I've had a bunch of encounters with Celebrities.
Peter Falk - I met him in 89. My father and I were at the beach (East Coast, can't remember which one), and were walking up a hill to a saltwater taffy shop. This man was walking towards us and when I first saw him I thought he was a bum. He was wearing some ratty pants with an untucked button up shirt and just looked really disheveled. Well, my father says, "Mr Falk, I am a huge fan!" I look at him and finally realize I recognize him from the Princess Bride. He couldn't have been nicer. He shook our hands, thanked us for being fans and wished us well. Extremely nice guy! Then as he continued down the steep hill, the woman that my dad was dating at the time was sitting on a bench waiting for us. My dad started gesturing at him and she just looked at us and him. He walked by her and nodded and went on his way. We walked back down and asked her if she realized it was Peter Falk. She said, she had no idea who he was and thought we wanted her to trip him or something. Now, that would have been a story!
David Prowse - He came to a small local comic shop and was doing a signing. He signed a book for me, charged me something like $15 and didn't have much to say. He seemed really bitter. His wife was trying to move the line along and was irritated that I hadn't bought something for him to sign and pretty much gave me the stink-eye when I asked for him to sign my Darth Vader book. Oh well, I figured he didn't want to be in a comic shop in the middle of nowhere signing, but oh well.
Gary Coleman - I met him at the NYCC. Some guy was hassling him, just being a jerk. I had just finished talking to Ray Park, (His handler would not allow him to arm wrestle me, I think Ray was game though), I walked over and told the guy to get lost. He wandered away and I asked if I could get my picture taken with Gary. We didn't talk much but he couldn't have been nicer. I paid $5 to get my picture taken with him and he insisted that we make sure it was perfect since I had paid good money for it. Am extremely nice guy late at night on the last day of a 4 day Con.
Peter Mayhew - At the same NYCC, I went outside for a smoke and while my wife and I were sitting there, Peter Mayhew walked out and stood with us. We made small talk and I told him I was a huge fan. He was extremely nice, (and I think appreciative that I didn't ask for autographs or pictures while he was taking a break). The poor guy was in pretty bad pain. A great guy!
I have a lot of comic book creator stories. But I'll save them for another time.
My wife got into an argument with Dave Mathews and her friend slapped him across the face. The guy is an inappropriate ******.
The singer from Seether. (Which I am not willing to look up.) I came really close to hitting him.I was the head of security for a bunch of clubs and I was walking back from one club back to the main one.I was standing in line waiting to get in. As I was about to walk in, this guy puts his hand on my chest and says, "It's a $5 cover." I figured the guy was trying to shake down people since we didn't have a cover. So I grabbed his arm, twisted him to the ground and was about to hit him, when the door girl ran out screaming "He's with the band!" I let him go and went inside. He later went up to Canada and was doing an XM radio interview and he told the story. The girl doing the interview is friends with my wife and asked if it was the bar. He was shocked and said yes. She then told him I was her friend's husband.
Real Quick, Ken Shamrock in 1996 at the airport. He seemed amused I recognized him. (The dude's hand is huge with little sausage fingers.) Randy Savage when I was a kid. My cousin took me by his house and he was mowing the lawn. (They lived in the same neighborhood.) He was really cool and gave me an "Oh yeah!" Abdulah the Butcher when I was about 12. He was getting on the plane with us and he was smoking this nasty cigar in the airport. A very large man! (I've never been a wrestling fan but I always seemed to be around people who were.)
