Famous in Maine (Portland, Lewiston, Bangor: motel, theater, camp)

[mainesnowflake]

I was watching a Stephen King movie today and it made me think of a post that may be interesting. Does anyone have any stories of meeting a famous person here in maine that may be fun to share. Or do you know anyone famous that lives here, or a local celebrity.

[K-Luv]

Well, isn't Judd Nelson from around here?

Apparently Leonardo DiCaprio was in Portland like two summers ago.

It seems to me that anyone even remotely famous moves to a city/state that is more equipped to handle celebraties.

[Maineah]

A good friend of the family's Aunt was married to Ray Davies of The Kinks rock band. He came over here for a visit and we had a great time with him taking him to play darts at the local Amvets hall and going to local restaurants. He had body guards and the whole nine yards but they were cool too. We had a ball that week. It was interesting to see how celebrities live. No matter where we went people would come up to him asking for an autograph which to me seemed strange as in a dark bar he looked like anyone else.
He was a pretty regular guy one to one as are most celebrities in a non public setting.

[RMoore007]

I saw Liberace at Sawyers Mills when I was about 12 years old.

When our family moved from Maine to Connecticut back in 69, I was tooling around in my '67 Barracuda one evening and stopped at a motel near one of those dinner theaters near Hartford. I just needed to use the phone in the lobby (no cell phones way back then). There was someone on the phone so I was just lingering in the fringes for awhile until the guy turned around and in his best Buddy Hacket impression says, "Here ya go kid, don't get any on ya".
As he was walking off, I just stood there with my mouth trying to say something but it wouldn't because it was really him. I concluded that he was probably there at one of the many dinner theaters in the area.

[BacktoNE]

There are a lot of famous people living in Maine. Some year 'round or many more who have Summer places or family that they visit.

The medical office where I used to work saw several of them and the branch office in Bangor saw several as well.

It isn't at all uncommon to see a famous face wandering around Freeport either. People really don't bother them much, although there will always be one or two star struck types who get all silly around them. I had a co-worker like that. No one was allowed to tell her that there was a "celebrity" in the office until after they had safely exited the building because she'd hound them for an autograph or stand there staring at them. It was quite odd.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I was fly fishing at Grand Lake Stream many years ago and looked downstream. Ted Williams was fishing the lower end of the pool. I looked up and Buffalo Bob Smith of Howdy Doody fame was fishing the head of the pool. There i was with two of my boyhood characters.

[flycessna]

Patrick Dempsey(Gray's anatomy) was in town (Lewiston) last week to announce a new Cancer treatment center being built at CMMC. He graduated here, from St. Dom's , back in the early 70's. His family is still here, his sister is a nurse at CMMC. He of course made a donation to assist with the new facility. I have never ran into him but I have heard people who have.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I was fly fishing at Grand Lake Stream many years ago and looked downstream. Ted Williams was fishing the lower end of the pool. I looked up and Buffalo Bob Smith of Howdy Doody fame was fishing the head of the pool. There i was with two of my boyhood characters.

That's cool! My uncle Elmo Wright from Vanceboro used to guide Ted Williams on the Merimichee river in Canada for years! He had TONS of Ted Williams stories!

[quiet walker]

Originally Posted by RMoore007

... the guy turned around and in his best Buddy Hacket impression says, "Here ya go kid, don't get any on ya".
As he was walking off, I just stood there with my mouth trying to say something but it wouldn't because it was really him...

OT because this is not about Maine but... Was at a group dinner in a restaurant in Adams Morgan, Washington DC and I went to use the men's room. Making way through the thick crowd I had to go around a very tall and large African American man with corn rolls and beads in his hair and large dark sunglasses. He had another man who was with him who was leading him towards another part of the restaurant. It was clear that the large man was blind _and_ he looked just like Stevie Wonder. Wow, I thought, "this blind black man admires Stevie Wonder so much that he dresses just like him."

Later in the evening our group was eating, spread out along a large table when someone came back from downstairs and had created a hubbub which spread down along the table. And many got up and left the table in a hurry for downstairs saying "Stevie Wonder's downstairs!!"

Well wow... No wonder he looked like...

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by flycessna

Patrick Dempsey(Gray's anatomy) was in town (Lewiston) last week to announce a new Cancer treatment center being built at CMMC. He graduated here, from St. Dom's , back in the early 70's. His family is still here, his sister is a nurse at CMMC. He of course made a donation to assist with the new facility. I have never ran into him but I have heard people who have.

His dad ran a bottle redemption store in North Turner, we hung out together as kids at a summer camp in Hartford, Maine (he was training to be a clown, I was getting the regular summer camp ready) for a couple of weeks back in the late 70s.