I grew up in Oakland California the same as Rod Mc Kuen and we went to the same high school. John Brodie was also a classmate at the same high school.
I remember Rod. I met Godfrey Cambridge at the Playboy Club in NJ. I've not personally known any celebrity, as far as I know. I'm friends with a guy who was a district supervisor here in my county... My ex-mother in law went to high school with Warren Beatty in Arlington VA. Being 3 years his elder, his sister (Shirley MacLean) had already graduated. They were born up the road from me in the state capital.
In the types of restaurants I have worked at I’ve met numerous celebrities in both the sports world and Hollywood. I had about a 2 hour conversation with OJ Simpson at the Monteleone Hotel service bar in New Orleans, La. At least then, he was a really nice guy. As far as knowing a celebrity: I played golf with and opened up a restaurant for Mickey Mantle and Kenny Rogers in Buckhead (Atlanta). Dick Van Dyke and Amanda Blake were regulars at the Our Place Restaurant in Carefree, Az. so I got to know them both quite well. Will Rogers Jr. really couldn’t handle his double Perfect Manhattan’s on the rocks but he was a local and well known for his escapades in Rio Rico and Tubac, Az. so I put up with him and even drove him home a couple of times. His wife didn’t didn’t like his drinking though. When he went home drunk she made him sleep on the porch with the dog.
Some 30 years ago, I went to a Celebrity Rodeo in Gardena, California. I met Doug McClure and Dan Haggerty. Doug starred on tv western, The Virginian and Dan was the star of tv show, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. Dan was a pretty huge/built guy! Also met, Richard Roundtree, aka Shaft (1971 tv show). He was sitting on his horse. I didn't met her, but the movie The Exorcist star, Linda Blair, was at another rodeo at I was. She was doing a Celebrity Team Penning and was mighty good at it.
I had no idea that Roundtree was an equestrian. Did those celebrities compete in events, or were they just trotting around? He's one of the few men who have had a double mastectomy (breast cancer.) Underwent the procedure in his early 50s, still alive & kickin' nearly 30 years later at age 79. BTW: He was Shaft in the theatres before the movie got turned into a tv show.
To tell you the truth, John, it was so long ago, I don't even remember what the Celebs were doing. Doug and Dan were just standing and talking, when I walked up to them and chatted with them. Heck, until I seen Linda Blair doing Team Penning, I didn't know that she knew anything about equestrian, but she sure did.
Didn't meet her, but seen Jane Seymour and her husband at a Old West event in Norco, CA back in 2000. She was in a James Bond movie and had her own tv show called Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Too many to name, Lon. To me, they are no different than meeting anyone. I don't idolize anyone just respect those who have achieved deserved fame and know many others that should have but didn't ever get the break. You ask to name one that is the most famous. I cannot because of the varied categories they achieved fame. So here is just one per the following categories. Concerning politics, Barry Goldwater. Concerning space, through my dad's connections with pre-NASA, Wally Schirra. Concerning movie stars Bruce Willis. Concerning musicians, Waylon Jennings. Concerning rodeo stars, Ty Murray. Concerning models. Babette March, the first swimsuit model for the cover of Sports illustrated. Concerning survival and mountain living, Sylvan Hart "Buckskin Bill." Concerning space science, mathematics, and IQ, my father. Concerning scandals, Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, the former mayor of Arlington, Or.
I bet sequins flew everywhere! Now that you mention musicians, I met Myron Floren, the accordionist for Lawrence Welk. It was at an Oktoberfest in Pennsylvania. I was shocked at how long the line was to meet the guy.
The most famous person I have met is our Crown Princess Viktoria of Sweden. She is patron of a foundation for disabled children. I was invited to a charity dinner in aid of the foundation and had the honor of being seated at her table and we had a long conversation. She is a wonderful person. Crown Princess Viktoria of Sweden