Rubbing noses with fame, by Deb Katie

PhotobucketWell, I just drove home from the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog show in Long Beach, CA, and boy are my arms tired!

…No, wait. That’s not how that goes.

Anyway, I brushed elbows with a few of the canine elite and saw lots of great dogs and got sooooo many sweet puppy kisses (shameless plug: watch the show when it airs Super Bowl weekend!).

In my line of work, I’ve had a lot of… er… interesting encounters with celebrities. Some of the highlights include Gene Simmons, who pulled out his “KISS” branded Mastercard to show me who he was (sue me, he has a bouffant now!), Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco (at the SAME time), Heidi Fleiss… unfortunately, the moral of most of my stories ends up being that celebrities are the same as regular people, except with an extra dose of crazy.

Speaking of an extra dose of crazy, that’s a great description of how my week and life are going right now, so I’m going to cheat and let YOU, loyal readers, help me out today.

I want to know… Have you had a brush with fame? Tell us about it in the comments!

16 Replies to “Rubbing noses with fame, by Deb Katie”

  1. My 15 minutes in the spotlight occurred many decades ago when I tried my hand at modeling. My first gig was the post-premier party in London for “Spartacus” starring Kirk Douglas, where I was one of half-a-dozen young women dressed as Roman serving wenches.

    We were told to circulate with huge trays of canapes and drinks. Being terminally clumsy, I asked what to do if I dropped the tray. “Faint,” I was told. “As gracefully as possible.”

    Well, I almost did, but not because I dropped the tray. It was because I suddenly found myself standing beside Kirk Douglas with his arm draped around my shoulders and being told to smile for the cameras. So I did … and the picture was front-page news the next morning.

    Here’s a link to my web site. Scroll down a bit and you can see for yourselves!

    http://www.maggiedana.com/html/about_maggie.html

    Thanks, Kris, for inviting me to share this long-ago memory.

    Maggie Dana (an ex-pat Brit living in Connecticut)
    Beachcombing, coming June 2009 from Macmillan New Writing

  2. What a great story! And I checked your website, Maggie and it’s a lovely picture.

    I am bound by contractual obligation (tee hee!) to hold off on my own brush with fame story until Friday’s post! Although I can share about the time I literally RAN INTO Harry Chapin backstage at a Harry Chapin concert. (What I was doing backstage, frankly, I have no idea. I was looking for the bathroom!) Upon bumping right smack into him, I said the most intelligent thing my addled mind could think of, “You’re Harry Chapin!” To which he replied, “Yes, I am.” And I believe I continued on in search of the bathroom.

  3. I am celebrity impaired. I don’t recognize them out of their natural habitats. Although, one time I did see Alice Cooper lying shirtless on the beach in Hawaii. I think he’s past his halcyon days.

  4. Although I’m a people watcher — like Tiffany –, celebrity sightings don’t register with me. Hmm, could it be that without their hair and makeup stylists most tend to look like us? 😉 I did see Jodie Foster on a street in NYC, but a friend pointed her out.

  6. I have a funny celebrity moment. Years ago (about 14 or 15)when I was dating my ex-husband we went to have dinner at the Royalton Hotel (in NYC). It was fairly new and I didn’t know it was such a celebrity hang-out. I excused myself to go to the ladies room and like most aspects of the Royalton the bathroom was cutting-edge design. It was so cutting-edge I couldn’t figure out how to get into the stalls. The bathroom was designed with these floor to ceiling opaque doors that had no handles. I could hear toilets flushing but I just couldn’t figure out what to do to get behind the door. While I’m trying not to have an “accident” while I figure it out Mariah Carey comes into the bathroom. How do I know it’s Mariah? Well she’s wearing a huge gold “Mariah” belt buckle. She stares at me waiting for me to scream with glee but I really have to go so I’m a little distracted. She kept walking in front of me and smiling, waiting for me to acknowledge her. Finally I asked her if she knew how to get to the toilets. Mariah huffed angrily and stormed out of the bathroom. I guess she didn’t know either LOL!

  7. I actually “bumped” into Paul Newman…really “bumped”. I was walking down East 10th Street in the Village, on my way to an appointment, when the door of an antique shop openned and out stepped a gentleman with the bluest eyes I had ever seen (I soon realized who it was) as I excused myself for “bumping” into him. I always wondered what he was looking for in that very expensive shop.

    And then there are my kids…famously becoming famous as we speak.

  8. Thanks Mom!

    Larramie – I think Jody Foster is one of the few movie stars I might chase down to meet. There’s something about her – she seems so intelligent and grounded and ordinary, in a way. Like maybe you could actually talk to her.

    Sandra, that Mariah Carey story is just priceless!!!!!

    Gee, fellow authors – when we get BIG enough, shall we all have huge, gold belt buckles with our names on them? I’m trying to imagine Barbara Kingsolver or Amy Tan with their self-titled belt buckle bling!

  10. I have a memory that’s been tattooed to my brain since I was a wee lad.
    Summer – 1980 something – my dad and I are waiting for an elevator in some Calgary hotel that had water slides in it. Then, who should step out of the elevator but all 6’4″ of SUPERMAN! (Christopher Reeves) He gave my dad a polite nod, and me a heroic grin and a wink, and my life – at that time – was complete. 🙂

  11. I was leaving a rest room at The Grand Floridian at Disney when Annette Funicello walked in – she was using a cane (this was in 1993 I think) so her MS was taking its toll. The cane was lucite with sparkles like pixie dust in it. She was so lovely. I didn’t want to embarrass her but, who better to represent Disney than an original and the most famous Mouskateer?! I simply said, “Oh! Now I really know I’m in Disney World, Miss Funicello!” She smiled cordially and then went into a stall, where I left her to her privacy!

  12. Sandra, she was waiting for you to pee her pants for her! LOL! Reminds me of the people who have a Jaguar and the license plate, “My Jag” or the Hummer I saw in Ohio with the license plate “Hummr” – like they’d forget they drive such a pricey car??? Kim

  13. I ran Katharine Hepburn over with a shopping cart, not once, but twice. She used to live in my home town and shopped at our small, locally-owned grocery store. It wasn’t until she spoke that I realized who I’d almost crushed. I apologized and went along my merry way, only to bash into her again at the next corner.

  15. I was in the elevator with my best friend from high school and Russell Crowe. He knew my friend because she worked for the studio producing his film at the time (The Insider). After chatting with her for a minute he turns to me and goes, “What about you? Are YOU anybody?” No, don’t worry your pretty little head, I am nobody at all. (eyes rolling)

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