com]

Hey, I fence with Elizabeth Moon and she is a very nice woman and tough as nails!

[draconin.livejournal.com]

I just adore her writing, particularly the amazing "Deed of Paksenarrion". She may possibly remember me - I was the madman in Perth, Western Australia who bought another copy just so I could get it autographed. As I said to her at the time; when someone tells me that they've never been able to get into SF/Fantasy that's one of a very small number of books that I push into their hands and say "Read!!".

If you see her, please pass on my best wishes and those of my brother too. He has a four year old severely autistic daughter and he told me that "The Speed of Dark" was incredibly meaningful to him.

[txoktober.livejournal.com]

Will do! She's hit and miss on attendance, since she lives out on a farm and has to drive into town for our fencing practice.

[doctorsdiva.livejournal.com]

I was a backing singer on Barry Manilows last UK tour. Does that count as a famous person :(

Apart from that I've met the Queen of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury. They both had purple dresses on and it was quite hard to tell them apart except that the Archbishop had a beard.

[ramblinsuze.livejournal.com]

I've bumped into Stephen King a few times (he lives here in my hometown) at the movies and such. Not really a "meet" per se. Met a lot of second stringer actors at cons - Edward Albert, Jay Acovone, James Avery, Roy Dotrice. Met Wendy Pini (comic book writer/artist) at a con and she was a huge bitch! Played a board game partnered with Chris Golden (author) - he was a fun guy...and we won! lol

[qtrhorserider.livejournal.com]

Speaking of comic book artists, I knew Phil Foglio during the late '70's and '80's. Both of my husbands were ex roomates of his and he's my daughter's godfather.

[caraskye.livejournal.com]

I met Colin Firth in my local pub, that was massively exciting. He told us to behave because we got very giggly. *sighs*

[mitashade.livejournal.com]

*sigh*... not really.

OH I met Evanescence once (the band, lol). And Steven Harper. (our Prime Minister... of Canada. Not that he's important, lol)

I'm sure I've met other people, but I can't think. Hmm.

[drtyler.livejournal.com]

I've never met anyone famous. But this is okay with me as I would blush the color of a ripe tomato and end up stammering something embarrassing. Lou Ferrigno? How cool were you! To this day when I have an old shirt (too ratty for even goodwill) I "hulk it out" and rip it to shreds. I loved that show, but haven't watched it since the TV days. I bet it would make me laugh a lot now.

[theotherwillow.livejournal.com]

I once spent 5 hours sitting next to Linda Hamilton on a flight from Charlotte to LA. She was very nice and personable. Mark Harmon was on the same flight a couple rows up from us, but he was wildly drunk and hitting on the stewardesses. Hmm...what else? I also ran into James Van Der Beek in a bead store in Wilmington, NC.

[taliah-rose.livejournal.com]

I met Russel T Davies in August last year, he was watching Hamlet! He spent the entire interval signing autographs and chatting to people and was absolutley LOVELY. What a fab man!

I've also spoken to David Tennant twice, both times were at the stage door on very quiet days. He answered me both times (I have it on video, squeeeeeee!)and was so friendly and laid back with everyone. I also experienced the worst of the stage door madness on other days and the contrast in atmosphere was really obvious.
I wouldn't say this really counted as 'meeting' him but it made my entire lifetime!!!!!!

The only other famous person I've met was Ulrika Jonsson but probably only British people would know who she is. She was very normal and down to earth, but I was there to do a job just the same as she was so I think that helped.

[kholly.livejournal.com]

If you like classical music I've met lots of famous people. The best for me was Itzhak Perlman (who is an integral part of my earliest childhood memory watching him on TV when I was about 3 playing air violin while my dad air conducted). One of the nicest was Pinchas Zuckerman who spent about a half an hour after we were done chatting with me and my partner about orchestral outreach and the future of audience development. The most unpleasant was James Galway, the flutist, who was so annoyed that he had to be talking to me. But if you don't like classical music you wouldn't know any of them.

I met Nina Sosanya once when she was doing some Shakespeare and then when I saw Fear Her I spent most of the episode distracted trying to figure out why she was so familiar looking.

[txoktober.livejournal.com]

Famous People I've met: Well as I said above I fence with Elizabeth Moon, the author, she is very spiffy. I got to touch her Nebula Award. ;-) We fence in the backyard of a mutual friend who is famous in his own way, he makes period crossbows. His work has been featured in many museums and on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the crossbow pistol was his, along with another crossbow Xander uses in the series). He is also the inspiration for a character in the Ultima series of video games, Iolo the bowmaker and bard. I actually know quite a few of the inspirations behind the characters in the Ultima games and through those friends, I know Richard Garriott. I've actually worked for Richard at a few of his rather famous birthday parties. I've played a Victorian governess, a Shakespearean witch, a Chauffeur and believe it or not a Munchkin in the land of Oz for his parties. I was lucky enough to get to sit and have a drink with him right before he went up to the ISS. Talk about an amazing guy living an amazing life.

[scarfman]

John-Nathan Turner ... effectively killed Old Who

It's more complex than that.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

It was a slight exaggeration... *smiles* I know there was a lot more going on at the time then that.

[amanda-shatirah.livejournal.com]

I've met Rupert Penry-Jones several times, before Spooks and Dervla Kirwan, when he was an up-and-coming actor living in Clapham. He lived across from my parents. Sadly I was living up north by the time he was pals with Kylie Minogue (my mum saw her coming and going quite a lot!).