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Best encounter I ever had was in the early 90's when I was walking back to the UES along Central Park South. I found myself walking a few paces behind Burgess Meredith (of Rocky, Batman fame). He was strolling with a tall blonde. As I was following him, I was able to watch the reaction on the faces of all the people that passed him (and me) as they walked by. The reactions were so amusing I was very tempted to tap him on the shoulder and thank him for the impromptu show and encourage him to walk behind himself someday as it was a hoot and a half. Instead, like any good NYer, I chuckled to myself and didn't intrude on the man's day.
Good story!
Just saw him New Year's Day on the TZ marathon in the classic episode, "Time Enough At Last".
My coworkers always saw famous people in the city and would come back from lunch saying they saw so-and-so, but I only ever saw a few people in all the years I worked there.
In the mid-2000s I was on 24th Street smoking a cigarette when I noticed a woman walking down the other side of the street wearing a gorgeous sea-green silk blouse and slacks. It was the outfit that caught my attention, but then I noticed the smokers on the other side of the street doing a double-take and I looked more closely. It was Rue McLanahan. She walked to the end of the street and hailed a taxi.
In the late 1980s or early 90s, I left my office in the WTC to attend a 2 p.m. holiday party. Before we exited the building from the mezzanine to the plaza, my friend and I saw a sign saying that Lauren Bacall would be reading Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory at 2:00. We decided to wait, and sure enough, out she came and read the story in that memorable voice to an audience of maybe 30 people. I recalled that day with fondness when she died this past year.
Years ago--probably 1980 or 81--I attended Fleet Week Lifeboat Races at the old Passenger Ship Terminal because a girl from my office was rowing. The guy who was the emcee for the event then offered to walk me and another coworker back to our office because the neighborhood was a little sketchy. I had no idea who he was, but my coworker loved the theater and she seemed just thrilled to meet this guy. It was Gregory Hines, and it was only afterward that I found out how talented he was.
There was this Metropolitan Diary item in the NY Times once by a New York native who had moved out west for ten years and then moved back to the city. He was walking down the block one day when he looked ahead and realized that Barbra Streisand was coming the other way. He became flustered, and wondered what he should say to her so he didn't sound like an idiot. Then he realized no one else seemed to be looking at her, and what was wrong with them that they didn't recognize Barbra Streisand? Then, he said, he suddenly remembered what it was like to act like a New Yorker, and as Barbra passed him he stared straight ahead, pretending he didn't see her.
The only one that comes to mind is seeing Jackie Kennedy coming out of Roseland (showing my age here) all dolled up. I was with two friends and she and her security passed right in front of this and got into a Town Car.
My sister was in a hotel, I don't remember which one, but it had glass elevators. She was talking on the phone to her husband and Dick Van Dyke entered the car. They were the only two in the car. She saw his reflection in the mirror and said "Oh my God; it's Dick Van Dyke."
Acting startled, which in turn startled her, he stepped forward, then turned around and looked at the mirrored wall and said
Stephen Baldwin (who was amused I didn't recognize him) at Starbucks
All those guys are jerks and so full of themselves.
Reminds me of when I was in LA and eating dinner on Sunset at an outdoor cafe. There were 3 guys at a table which was only inches from ours. We got into some minor conversation with them. Nothing memorable except that one of them had been a bit overserved.
They got up to leave and shook our hands and blah blah blah. The slightly drunk guy said, "Oh by the way, I am starring in Free Willy 3."
I think I snorted my wine. Completely out of the blue. LOL
But, I did go back to where I was staying and (this was before Google) so whatever it was showed pictures of the cast and sure enough, it was the same dude. Patrick Kilpatrick or some such name.
I've met many local politicians over the years, but the most famous ones were Ronald Regan (got a wave) and Jimmy Carter. I once randomly ran into Charlton Heston (he made some small talk) in Central Park. As for other entertainers, too many to list and I knew them fairly well.
I once had dinner at a restaurant in Bay Ridge and Mike Bloomberg came in for dinner. Once he showed up service went downhill for the rest of us. He came over to our table and made some lame joke about the guys paying for dinner.
On our way out we saw him standing in front of the restaurant arguing with some smokers who were outside smoking (this was right after he banned smoking in restaurants).
I also met Al Goldstein once at the Javitz center.
Mayor Ed Koch back in 1981, while standing outside MSG on sidewalk steam vents, while awaiting Ranger hockey players to come out after a game to sign auotgraphs.
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